"Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.
So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life."
- A.W. Tozer
8 comments:
Hey, thanks for letting Tozer be a guest blogger on your site :)
Tanner Ridge
Yeah... he occasionally has something to say so I thought I'd give him a big break.
I like that quote. I would enrich the analogy by stating one hundred different instruments using the same tuner. It emphasizes the uniqueness of each instrument but the singularity of the sound in tune... like an orchestra playing a symphony.
but then again... don't want to mess with a Tozer quote.
So, i really like this quote, it reminds me of my church.
Thanks for the comment on my blog, how'd you find me?
This quote is a beautiful image of the personal elements of communal worship. is it showing preference to individualism, though? Some people try to tune in by being "personal" with Jesus but they never actually make it to the communal aspect. I don't think God intends us to be tuned in only by him. He made us social so we could tune into each other too. Loving God and loving people happen in the same breath.
That's a great insight, Wes. Do you think they really happen at the same time, though? Jesus separated them by saying the greatest commandment was to love God, and the "second" was to love others.
Is there some wisdom in that pattern in relationship here, too? Might communal worship simply be the mosaic of individual worship? I know that typically Westerners think more individually than Easterners (who think communally), but yet this point in the Scripture seems outspoken as I read it.
That's a good thought.
I never thought "second" was a hierachical value. Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was and he answered with both, you just can't separate them. Great stuff
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