Worship as Soup Kitchen

Worship is not primarily about giving but receiving. Worship is receiving God's good gifts by faith. We hear the Gospel spoken and sung to us and God doesn't receive any benefit at all.

Worship is like a soup kitchen. We are the homeless people. Christ is the soup and the minister is the guy handing out the soup. The guy handing out the soup did not make the soup. He received it from someone else. It is possible that the soup-haning-out-guy could poison the soup or water it down but he's not really responsible for the goodness of the soup. We stand in line and wait for the soup to be given to us. We may have broken legs. We may need to use crutches to get to the soup line. But would we really want to brag about all that we went through to get to the soup line? Our attitude should be one of thankfulness, not of boasting. We should be thanking the guy handing us the soup and especially the One who made the soup.

There are those who refuse to come to the soup kitchen. They have convinced themselves that they have no need for silly things like food. Food is for the weak! Exactly. It would be silly to try to teach them that they need to be more like us. We're sick and crippled just like they are. They don't need to hear about how great we are. We must point them to the soup! Tell them how great the soup is and how you can't wait to get the next bowl. Tell them how satisfying the soup is but how you just can't stop eating it.