Worship, Pizza & The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
One of the things I'm trying to do during the Wired for Worship series is demystify worship. Let me put praise in pizza terms.
A few months ago, part of our team flew back to Chicago for the multi-site conference at Willowcreek Community Church. I was really excited about the conference. But I was equally excited about getting Lou Malnati's pizza.
I spent half of the plane ride thinking and talking about Lou Malnati's pizza. I love Lou Malnati's. A lot. There is pizza. And there is Lou Malnati's pizza. The whole time I'm trying to figure out where the nearest Lou Malnati's is and when we can break away from the conference to get some.
So we show up at Willowcreek and they've got a speaker's lunch before the conference. What do you think they served? Yeah. Lou Malnati's pizza. I'm in seventh heaven at this point. But it gets better. The wife of the owner is at the lunch. And she's sitting at my table! I felt like I was in the presence of greatness! She told me that I am the first person to ever ask her for her autograph. I've got her autograph on a Lou Malnati's napkin. It's one of my prized possessions.
I'm sure the other people at the table thought I was nuts, but we talked about Malnati's the whole time! I shared some of my favorite Malnati memories. Then we got onto the topic of their cookie desert. They serve a hot Chocolate Chip cookie in a pizza pan with ice cream and whipped cream. If that's wrong I don't want to be right!
I even told her that we were building a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill, but if she was willing to franchise we'd scrap our entire plan and go with a pizza place! I was half-kidding :)
Here's what I'm trying to say: I sang the praises of that pizza! Why? Because we praise that which we enjoy! It's natural. Or supernatural.
C.S. Lewis said it this way: "Praise is the culmination of our enjoyment of anything."
I think heaven will be filled with praise because we'll enjoy God more and more and more.
By the way, if you can't wait till the marriage super of the Lamb, you can order online Lou Malnati's and it'll be delivered to your door overnight.
A few months ago, part of our team flew back to Chicago for the multi-site conference at Willowcreek Community Church. I was really excited about the conference. But I was equally excited about getting Lou Malnati's pizza.
I spent half of the plane ride thinking and talking about Lou Malnati's pizza. I love Lou Malnati's. A lot. There is pizza. And there is Lou Malnati's pizza. The whole time I'm trying to figure out where the nearest Lou Malnati's is and when we can break away from the conference to get some.
So we show up at Willowcreek and they've got a speaker's lunch before the conference. What do you think they served? Yeah. Lou Malnati's pizza. I'm in seventh heaven at this point. But it gets better. The wife of the owner is at the lunch. And she's sitting at my table! I felt like I was in the presence of greatness! She told me that I am the first person to ever ask her for her autograph. I've got her autograph on a Lou Malnati's napkin. It's one of my prized possessions.
I'm sure the other people at the table thought I was nuts, but we talked about Malnati's the whole time! I shared some of my favorite Malnati memories. Then we got onto the topic of their cookie desert. They serve a hot Chocolate Chip cookie in a pizza pan with ice cream and whipped cream. If that's wrong I don't want to be right!
I even told her that we were building a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill, but if she was willing to franchise we'd scrap our entire plan and go with a pizza place! I was half-kidding :)
Here's what I'm trying to say: I sang the praises of that pizza! Why? Because we praise that which we enjoy! It's natural. Or supernatural.
C.S. Lewis said it this way: "Praise is the culmination of our enjoyment of anything."
I think heaven will be filled with praise because we'll enjoy God more and more and more.
By the way, if you can't wait till the marriage super of the Lamb, you can order online Lou Malnati's and it'll be delivered to your door overnight.
2 Comments:
luv ya pastor, I really do. It's a joy to read you blog. Thanks for sharing.
PA
Hey - anytime you can put things in terms of pizza and/or desert I AM THERE!
Is it wrong to hope that heaven will include an 'all you can eat' pizza buffet from Lou Malnati's (or in my case Gino's East in downtown Chicago) with a Cheesecake Factory glass case full of cheesecake? (and of course in heaven you would never be told they were "out" of any particular flavor...)
P.S. looking forward to hearing your podcast with Terry!
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