Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Worship - the celebration of faith of the people of God
Ezekiel: 47. 1-11.
V1b” And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from the south of the altar.”
              This is the vision of the prophet Ezekiel. He saw a river emerging from the Temple, flowing eastward beginning as a trickle and becoming a deep river. Trees will grow along the banks. As river flows into the Dead sea, this water turns it into clean water for the life of fishes. Through the above vision of Ezekiel we see the origin of worship, the place of worship, the form of worship and the final result of worship.
  1. Where to worship? 
We can see the answer to this in the conversation of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:16-26. Worship transcends space and we can worship our Lord in all places when we worship Him in truth and spirit. We would be able to experience the presence of God in the place where ever we worship.
  1. Why do we worship? To glorify God.
He is our creator and we are His creations. In the book of Isaiah chapter 6: verses 1-8 we can see the vision of Isaiah about worship. Isaiah was seeing the glory of God in worship. In worship we should glorify God and see the glory of God.
  1. Worship helps to have self examination and self evaluation.     
Worship helps to find out the unclean nature and the emptiness of our life. The Samaritan woman was giving many excuses to Jesus when he asked her for a drink. Sometimes we are also like her - giving excuses to Jesus when he tries to shed light into our inner life to show  the unclean nature of our life. In the book of Isaiah, the prophet made a self examination and found out that he was a man with unclean lips and living in the midst of people with unclean lips. What is this unclean lip? The gossiping lips, the slandering lips and the self boasting lips. The true worship helps us for a self examination of our life. It leads in to a realization of the need of cleansing. Every Holy Communion is for the people who seek to cleanse their life with the fiery piece of coal from the altar.
  1. Worship helps to find out the real source of our life. 
The Samaritan woman found the Messiah through the communication of Jesus. Worship is true communication of the creations to the creator that recognizes Him as the Messiah. Through worship we realize the real source and the meaning of eternal life. Isaiah found the worship of heaven in his vision and the angels saying "Holy, holy, holy".  St. John in the book of Revelations chapter 4 also saw the angels saying "Holy, holy, God almighty". 
  1. Worship should reveal our calling.( Liturgy after Liturgy)
The Samaritan woman went to the village and witnessed the messiah to the people. Isaiah heard the voice a say “whom shall I send and who shall go for me”? In worship we should submit ourselves to hear the calling of the Lord. After the celebration of worship, we should proclaim and witness the experience of the glory of this God. It is called a liturgy after liturgy.
Worship is the glorification of God and the celebration of our faith. It is to experience the source of life and transmit this everlasting life to others through the experience of our life.
PRAYER
O Lord our creator and the redeemer, we thank you for the opportunity  to worship you and celebrate our faith in worship. O Lord enable us to see our unclean nature of life and help us to cleanse it through worship. Enable us to realize the source of life, embrace everlasting life through our worship and accept your calling to fulfill your purpose in our lives. Amen

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“The greatest waste in all the earth, which can’t be recycled or reclaimed, is our waste of the time God has given us each day”.

P. T. Mathew, TheMar Thoma Church of Dallas, Farmers Branch
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the 

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