I’ve been thinking a lot about life and worship lately. Reading the book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations has caused me to think about the place and role of worship in our lives. I have come to believe that there is a recipricol relationship between life and worship. Worship is not an option for us. We will worship. The question is what, whom, how, when and where will we worship? Over the course of my life I have worshipped in cathedrals great and churches small. I’ve smelled incense burn, listened to monks chant and struggled to see through the shadows and I have been blinded by the bright lights of a fifteen thousand seat arena and listened as a band played and sang, “the devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal, he was in a bind ’cause he was way behind, he was willing to make a deal.” I’ve been in gatherings where I was one of the only white people there and in gatherings where I was one of the only straight people there, in gatherings where I did not understand the language or know when to sit, stand or kneel, and in gatherings where I was able to speak the liturgy almost from memory. I’ve gone forward and received wine from a common cup that was hundreds of years old and sat in my seat sipping grape juice from a small plastic disposable cup that was purchased the day before. I’ve heard great preaching in unexpected places that made the worship experience even better and poor preaching in unexpected places that took a bit of the shine off of a worship experience that otherwise sparkled. From each of these experiences I have learned that worship requires passion – “caring enough to offer our best, our utmost, our highest.” And so it is with life. Life requires passion, because “without passion, life becomes dry, routine, boring, predictable, having form but lacking spirit.” So it is with worship, so it is with life. Both require passion.