MISSING THE POINT

As I was on the road this morning I was, as usual, trying to find a way to lovingly talk about how far worship has drifted from biblical reality in most of today's churches.  It's a difficult topic to discuss because many of us, unwilling to confront and discuss possible problems, simply divert the conversation saying that "worship is personal" which basically means - shut up.

For some reason (I like to think God was behind this) the image above came to mind.  This is the eternally famous center of the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo.  I've never see this in real life - I can only imagine how awesome it must be!

I had to go find an image to prove my belief about one aspect of this painting - something that really bugs me - it bugs me a lot, in fact.  I'm not even sure if you notice but, to save time, let me tell you what it is that really bugs me.  For clarity, the figure on the left is Adam (first man).  The figure on the right is God surrounded by His angels.  It is heaven reaching down to touch earth.  The only thing is... GOD'S FINGER IS NOT ACTUALLY TOUCHING ADAM'S FINGER!  It just sort of lingers there, not even making contact!  And that bugs me!  I am focused on the fact (and it IS a fact, because you can see it right there in the painting!) that the fingers ARE NOT TOUCHING!  Would it have been so hard for the painter to just add a few more micro-inches of paint and make the fingers TOUCH?  I bet even I could have done that!  Grab a brush, dab on some paint and FINISH THE PAINTING!

I bet at least one of you reading this thought to yourself, "Hey, uh, Dan - you are missing the unbelievable beauty and effort of the rest of the painting that surrounds what you perceive to be a mistake..."  To which I would say, "Yep."

Friends - this is exactly what we are doing in most of our churches today.  We enter a sacred room set aside for the purpose of completely glorifying (and I mean REALLY glorifying) the Creator, the Master, The Awesome God of all we have ever, or will ever know.  But instead of doing that, we "notice" that there is one extra music stand on the stage that should not be there.  Or we "notice" that one (or dare I say two) of the slides flipped a few seconds late.  Or we "notice" that the worship leader sang the word "the" instead of "a" during the song.  Or we "notice" that one of the lights is out in the sanctuary.

We "notice" that the fingers are not touching...

In a time when the worship in many churches has become not much more than a hectic attempt to produce and perform well-crafted "sets" that include songs about God (so you can call them "worship" with a sense of integrity) but never really ushering the congregation into a deeper awareness of being in the transforming presence of God, through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is upon each of us to stop noticing the disconnected fingers - and focus on the beauty and wonder that surrounds those fingers.