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Today's
Meditation:
I find it
fascinating that people have made so many rules about
worship. "If you're not doing it my way,"
we seem to be saying, "you're doing it
wrong." And add to that, of course, "If
you're not worshiping my God, you're wrong."
None of us have seen God, though, and none of us have
spoken directly with God (or have we?), so all of these
rules and claims to know the only true God are simply
guesses. While you may have faith that your way is
the "right" way, someone else with different
beliefs has just as strong a faith that her or his way is
correct. The real truth is, though, that it doesn't
matter.
If we
keep ourselves open to life and love, if we constantly
seek to see and do good and to spread kindness, if we
allow ourselves to submit to life and not try to control
it, we will be in a position to worship. And worship
doesn't need to be with established prayers at established
times. If that's what moves you, then of course
you're free to follow prescribed methods of worship, but I
worship best personally when I'm hiking in a forest, far
from "civilization," or when I'm running and my
mind is focused only on the running. I worship well
when I see a sunset and my mind is filled with
wonder. I worship well when I'm sitting on the couch
on a dark day, listening to rain fall or watching snow
fall.
We
like rules, and we like being part of crowds. We
like houses of worship, where lots of other people are
worshiping in the exact same way that we are, with prayers
and songs and readings from holy books. But to say
that someone else isn't truly worshiping because they're
not doing what we're doing is simply arrogant, and
completely unfair to them.
Let's
worship in our own ways, and allow others to find the ways
that best suit them. Let's not judge others simply
because they're not doing what some other people told us
is the right way, and we chose to believe them. And
let's search out some new and unique ways of worshiping
for ourselves, ways that may open new doors or windows in
our relationship to what we conceive God to be. The
possibilities and the breadth of God are endless, so let's
not let our limited forms of worship limit God, too.
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