Challenge For Tomorrow:

One of the books I'm reading this Summer is titled A Royal "Waste"of Time - The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World, by Dr. Marva J. Dawn.

It's a wonderfully interesting discussion of the theology of worship. I say "wonderfully interesting" not because I agree with Dr. Dawn on everything - we end up on opposite sides when we answer several of the questions she asks. But, the questions themselves scratch some itches I've had for a long time. They're thought provoking, and challenge many of the ideas that threaten to derail worship from the way God originally intended it. It's a good read.

Dr. Dawn starts several of the chapters with sermons she's given at various lectureships and churches where she's been invited to speak. One of those sermons struck a chord with me, and challenged me to try something. I wanted to post the idea here before I give it a go. That way, I can take several of you down with me when it's harder than it seems.

The following is an excerpt that can be found on page 219 of Dawn's book, in a sermon entitled "One Hundred B'rakhot."

The habit that I want us to consider this morning is the Jewish practice of trying to say at least 100 B'rakhot a day. That word B'rakhot is the plural form of the noun B'rakha; as I mentioned earlier, it comes from the verb at the beginning of the Hebrew prayer, "Blessed are you" or "Baruch atah." Can you imagine what it would be like if you tried at least 100 times a day to say sentences like these: "Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, that you have created men and women with intelligent minds who have invented alarm clocks so that I woke up on time this morning"; "Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, that you have caused the sun to shine and the rain to fall so that the fruits of the harvest could be made into this breakfast cereal"? How might this change our attitudes?

What the Jews sought - and still seek - to accomplish by saying 100 B'rakhot a day was to find Joy in every aspect of life because of their sense that God is behind it all. Since we eat packaged food, and live in packaged houses, and have plenty of appliances and conveniences, it's quite easy to forget that God is the source of everything. The value of saying a B'rakhot is that we keep remembering that God is King of the universe after all, and therefore He's in control of all that happens. And because he is, everything will be quite all right.

So who's with me? Pick a day this weekend and see how close to 100 you can get. Write them down and report back on Monday. The gauntlet has been tossed down. Let's see how you do.