|
Serving God in Everything
worship" (Romans 12:1-2). The author is Paul Tournier, the amazing Swiss medical doctor and Christian author who developed the "medicine of the person." SERVING GOD IN EVERYTHING For the fulfillment of his purpose God needs more than priests, bishops, pastors and missionaries. He needs mechanics and chemists, gardeners and street sweepers, dressmakers and cooks, tradesmen, physicians, philosophers, judges, and shorthand typists . . . I do not serve God only in the brief moments during which I am taking part in a religious service, or reading the Bible, or saying my prayers, or talking about him in some book I am writing, or discussing the meaning of life with a patient or a friend. I serve him quite as much when I am giving a patient an injection, or lancing an abscess, or writing a prescription, or giving a piece of good advice. Or again, I serve him quite as much when I am reading the newspaper, traveling, laughing at a joke, or soldering a joint in an electric wire. I serve him by taking an interest in everything, because he is interested in everything, because he has created everything and has put me in his creation so that I may participate in it fully. "It is a great mistake," wrote Archbishop William Temple, "to suppose that God is interested only, or even primarily, in religion." - Paul Tournier (1898-1986) in THE ADVENTURE OF LIVING, SCM Press, 1960; as collected in EERDMANS' BOOK OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS: A TREASURY OF CHRISTIAN WRITINGS THROUGH THE CENTURIES, compiled by Veronica Zundel, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985, p. 103. You may enjoy this short biography of Paul Tournier: http://users.hol.gr/~croton/tourniebioen.html Happy New Year! Have a great week, Chip Stam Director, Institute for Christian Worship School of Church Music and Worship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky www.carlstam.org www.sbts.edu |