Sunday night I went to the kick-off service of Reimagine Worship, the new emerging worship service being done at my friend, Pastor Fred's church, Redeemer Lutheran in Park Ridge. It was well done, and I really enjoyed being part of a service that I wasn't responsible for pulling off. I rarely get to experience that anymore. I download Rob Bell sermons all the time, so I get my intellectual fix that way, but to really sing and meditate and pray and worship is rare. So it was good.

Fred offered a few reflections on Palm Sunday and about how sometimes you just need to worship. He encouraged us to have the uninhibited abandon of the revelers on their way to Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday. And it was a good message for me. I came into the service with all my worries and busy-ness, but I was able to put that aside and just enter into worship. The Lectio Divina time was helpful towards that end - they showed an 11-minute video that read through the "Do not worry" passage from Matthew and invited us through image, song and words to just sit and reflect and let go of our concerns.

However, the main attraction was a performance by Aradhna, a band that "captures the beauty and intimacy of India's Bhajan's with music that blends East and West." (Bhajans are devotional songs composed by devotees of Christ known as Yeshu Bhaktas.) The music was just amazing and beautiful and... I really don't have the words to describe it. It took me to another place. Let me put it this way - it reminded me of why I believe there is something deeper to reality, why I don't have trouble believing in the existence of a God who lies behind all creation and put a spark of him/herself into all our experiences. The music wasn't just beautiful and worshipful, it was significant - heavy with meaning and connection. I can't describe it any better than that.