“I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also;
I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also.”
~1 Corinthians 14:15
With
social distancing, masks, contact tracing, and very low COVID numbers in our
county; PPC recently added the option of in-person worship. This is in
addition to our other platforms of YouTube live-stream, recorded live-stream,
and FM parking lot broadcast.
As we did, we also took
that moment to “praise” as this ‘next normal’ brought us closer to what we used
to know as normal in this COVID 19 season and the comforting hope that comes with that.
We also
gave praise that over this past five months of virtual worship only we have continued
the actual ministry of Jesus Christ by extending hope however we can make it
real; the use of our shower, assisting with simple shelter (another amazing
God-timing story), investing in a gentleman so he could take and pass a drug
test in order to return to work…
We
gave praise for our role in echoing themes throughout the Bible where we continually
find God’s assurances of better days ahead.
Reflecting
upon the above Corinthians passage, the late Bible scholar William Barclay took
a longer look at this connection between hope and praise:
“The
great things are essentially the simple things; the noblest language is
essentially the simplest language.
In
the end only what which satisfies our minds can comfort our hearts…
…and
only what our minds can grasp can bring strength to our lives.”
We
gather at 10AM for comfort and strength - for us and for all.
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