Something weird is happening to me and my wife Penny. Something a little weird and a little wonderful.
· Sometimes, out of the blue, we say the same thing to one another, or having come to the same conclusion about something without even having a conversation.
· We’re two very differently wired people who are more and more thinking the same way.
· I’d say our character now more resembles each other’s than at any other time in our lives.
There’s a reason for this - and it has to do with the way the human brain works.
Our brain is not a single unit. It has two processors – one on the right and one on the left. FYI - resources are in the app notes…some of what I am sharing comes from those resources.
Fun facts:
1. Fascinating Ted Talk by a neuroscientist who had experienced a stroke. It gave her deeper insight into how the left and right brains function: My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
2. Two wonderful books on how the neuro science of the brain impacts our spiritual lives and the Church: Renovated: God, Dallas Willard, and the Church That Transforms and The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation
Right brain:
· All input enters first into the right side of our brain and then passes over to the left. From the look on a friends face to the smell of something cooking.
· The right side starts processing our surroundings and draws conclusions before the left side (where conscious thoughts are formed) is even aware of what is happening.
· In our right brain this is where we develop loving attachments and the emotional connection to others.
· Most importantly the right brain is the source of our character formation.
Left brain is the source of conscious - speech, strategies, problem solving, logic, and stories.
· The left side of the brain is what we commonly think of as the mind.
· The left side of the brain is where plans are hatched arguments are formulated stories are told and truth is defended, and beliefs and doctrines are formed
Comparatively the right brain is fast and the left brain is slow.
· Things are happening to me and in me before I consciously am even aware.
· Hence I’ve formed ideas and connections with my wife seemingly out of the blue – but they’re not…our right brains have attached to each other and we actually become mind to mind.
“The left brain runs at the speed of words; the right brain runs at the speed of joy” Jim Wilder, Neurotheologian
Like I said…this is all very weird and very wonderful.
This introduction let’s call the preface (a la Barry’s appendices). We’ll return to this in a few minutes.
First – I want to re-introduce myself to you all – 3 years ago I stepped away from serving as Senior Pastor of this church.
· I’m far from retired!
· Book offer
Prayer
Today we begin a new series on communing with God…deepening our relational to connection to God…through worship.
Worship definition:
Most literal: Worship = expressions of adoration for God (although people worship all kinds of people and things)
Another definition Worship = an event in which adoration of God occurs
· A worship service, A worship gathering
Even more specifically Worship = the musical part of a church gathering
· Entering a time of worship
Those are all legitimate but here’s an understanding of worship I’d like you to consider: Worship is a “thin space” between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be in this life.
Thin space is a place in which we sometimes see briefly through the veil as thin as gossamer that separates heaven and earth. George MacLeod
With that idea…The purpose of this series is to draw you into these “thin spaces”
Why? It will change you more than you can imagine.
Worship is a “thin space” between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be in this life. When you enter this space, you will be utterly changed.
I want to show you why. Tell you three stories
Psalm 22:3
Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.
Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
Other ways to say what David is trying to express (in Verse 3)
“God inhabits the praise of his people”
“God dwells in the worship of his people”
“God makes his home in the worship of his people”
“God sits in the worship of his people”
“God pulls up the big chair as we worship”
The emphasis on any way you translate it is about the nearness of God and his desire to be attached to us.
· When we worship we enter a thing space in which God is sitting face to face.
Notice what happens to David…
Initially his tone is full of grievance and protest
6 But I am a worm and not a man.
I am scorned and despised by all!
19 O Lord, do not stay far away!
Note the change of tone…
22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.
I will praise you among your assembled people.
24 For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy.
He has not turned his back on them,
but has listened to their cries for help.
25 I will praise you in the great assembly.
I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you.
What happened?
David entered the “thin space”…God pulled up the big chair…and sat in the presence of David. And David was changed.
And David’s right brain began to become more attached to God and he started to become mind to mind with God. In the very same way my mind worked in attachment to Penny.
Worship is a “thin space” between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be in this life. When you enter this space, you will be changed.
Story # 2
Isaiah 6:1 - It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
Note what happens to Isaiah:
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.
What happened? He entered into the “thin space” in which the veil between heaven and earth was transparent. As close to God as he had ever been in his life.
His right brain kicked into gear and he was transformed.
Worship is a “thin space” between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be in this life. When you enter this space, you will be changed.
Story #3 – a group of people…one of them was John.
John 1: 14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
· Made his home among us = Jesus pulled up the big chair. Jesus himself was a thin space. All around him the veil between heaven and earth was as thin as gossamer.
· This is how the young men and women who followed Jesus after a very short 3 years could undergo such unbelievable levels of personal transformation.
o they lived for 3 years in his thin space.
o It wasn’t so much an intense time of learning…but more an intense time of attachment.
· It was 3 years of right brained attachment. Their brains functioned less at the speed of words and more at the speed of joy. They became mind to mind with Jesus.
Can that be possibly true for us as it was for David, Isaiah, John, Mary, Martha, and Peter?
Worship is a “thin space” between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be in this life. When you enter this space, you will be changed.
How do you enter the “thin space”?
It won’t happen so much with your left brain…
First - You have to engage your whole brain with God…not just the left.
· Left is effective in learning but less effective in character transformation
So, how do we practice right brained worship? How do we enter the thin space?
The practice of God’s presence involves listening and waiting in expectancy. Thomas Merton
Practically how to we practice entering into the thin spaces? (alone or together)
· A thin space opened up at that school – God pulled up the big chair.
· No preaching, no service projects, nothing more than singing and prayer and confession.
· For two weeks people who were there were as close to God as they had even been…the result…they became mind to mind with God. They were transformed.
All of it was just a little bit weird and a little bit wonderful.
Worship is a “thin space” between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be in this life. When you enter this space, you will be changed.
Let’s practice.
One of the earliest of all Christian hymns.
In Latin but allow it to draw you to the God who is here.
WHERE charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
WHERE charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.