In the third week of Advent, we focus on peace. Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is instead found in being in God’s Will. God promises a peace that goes beyond our human understanding.
In a cultural practice of that time, tension arises between Abraham’s two wives. Sarai is jealous of Hagar, and encourages Abram to banish her, so against better judgement he does. In a moment that looks bleak, and heart breaking, God shows up in surprising ways to care for Hagar and her son. God’s grace has this ability to break into our lives in all kinds of ways if we are aware of it.
How many times have you thanked someone for something for them to reply, “no big deal.” What if all things in God’s hands are a big deal? Not in some ominous sense, or to make you stress out about every choice you make, but an encouragement that holding a door, a kind text message, a passing comment, all could make a big difference in someone else’s life.
What is worship? I think this is an important question for us to ask and have a good understanding of as Christ followers. We often interchange the word worship with the word music and only associate it with a genre of music or the singing time in service. But what if it is much more than that? We will explore together what worship is, why we worship and what worship looks like.