Seventh-day Adventist® Church

The end of the 35th day, halfway through the Olympic Torch Relay, the day's tour has had a sweet theme. From Kendal (mint cake) to Blackpool (rock). I have been journalling during the 70 day journey, concentrating on how we can focus on experiencing the presence of God. 

I hadn't realised the torch was nipping back into Scotland after it left a few days ago. I hadn't realised I would be in Windsor Castle today, having journalled about it within the last few days. And I hadn't realised how the last 35 days would affect me. An outcome of sharing my ponderings about seeking the presence of God has been that all day, every day, I have been sensitive to things around me that bring my attention to the presence of God.

My ponderings today are reflections of my visit to St George's Chapel, Windsor. I have been attending some meetings this week about Adventist Community Services, at Newbold College, and we took a break to attend Evensong at St George's Chapel, only it was not Evensong this evening, but Evening Prayer. 

I was slightly disappointed that I would not hear choristers enchanting us with their synchronised voices, but never-the-less to sit in the Quire and see the magnificence of this Chapel was mesmerising. 

I had been given a laminated order of service. The 25 minute service was occupied with responsive reading, both from the reusable printout and a prayer book. We heard two recitals from other passages of scripture, but our main "prayer" was Psalm 118, and, as promptly as the exercise finished, the canonical procession left. 

There is too much else I have been disturbed by to ponder on now, but this experience both stagnated and agitated my desire to encounter God in this historically rich place of worship.

The clergymen came in. We stood in silence. We bantered the scriptural passages and written prayers. The sequence seemed more procedural than personal. They left. So did we. 

Matthew 23: 27-28 (NIV)
‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.'

I don't mean to pass judgement on the clergy there today. I post this scripture to think of me, not them. I was repulsed at the thought, the realisation, that we can so easily go through the process, read a text, say a prayer, go to church, stand and sit at the right times, all this looking good, but it is void of the personal longing and experience of an encounter with God.

This troubles me because it is so easy. A simple charade. We can fool others. We might even fool ourselves. But we leave God longing for the intimate us.

-Pr Nathan Stickland