Avodah - A Powerful Hebrew word that has the strange mixture of worship/work/service. In some verses the word, Avodah means work, as in to work in the field and to do common labor: Exodus 34:21 – “Moses renewing the covenant with God says, “Six days you shall work (adovah),” Psalm 104:23- “Then man goes out to his work (avodah), to his labor until evening.” In other verses, Adovah means worship, as in to worship You, O God. Joshua 24:15 – “but as for me and my household, we will serve (avodah) the Lord.” Exodus 8:1 – ‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship (avodah) me. Taken together, Avodah suggests that our work can be a form of worship where we honor You, Lord God, and serve neighbor. “What a powerful image to think that that the word for working in the fields is the same that was used for worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Israelites understood that work could be a way to honor God and neighbor, to serve God and neighbor, and yes, to worship God and serve neighbor. Avodah. ” ~Avodah Institute Taken together we begin to see what God is describing is our relationship with Him. In the Hebrew language, it is not always clear what is exactly meant in the English, so many lexicons and translations have tried to find the closest word based on the context of the verse. That's why there are some discrepancies between the various translations of the bible.  Some would argue that because of these differences, we can't really know what the original writers meant when they wrote the bible. This is far from the truth, as scholarship of biblical texts is actually getting closer to the original text as more and older documents are found that help the translators to know the true meaning of the bible texts.  To me, this scholarship, the textual, and scholarly review of texts is, in itself an act of worship. I used to think that if someone studied the bible and then wrote out their sermons, that they weren't really inspired the same way my first pastor was when he would speak out the bible and preach without any notes. I was, at one time anti-scholarship because I believed that these scholars weren't as inspired as someone who used to just stand up and preach without preparation. Certainly now, I can tell you the most inspired sermons I've heard are written in books and educational materials and scholarly tomes that attempt to describe our faith and beliefs by studying the ancient scriptures and writing about our faith in Christ as saviour and God as the Creator of the universe. By the way the best sermon I ever read was a very thick book called "God" by Andrus Brakkel, a Dutch pastor in the 17th century. To me this is worship of the highest degree. This is high worship. This is what the Hebrew means by the connection between work/worship/service. This is a tremendous connection and it gives rise to the thinking that there are many forms of worship and many different expressions. That's why giving, and writing, and singing, and playing an instrument and silence and painting, and eating, and parenting and lighting a candle, and marriage and baptism and communion can all be acts of worship. It's all about the atitude of the heart. An act of worship has more to do with the direction or meaning of the heart than the actual act of worship itself.  If you lived as an ancient Hebrew, you would get this connection because everything you do would be a testament, a recognition of God's grace. That's why even today, the Jews will say a prayer before they get up out of bed. Even the act of washing ones hands after going to the bathroom is an act of worship that recognizes God's sovereignty in giving you life and giving you water and sanctifying you for one more day. The gift of life that God gives each and every day is a testimony to God's mercy and the things we do to thank him for it, take many forms. Try saying thank you more often, to God for every good and perfect gift comes down from your Father in heaven.  We can worship Him every hour upon hour upon minute upon every day and with everything we do, We Worship Him.

World news today

Okay, here it is. It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. Yes those are the words to a song. And yes the world is coming to end, soon if you believe what you read on some "end times" sites. Just so you know, I jest. As far as I know the world will end when God says it will end, no sooner, and no later.

By the way I'm talking about earthquakes and tsunamis, and oil spills and hurricanes and earthquakes and storms and accidents and trees falling and Large Hadron Colliders in France/Switzerland.

The large hadron Collider is a physicists dream. It is a multi- billion dollar building that is miles or kilometres in circumference and it is supposed to measure the output and direction of sub-atomic particles when they are smashed together inside this huge machine.

Did you know there was actually a woman who committed suicide because she believed, that when the Larger Hadron Collider was turned on, when the atomic particles smashed into each other, that it would cause a massive shift in the universe and we would be summarily obliterated off the planet and the universe would cease to exist.

This woman was a Christian, and she felt that the Large hadon Collider was going against God's will for mankind and they shouldn't tamper with creation by smashing atoms together. Co-incidentally, the physicists were looking for something called the Higgs-Boson particle also known as the "God" particle and they felt they would find it by smashing atoms together in the Large hadron Collider. At a cost of several hundred billion dollars to look for this particle, they were looking for God?

I can tell you His address and His phone number and even His character. He lives in Heaven, His number is 7729- look on your phone - it means pray. His character can be seen in Jesus Christ. And yes He's got the whole world in His hands - yest there's another song in that one too.

By the way while we're on the subject of the end of the world, I don't think the earthquake in Japan signals anything in the cosmos or here on earth. It was a terrible day for Japan and we need to pray God's mercy on those in that area. The Fukujima nuclear plant is running out of time, and the people in that area need our prayers. If you know any names, then remember them before your Father in heaven. If not, just pray for God's wisdom on the engineers. You can't pay them too much these days.

If you read in Matthew 24, you'll find signs of the impending end. If you read revelation, you get the end of the story. All the way through you'll read about God's love for mankind. This is the foundation for our faith. If you're preaching fear and destruction, how does that give anybody hope or faith? We need to tell people about God's love and care for everybody and He doesn't want any suffering or torment for humanity. God is Love and he loves the people of Japan and China and Burma and Black's and whites and natives and gays and straight, the rich and the poor and the lofty and the lowly. God is not going around killing people to make some point about the end of the world as we know it. God loves the world - And I feel fine.