Worship

It's been intriguing, as we have spent time in Nepal and India, to observe the worship which is such a part of everyday life. Shines, mostly Hindu, some buddist, adorn almost every corner, alleyway, shop, cafe and home you pass. They are not mere ornaments, or old relics left from days gone by. They are such an integral part of the daily ritual of life. From the water (and food etc) offerings known as “puja” that shop keepers make as they sprinkle the pavement in

front of their shops to the woman on the way to the market who, on autopilot, slips down a side alley to a large square and approaches the shine there ringing the bell and walking around the shrine clockwise, spinning the prayer wheels as she goes. We have watched, in the big temples, streams of people purchase plates of food and flowers on the road leading to the temple then wind their way to the god of wealth, mahalaxmi, to offer their recently purchased plate.

Offering such a plate, which costs 55 indian rupees (about 75p) is, according to the man I spoke to, certain to mean the god will answer your request. The temples are about the only place we've seen Indian's actually queue! They queue for ages to make their offerings to the gods, getting just a few seconds at the shine to push their offerings forward.

Everyone seems to be making a spiritual pilgrimage, and every event or circumstance is seen as a result of the planets, or the stars. We met a family, a man, his children and his mother, on a train journey who were on a journey to a temple far from home. They were going to pray to the god there for the mans marriage. He told us that, because of where the planets were when he was born he was destined to have problems in marriage. He went bald young and so it was difficult to have him married off, but his mother prayed to this god and he got married. Now his wife lives somewhere different from him because she has an allergic reaction when she is near him so instead of spending their wedding anniversary together he is off to the temple with his mum to pray.

Of course the shrines contain images of the gods, over 3,000,000 in Hinduism...rather hard to keep track of and quite a number to have to appease! Some have huge statues of the “deity”.

For us, as people who know, love and follow Jesus, it has brought the scriptures very much alive. Suddenly the many passages, both in the old and new testaments, which deal with idol

worship are so explicitly clear and relevant. It seems to us almost as though Paul, the apostle in the Bible, could have been standing at our side at times speaking into the very situations we were witnessing. Just like in the times of the new testament we could see that “they...exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Romans 1:23 and that “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator.” Romans 1:25.

Our impressions are that most of the people we have met or observed are enslaved to their religion, having to make sacrifices to so many gods in the desperate hope their prayers will be answered. We have appreciated in a new way our freedom in Christ, and I understand even better now how amazing it is that the gift of life God gives us is absolutely free!

Of course, we are not trying to say that what we have seen here in terms of worship is exclusive to the east. In the west we are the same, enslaved often to our material possessions. It's just been so explicitly clear here to see and so embedded in the culture and in each individual's life.

We thank God, as I write this on Good Friday, for what he sacrificed so that we could know Him. We thank God for the cross. We thank God that we know “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” Romans 8:28, that we don't have to appease God, we just need to believe in Him and trust him. What a good God we have :o)