Yesterday, my kids and I headed out to lunch at our favorite BBQ place, and my son ordered a catfish sandwich.
Okay, let me back up and tell you why that statement is huge. One, we were going out to eat for lunch (not at McDonalds) on a weekday. My husband is out of town this week, so it was just us. Second, and this is the big one, Alan has never had a catfish sandwich in his life. The boy who will eat cupcakes but not cake… go figure… ordered something completely off the wall. And he lived.
I suspect it has to do with his goal of becoming an extreme fisherman, like Jeremy Wade of River Monsters. If he's gonna catch these monster catfish, he should learn to eat them. But whatever his motivation, he took an amazing risk and broke out of his routine.
I am very much a creature of habit. I like the smooth predictability of routines. They allow my brain to go on autopilot, freeing up precious mental resources for other things. But I also find that routines can be boring, and can numb me. Especially in worship.
Paul says, "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." (Romans 12:11 NIV)
In the sentence, zeal equals spiritual fervor. It is a passionate pursuit. Next week as we break out of our worship routines for VBS, I could use a little of that fervor restoration.
How do you know you're in a routine in worship? How do you shake things up?