Worship or Entertainment
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. —Psalm 95:6-7
In olden days they crowned the king and tied a cap and bell on the court fool; today we crown the fool and tie a tin can on the king.
The court fool, as every reader of history knows, was a professional jester or comedian retained at court to provide the king some comic relief from the serious and sometimes dangerous business of ruling the country.
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This ancient jester, or fool, occupied a unique position which he won by his quick wit and his talent for amusing people. He was loved for his ability to convulse a dignified assembly with his sidesplitting humor, sometimes aimed at one of the great men present or even at the king himself, though it was a bit risky to make the king the butt of a joke, for the jester never knew whether his majesty would accept it good-naturedly and laugh with the rest or have him whipped and thrown into prison for his impertinence. At best he was treated with the affection shown to a house pet; at worst he was kicked and cuffed about, either because his wit was too pointed or because he couldnít think of anything funny when his royal boss called for it.
Seeing that we humans were once created in the image of God and that we have by our sin fallen into a state of spiritual blindness and mortality, I would rather be a serious-minded dolt concerned about eternal life than to be an overpaid jester with nothing better to do than to make men laugh and forget that they must die and come to judgment.
Prayer
Deliver me from entertaining church services, Lord. May I and Your people seriously study Your Word and worship You.
Thought
Is it cultural pressure that has caused us to open our services of worship to "court-jesters"--entertaining music, homilies and humor? Do we need to rediscover worship and the Spirit-anointed exposition of God's Word
Used with Permission
