When the people of Israel were standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, and the lightning flashed,

and God approached in a dense and thickiergaard one time was all exercised

about 19th century European culture, and he said, let others complain that

this culture is wicked.

My complaint is that it is paltry.

He was complaining that culture had lost its passion, and he said, when I get distressed about this, he said, my thoughts return again and again

to the Old Testament.

For there I find people who lie and steal and kill and cheat and commit adultery, he said, people of passion, they're alive.

And the Word of God comes alive to me through the real episode of real people.

Well, for Kierkegaard, the Old Testament read like a novel,

indeed a steamy novel.

And as I was analyzing this, I said, yes,

I like the Old Testament because it has these narratives that are rich and graphic

and concrete and people can understand them and relate to them.

But there's something else, something far more important that draws me as a magnet to the pages of the Old Testament.

And it has to do with worship. me as a magnet to the pages of the Old Testament.

And it has to do with worship.

It has to do with what happens on Sunday morning.

We come to church on Sunday morning and we look at our watches, don't we? Beloved, when the people of Israel were standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, and the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared,

and God approached in a dense and thick cloud. Nobody looked at their watch. They were terrified.

The Word of God says they trembled.

And they knew they were in the presence of the holy.

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