Thursday, December 1, 2011

Thoughts on Sewage, Worship and Christmas

Last night when I walked into rehearsal, the auditorium was a mess and half of the chairs were missing.  To make a long story short, it turns out a storm drain had leaked sewage, which seeped up from the ground through the building's foundation and somehow soaked the carpet.  I don't know the why's and how's behind this, but I can tell you that it smelled really, really bad (and I grew up around dairy farms, so I'm quite tolerant of the smell of manure...)

We began rehearsing the worship songs for Sunday.  It was a bit hard to concentrate due to the smell, but about halfway through the first song I suddenly had a realisation:

This is amazing!  Christmas is coming up, Jesus was born in a stable (most probably), and it must have smelled a lot like this.  What a fitting backdrop from which to sing worship!  If the smell of (forgive my English) crap was not beneath Jesus, then why should it be beneath me?  How can I have the arrogance to expect a clean, sanitised and comfortable environment?  Do I really need such confined, narrow parameters in order to praise God? I was humbled once again by the great lengths to which He went in order to love me.

I stood in the auditorium, breathed deeply, and actually came to a point of feeling grateful for the sensory experience.  I closed my eyes and let my mind take me to that night which began the Incarnation - the embodiment of God in human flesh. And though I am not sure, I think the worship was a beautiful fragrance last night.

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