Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 12:4-7 (New Living Translation)

“Do not worship the Lord your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. 5 Rather, you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. 6 There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks. 7 There you and your families will feast in the presence of the Lord your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the Lord your God has blessed you.

Jehovah God is describing worship to His people. What is worship according to God in these verses?

• Gather
• Bring your offerings
• Bring your family
• Eat
• Rejoice

Worship is eating and rejoicing. Hmmm, doesn’t sound like a lot of the “worship” services I have attended in my life.

I could recount some old jokes about “dinner on the grounds” and some of those things we used to do in the last century. There is the famous “church chicken” dish and all that (sounds like eating). Kids running around playing loudly (sounds like rejoicing). Hmmm (a second time in one post). Maybe we have neglected something.

A lot of churches today have Worship Ministers. I don’t recollect them leading in eating and rejoicing. Well, perhaps just semantics.