A few months ago, my pastor preached from the Gospel text of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana in Galilee (I encourage you to read it again from John 2). He spoke about Jewish weddings and how they are often loud and raucous affairs. I have only been to one, but can attest that it was quite the party. He then led us through an interesting exercise where we imagined Jesus at the wedding.
He then spoke from his own imagination. He had no problem seeing the guests enjoying themselves with the festivities of food, wine, music, and dance. But his picture of Jesus was a bit different. In his mind, Jesus was at the party, but sitting at a table watching the others. Not judging mind you, but not really participating either.
And the question he asked himself is the question he asked us and is the question I'm asking you. Why do we hold Jesus back? This image is not a scriptural picture of Jesus. It is one that religion has taught us. Let it go. Embrace who he is. He's in the thick of it, dancing, laughing, eating, and drinking the wine.
Let this Jesus love you, accept you, and enjoy you. And, as you lead your worship services, make sure you are presenting Jesus as being full of joy, enjoying His creation, and His people, and not a religious wallflower.
Question: What other "religious" ideas do you think we sometimes give that can keep people from experiencing who Jesus really is?
The sad thing is that we all have these "religious" ideas that keep people from authentic worship. Here is a true saying:
"Tradition is the living faith of the dead...traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."
We tend to bind one another with traditionalism rather than releasing them through our living faith. Perhaps we are afraid of anything that follows a different course than the way things always were.
Wow. I think so many of us have not only boxed in Jesus, but his Bride as well. We have so many preconceptions about what the Christian experience is all about, that anything that doesn't fit gets tossed aside. In worship terms, I think we tend to equate the elements of worship (singing, preaching, giving, praying, reading of scripture) with worship itself.
It seems useful to me, for American Christians to experience Christianity and worship in other cultures. What different notions about Jesus might African, Asian, or Eastern European Christian have about Jesus that we haven't even considered? Maybe we would come to understand that our brand of following Jesus isn't the only or even the most authentic one. There is a lot of cultural wiggle-room, even within strict Biblical guidelines.
No matter what cultural preconceptions we have, He did tell us to live life to it's fullest. In His 1st century Jewish culture, I doubt that meant being a wallflower.
I love the idea of worshiping with believers from different cultures than mine. I've had the privilege of doing this a little bit, have you?
I think you're right Vivien and this spirit of "false religion" can be found in any of us. It is my prayer that He destroy every religious notion in us (in me!) that is not of Him.