Pilgrim's Ponderings

Nov 14 th , 2013 the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will be hosting a Cricket test match between India and the West Indies. Any cricket match played in India is a special one and draws a sizable crowd. But this test match is expected to be sold out and is also expected to witness one of the largest audiences any test match has ever had. There is no number one ranking spot up for grabs and no major international trophy that hangs in the balance. The simple reason for the importance of this match is that it will be swan song of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. In case you don’t know who this is – he is undeniably India’s greatest ever contribution to the world of cricket. Since the time of Gandhi there has not been another man who managed to have the whole nation follow him and hang on his words other than Tendulkar. Somehow this little and outspoken master managed to transcend the boundaries of class, caste, ethnicity, race and religion. He managed to endear himself to the rich, the poor, t...

The last chord is played, the last prayer prayed and the benediction has been given, then the familiar words are heard again – “thank you for a nice time of worship”; “thank you for those songs” etc. While its lovely to hear these words and they come from a sincere heart, I often ask myself what the words mean. When you explore this question you are faced with the underlying question what is worship? There is an element of worship that involves music and singing. There is an element of worship that involves raising hands and voices to our God. But when we delve into it we find worship is so much more and so much richer. In the book of Romans we find Paul writing and urging the Church to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice … which is their spiritual act of worship. Many pastors preach on this passage and through humorous and serious mannerisms try to explain what a living sacrifice is. Worship pastors and leaders love to use the cliché phrase “worship is a lifestyle”. But th...