Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good early evening, dear people.

I failed to call the jury duty hotline last night to see if I was required to report. But I did call early this morning and was relieved to learn that I was relieved—my number didn’t come up.

This afternoon has seen pouring rain. I’ve been waiting for a call from a logger friend to go to his deck of logs to load some up that I want to buy—but I haven’t yet received the call. My truck is hooked up to my equipment trailer and ready to roll. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen today.

As Becki and I were heading back home on our walk/jog excursion approaching the highway, we heard the ugly sound of a crash just around the corner. It wasn’t long before the area was full of activity. Three guys were in a small station wagon and for no good reason went off the road, wiped out a highway sign, ripped through Borgen’s fence where they pasture their horses, and slammed into a tree. Not pretty. I didn’t stay long as there was plenty of help—and Dandy was freaking out. Soon sirens were screaming. And a life-flight helicopter was commissioned. The State Trooper lady I talked to later figured everyone was going to be OK.

It’s been a very full day. I’m kind of looking forward to bedtime already. I guess that could be a glaring sign of old age creeping in.

Love to all, Dad/Ray.

The debate over how to worship, when to worship, and where to worship seems to be quite alive and well today among those who are held captive to religious form and tradition. That issue comes up in this exchange between Jesus and the woman he encounters at the Samaritan well. The woman is a bit shaken by the fact that this man (Jesus) knows a lot more about her than any normal person could. She says, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem” (4:19-20). It would seem that she purposely shifts the attention of the conversation to this debate so as to side-step the discomfort she was suddenly feeling with too much attention being drawn to her personally. Jesus responds, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…Yet A TIME IS COMING AND HAS NOW COME when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21, 23-24).

There seems to me to be only one way to understand these words of Jesus. He is disclosing to this woman the great theme and objective of the Gospel, indeed of the New Testament—indeed of the entire Bible. It is an internalization and individualization of the Kingdom of God. I believe Jesus is stating, in so many words, that how, when, and where one worships is not so important. That one DOES worship from a sincere heart (HEART AFTER GOD) through the mediation of the redemptive heart-changing work of Christ is very, VERY important

I hope you will not tire of my repetition, but I think the central idea of Jesus’ words is pretty well summed up in the theme I continually quote—“Christ in you, the hope of Glory” (Colossians 1:27). Think about it.

You really don’t need a fancy new recipe or method for worship. You don’t need to emphasize some special time. You don’t need to run off to some special place. Those are clearly vestiges of religion—religious formalism (superficial legalism). What you need is to simply DO IT. And, DO IT NOW—right where you are—continually.