Tomorrow's Worship Yesterday

Yesterday was our "Church in the Park" day. It was a fantastic time. The weather was great. There was a great turn out. Simon preached a clear message, and Matthew and the worship team did an outstanding job of filling the park with the praises of God.

I love worshipping God outdoors! Is it just because I was born-again in a field in Royal Deeside? Is it just because growing up in the beauty of Scotland, I have always been inspired to worship when outdoors, surrounded by the wonder of God's creation? Is it because I am a mad extrovert who enjoys making a fool of himself in public? The last isn't true by the way, and none of these are the real reason.

I love worshipping God outdoors, because when I do, I am playing my part in fulfilling the kingdom mandate of God - to fill his earth with his praises. One day the whole earth will be filled with the worship of God. When we fill the earth, even when it is just our little part of it, with his praises, we are doing something very powerful and prophetic. We are bringing tomorrow's worship into our today. We are bringing the worship of heaven to the earth. As Matthew said in his post on Friday: this is not a light that his meant to be hidden away within the four walls of the church meeting, but put on a stand for the world to see.

My only disappointment with the day was that more of the adults in the church didn't take this great opportunity we had to fill the park with his praises. The youth and the children set the standard instead. When we sang "Here I am to worship... Here I am to say that you're my God," what we communicated with our actions (or inactions) was something very different. I'm not meaning to be critical, I just think it was an opportunity missed. The day was a great success in showing the world that we are normal people who are full of life, but our commission is not to fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the church...

enough said. It was still a fantastic day in every other respect. Many people worked very hard to make it so and deserve to be commended.