valetudinarian

well let's try this again! This is the second time I am writing this because my computer is crap and I lost the first attempt! That is a word I learned today - I learned it in a Sherlock Holmes book - it means chronic invalid. I think it is fun to use because I remember as a child my older sister reading Sherlock books just to learn new words- so I think it is cool to use a big word that I would have thought was cool when I was a kid. How whacked can you get?
Anyway - I have been thinking a lot lately about the gap between what we say we believe and what we actually love like we believe. And one of the areas that seems to come up again and again is the "physical and the spiritual" - today's version of it is how do we have both in worship? I mean, I have realized that I don't give the equal footing or importance in my life - I mean, I don't think about my body being a spiritual temple when I reach for fries and a coke - even though I believe that it is. And I don't live like it is going to be an eternal instrument for me to use to worship - I act like it is not important at all. So what does this have to do with worship - well, I don't think that the way we worship reflects what we believe either. I mean, mostly church is a passive activity - we stand, we sit, we sing, we talk, we listen- that's it. It is mostly a "heady" thing - not something really physical. But I don't think that is the way the NT believers thought of their gatherings - I mean we read of suppers where they celebrated communion together - and then in Hebrews it talks about incense and such being used in worship - in the temple - but maybe in NT worship as well. And it just made me think that communion is the perfect blend of this reality- apart from J of course!- but think about it! I mean, we touch it, we taste it, we chew - we smell the bite of the juice - or wine - and it is very physical. I mean, we don't think we can just sit around and think of the death of Christ - or even of the wine and the bread- and call that communion- even if we all did it together! I mean, we have to have the physical elements! But, they are not just physical- I mean the spiritual reality behind them is just as clear in our mind as we take them- they are both spiritual and physical at the same time - the same as we are! And I think that celebrating communion - with others and the fellowship that it brings - and the reality of the 3 that we celebrate as we eat and drink - the idea of the gift of the Father, the death and resurrection of the Son and then the indwelling of the Spirit all being seen in the act of taking and eating together - I think that doing this more often would help me bridge the gap in my daily life! I want to go to a place that embraces physical worship as well as spiritual worship!