OK - Finally I understand what has been bothering me about this whole quarter that I couldn't quite pinpoint.

Last week The lesson compared our Sabbath morning worship services to the day of Pentecost.

Other times in the quarter they compared it to the OT sanctuary services.

This week they compared it to John's revelation of Jesus (vision) and to the throne room vision.

The question is asked on Sunday: "How should our worship services elicit in us a similar reaction? That is, shouldn’t we be given a sense of the presence of God, which should humble us? At the same time, how crucial that the Cross be lifted up before us as our only hope of salvation."

Essentially all these examples and the questions that have followed them are like comparing the most dramatic scenes of a relationship (first meeting, engagement moment, wedding, first home, children, etc...) and then asking: "Why can't everyday of marriage be as charged and exciting as these days and what can a couple do to make sure they are that way?"

Here is my issue: John didn't give himself a vision. Moses didn't invent the sanctuary and it's services, Peter didn't plan or initiate pentecost.

It seems like the lessons have been grasping at this utopic, elusive worship experience that we should be able to create on Sabbath morning that will at once make us fall on our faces in humility and shout for joy with singing at the same time. In looking to do this all these dramatic scenes are pulled from Scripture and compared to Sabbath morning when upon close examination there is no substantial comparison at all.

Furthermore we are not pagans. We do not invoke God's presence even though we use the pagan term - invocation. God does not appear when we conjure Him up like the spirits do.

Worship in the true Biblical model is man seeking after God because God was first seeking after him. It is man finding Him even though He was always there waiting and knocking and calling and wooing.

Sabbath morning is a gathering of men and women, most of whom should have been through this encounter experience already. It did happen because of a formula they mastered or a prayer they repeated. It happened when God's Spirit responded to a person's invitation.

The when and the where and the how is different for all of us. For some like Saul/Paul it is wildly dramatic and never forgotten. For others it is as though the connection was always there like John the Baptist. For others there is a following and a journey of discovery and understanding that has no fixed point or AHA moment like Peter and the disciples.

On Sabbath morning men and women who love God and live to serve Him gather to celebrate and deepen each other's experience by sharing, and studying, and singing and praying. Some Sabbath's will deeply impress one and not so much another. Another Sabbath will be different again.

My point is do not get caught in the trap or false idea that unless Sabbath morning has some wow factor it isn't worship or that if my marriage isn't hollywood like everyday than maybe we're not really in love.

If our worship is God centered, and leads members closer to the cross and the gospel of Jesus Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world then it is God honouring.

If people leave more fully understanding the truth that "If I see the blood I will pass over" worship has taken place.

If people leave reassured that in an uncertain world the Rock of Ages is always solid and trustworthy, worship has taken place.

If people leave knowing that their burdens are lifted only at calvary worship has taken place.

The singing may not be worthy of Carnegie Hall but if it lifts up Christ God listens with joy.

The preaching may not be Television smooth or PhD deep, but if it point to the Lamb and gives hope to the fallen, it echoes true in the courts of heaven.

The God on the mountain is still God in the valley and worship in the valley is as real as mountain top experiences. He is Holy Holy Holy. How and when He reveals that to each of us or to a church as a body is up to Him not us. In the mean time, worship Him in Spirit and Truth!

There is just no comparison to the awesome encounter of John, or Daniel, or Jeremiah, when they were given a glimpse of God Himself. That experience totally overpowered their vision and thoughts and nothing else mattered.