Thursday, May 08, 2008

My God...

Have you ever been in a church/worship setting singing along and stopped to wonder, "What on earth am I singing?" I do it all the time. I'm the kind of person who wants to analyse everything; I love layers of meaning, and I love asking myself questions about the things that I believe in. The other day I was in church and we were singing the song "How great is our God". I was singing away, and then something in my mind turned. I stopped singing and thought, "I don't own God, so how can I say how great MY God is?" Maybe your mind doesn't bend this way, but for me, I was struggling. I really struggle with people who like to polarise, you know the ones who make all kinds of extreme statements that separate people into two different camps; us vs. them. I don't think God really wants people to separate as much as God wants to unite people. Love, as strange as this may seem, is confronting because it breaks down the barriers that difference can create. Love sees people who are other as common because we share in the commonality of humanity.

So, I don't own God. For me, God is the ultimate mystery and we'll only catch a glimpse through the lens of love.

3 Comments:

At 19 May, 2008 01:23 , Blogger B.C. said...

Yes, I have been in a church/worship setting singing along and stopped to wonder, "What on earth am I singing?"*

Sometimes I quite dislike the genericness and use of words in songs that we sing in church. Sometimes it feels so shallow and fake and happy and false. Sometimes, though, I quite enjoy just singing along, without thought. We sang this song tonight. I didn't remember till after, but I would have liked to see if you were singing along or standing silent.

* Albury, S., (2008), "My God...", Conversations, http://sime-conversations.blogspot.com

 
At 19 May, 2008 01:24 , Blogger B.C. said...

PS. HARVARD STYLE baby. ha.

 
At 22 May, 2008 12:28 , Blogger Sime said...

Thanks for your thoughts. I've actually had a bit of a shift of feeling on this issue of late. A friend of mine was telling me that for him, it doesn’t matter what words are sung, or how the music is played, because for him worship is about what he brings and is between God and him. I've tried this over the last two weeks and have found an amazing change. When I alter my attitude to worship, I can engage far deeper and find meaning in songs that I may disagree with intellectually because my worship is for God, and between myself and God. Thus allowing me to worship regardless. It's been fantastic!

 

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