#seeker

Worship, then, needs to be characterized by hospitality; it needs to be inviting. But at the same time, it should be inviting seekers into the church and its unique story and language. Worship should be an occasion of cross-cultural hospitality. Consider an analogy: when I travel to France, I hope to be made to feel welcome. However, I don't expect my French hosts to become Americans in order to make me feel at home. I don't expect them to start speaking English, ordering pizza, talking about the New York Yankees, and so on. Indeed, if I wanted that, I would have just stayed home! Instead, what I'm hoping for is to be welcomed into their unique French culture; that's why I've come to France in the first place. And I know that this will take some work on my part. I'm expecting things to be different; indeed, I'm looking for just this difference. So also, I think, with hospitable worship: seekers are looking for something our culture can't provide. Many don't want a religious version of what they can already get at the mall. And this is especially true of postmodern or Gen X seekers: they are looking for elements of transcendence and challenge that MTV could never give them. Rather than an MTVized version of the gospel, they are searching for the mysterious practices of the ancient gospel. ↗

— James K.A. Smith

#church #gospel #liturgy #mtv #postmodernism

There comes a time in the seeker's life when he discovers that he is at once the lover and the beloved. ↗

— Sri Chinmoy

#comes #discovers #life #lover #once

As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker. ↗

— Annie Dillard

#degrades #love #pleasure #religion #seeker

The counterpart of the suicide is the seeker; but the difference between them is slight. ↗

— Paul Watzlawick

#counterpart #difference #seeker #slight #suicide

The suicide arrives at the conclusion that what he is seeking does not exist; the seeker concludes that what he has not yet looked in the right place. ↗

— Paul Watzlawick

#concludes #conclusion #does #exist #looked

The scientific observer of Nature is a kind of mystic seeker in the act of prayer. ↗

— Muhammad Iqbal

#kind #mystic #nature #observer #prayer

I'm not a weight lifter. I'm a seeker. Weight lifting is so insignificant in my life. ↗

— Sri Chinmoy

#insignificant #life #lifting #my life #seeker

They saw me, those reckless seekers of beauty, and in a night I was famous. ↗

— Lillie Langtry

#famous #i #me #night #reckless

In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents. ↗

— Walter Lippmann

#constituents #court #effect #government #government offices

I'm a total pleasure seeker. I pursue anything that satisfies me. I usually get it. I have specific needs and I know what they are so I can achieve satisfaction. ↗

— Lydia Lunch

#anything #get #i #i can #know