About when the piercing winter wind was turning into chilly flower breeze in March, I visited Oxford, the hometown of my favorite author and scholar, C.S. Lewis. From Edinburgh, where I was staying, I took a train, a bus, then another bus, and walked to arrive at Holy Trinity Church at Headington Quarry, where C.S. Lewis worshiped most of his adult life. Getting lost on the way, I arrived 7 minutes after the start of the service, just to find that the door was locked.
That particular day, my heart was eagerly longing for deep and wholehearted worship. A locked door was not going to stop me from worshiping. I went around the corner of the church and leaned my ears as close as possible to one of the dusty, stain-glassed windows. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t make out the slightest bit of what was being preached, or that I was outside in the cold spring wind getting spider webs on my coat. I worshiped with all my heart, and the warmth of God’s spirit and joy was full. I must say, that morning was one of the most powerful moments of meeting Him in worship.
About 40 minutes into the worship, a lady passing by informed me that the door actually was not locked; I just had to pull hard! I followed her into the sanctuary where I got to participate in the last few moments of the communion. Even though it was silly that I was locked out of an open church, I am so thankful that God called me out alone to meet him in solitude.
Sometimes, the most powerful and intimate encounters with God happens, literally, outside of the church building. May you, too, find stirring moments of worship in unexpected places.
Chan Mi K. is a senior Business Administration and International Affairs Major at Gordon College who recently studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. As one of our interns, most days you can find her hard at work in the Global Education Office. #gordonglobal
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