KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Hardship
DIANA ROSS MCCAIN wrote an insightful article entitled, "The Hardships of Worship..."
In it she described what it was like to worship in a Connecticut church meetinghouse some two-hundred plus years ago. She observed:
"There was no fireplace, no stove, no significant heat source of any kind. Half-frozen men, women, and children, bundled up in their heaviest garments, hunched into themselves to conserve precious body heat and peered through clouds of condensation formed by their breath. In the pulpit the minister himself might be preaching clad in a greatcoat and mittens. At times it got so cold the Lord's Supper froze... Comfort was not a primary consideration of those who constructed early Connecticut meetinghouses. Here one came every Sunday to attend to the serious business of hearing the word of God and how it might be applied to daily life. And that solemn duty was to be carried out no matter what weather it pleased the Almighty to provide."
THOUGHT: Wouldn't it be interesting to some day note the following add in the local newspaper..., "Come worship with us. Our building is cold in the winter; hot in the summer. We use neither heat nor air conditioning. Our pews are not padded. We meet not for physical comfort, but spiritual worship. You are cordially invited."
Now, what was it your were saying about the thermostat...? (Mike Benson)
KneEmail: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" ( John 4:23-24).