Be One Whom He Seeks

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4: 23 (NIV)

There are times I mourn some for lost spaces, little nooks and crannies where I’ve found a moment or two of solitude for quiet reflection, even talks with others that began in hushed tones and, as often as not, broke out in laughter. There was the small memorial chapel complete with waterfall/fountain that even worked for a season or two that became a storage facility and then was removed.

There was the space with comfy couches arranged around a fireplace that really worked – or works still for all I know but it's become a multipurpose room now. With a fire going we’d gather around and talk about a Bible verse or story or some sort of personal train of thought and our discussions would range from here to there with tangents and such until a game of some kind would break out. Eventually the group would quiet down as the fire calmed to embers. On a New Year’s Eve some of us would nap there until the word went out that it was time to go and freeze our butts on Colorado Avenue for the Rose Parade.

There used to be a library with real books filling the shelves with Bibles, concordances, journals, expanded studies of all the books of the Bible. It's a craft center now. You could go in there and pull down a book on nearly any Christian topic of the day and study. There was always a current (and several earlier renditions as well) Book of Order. Groups could gather there for in-depth discussion and discovery.

Now reading the verse above I have to chastise myself. Solitude can be found anywhere you set your heart to look. Worship can take place along any pathway, in the midst of a shopping mall, on the beach, on the bike (pedal or otherwise), and in the trenches of everyday life. It’s up to me to find my spot, to make it the Lord’s for His purpose.

And there are still spots that can be found on the campus I refer to here if you find the right time and know where to look. The seekers can find them and there is always time for worship. We must leave space in our lives for quiet contemplation and worship, to make/take the time and find the location holy for His purpose. If we do this, worship while our bodies, even our souls, are busy doing other things, then we become the ones whom the Father seeks.

In His grip,

jerry