Autumn Trees and Wasting Time

I spent part of this afternoon reading in one of Fairmont's public parks. It's been a nice day - brilliant sky, warm sun, riotous autumn colors and a great book.

I'm reading A Royal "Waste" of Time: The Splendor of Worshipping God and Being Church for the World  by Marva J. Dawn (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999)

I'm usually a quick reader -not a speed reader, reading a page every 30 seconds, but I do read quickly.  Except when I read Marva Dawn.  I slow down and ponder as I read.  I come away from her books with a hundred new thoughts and having added another 20 books to my "to read" list. 

Here's a brief quote from the introduction:

"A Royal Waste of Time" intends to counteract the current push for worship to be the means by which people are attracted to God.  Of course, people will be attracted when we worship well, but if we make such appeal the focus of worship, then God will no longer be. Worship is idolatry unless it is a total waste of time in earthly terms, a total immersion in the eternity of God's infinite splendor for the sole purpose of honoring God.  It is my prayer that the One whose splendor fills our corporate praise will draw us through the pages of this book to worship him extravagantly and, as a result, to be his people more faithfully and to serve our neighbors more lavishly.