Invocation at the Worship Service (but also the opening prayer at Tuesday Men's Bible study) is not so much to call God to the gathering, but the reverse; to call ourselves to be present in the moment and to hearken to the abiding presence of God. In other words we address ourselves to God, but in fact it is we who need addressing; thus the calls are to our fellow worshippers and theirs to us.
Similarly, the space for praise and prayer has no inherent supernatural mystery or capacity to bridge our workaday lives to the world of the divine. Instead that bridge is built with the gathering of the believers and those wanting-to-believe. The material trapping and arrangement of color, symbols, textures and substances, sound and light may well frame or support the flesh and blood components of the undertaking, but these physical "props" are just that --place holders that point us in the right direction. Polytheists may well say the same of idols: these are not immanently divine. They are visual devices to hold the attention of the aspirant. What is the creative and living force cannot be set in stone or metals.
Similarly, the space for praise and prayer has no inherent supernatural mystery or capacity to bridge our workaday lives to the world of the divine. Instead that bridge is built with the gathering of the believers and those wanting-to-believe. The material trapping and arrangement of color, symbols, textures and substances, sound and light may well frame or support the flesh and blood components of the undertaking, but these physical "props" are just that --place holders that point us in the right direction. Polytheists may well say the same of idols: these are not immanently divine. They are visual devices to hold the attention of the aspirant. What is the creative and living force cannot be set in stone or metals.
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