考察崇拜危機Surveying the Crisis ofWorship
[每日靈修] 1/4/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
在我們的土地上有一種崇拜危機。人們成群結隊地遠離教堂。一項調查表明，人們離開教會的兩個主要原因是：崇拜很無聊，也無關緊要。
如果人們發現敬拜上帝是無聊和無關緊要的，那只是意味著他們對上帝的存在毫無感覺。當我們研究聖經和教會歷史中的敬拜行為時，我們會發現人類對上帝同在的感覺有各式各樣的反應。有些人恐懼顫兢，俯伏在地；其他人在哀悼中哭泣；有些人充滿喜樂；還有一些人化為沈默。儘管反應不同，但我們從未發現的一種反應是感到無聊。在上帝面前是不可能感到無聊的（要是你知道祂在那裏的話）。
一個有感覺的人也不可能發現他或她與上帝的相遇是無關緊要的。對人類的存在來說，沒有任何事情——也沒有任何人——比永生上帝更有關聯。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
你覺得崇拜無聊且無關緊要嗎？若是如此，請禱告重新認識上帝的同在。
進一步研讀：
詩九五6 來啊，我們要屈身敬拜，在造我們的耶和華面前跪下。
詩卅四1 我要時時稱頌耶和華；讚美祂的話必常在我口中。
詩五十23 凡以感謝獻上為祭的便是榮耀我；那按正路而行的，我必使他得著我的救恩。
Surveying the Crisis of
Worship
There
is a crisis of worship in our land. People are staying away from church in
droves. One survey indicated that the two chief reasons people drop out of
church are that it is boring and irrelevant.
If
people find worship boring and irrelevant, it can only mean they have no sense
of the presence of God in it. When we study the act of worship in Scripture and
church history, we discover a variety of human responses to the sense of the
presence of God. Some people tremble in terror, falling with their faces to the
ground; others weep in mourning; some are exuberant in joy; still others are
reduced to a pensive silence. Though the responses differ, one reaction we
never find is boredom. It is impossible to be bored in the presence of God (if
you know that He is there).
Neither
is it possible for a sentient creature to find his or her encounter with God a
matter of irrelevance. Nothing—and no one—is more relevant to human existence
than the living God.
Coram
Deo
Do
you find worship boring and irrelevant? If so, pray for a renewed sense of
God’s presence.
Passages
for Further Study
Psalm
95:6
Psalm
34:1
Psalm
50:23