West Cocoa Chat

Rob Bell in his book, “The Velvet Elvis,” talks about sharing “Holy Ground.” He relates one day where his kids are “dry” sledding down a hill next to their home. He said he can remember like he was in the moment, people slowing down as they drove by to watch his kids on the hill, his neighbor relating one of his various stories to him, his wife yelling at him to make sure the kids were safe, and the beautiful weather that particular day.

I had one of those “Holy Ground” experiences yesterday at church. Yes, at church! There was a sequence of 2 songs which for the life of me, I can’t remember what they were, but I do remember what I felt and saw. There was unabashed and unrestricted joy! Some were clapping, some were lifting their hands, some were moving, many were smiling, and the reactions were not bound up by age. These were all things that I’ve always expected at the Pepperdine Lectures or at Zoë Conferences but at church? Wow! I was almost overcome by the emotion of seeing people express their adoration of God.

I guess I must confess that the teens and the college age kids really got to me. I think it was due to the old paradigm of going away to a youth rally or event, seeing how they worshiped at these events, and then coming back home to church and having to dial it down because someone might accuse them of actually having passion for living for Jesus.

Yes, yesterday was a “holy ground” experience for me and praise God, it happened at church. May God give you a “holy ground” experience this week, even at church.