WATCH Me Worship.

And it shall be, when your children say to you, "What do you mean by this service?" Exodus 12:26

Blues legend Buddy Guy is profiled in this week's New Yorker. Appropriately for one tasked with carrying for the genre's fragile legacy, Guy turns and points to those who came before him, especially to the impact Guitar Slim had on Guy as an adolescent. Slim could play behind his back, and between his knees in ways later made famous with Jimi Hendrix. Guy resolved on seeing Slim, "That night I made a decision. I want to PLAY like BB King, but I want to ACT like Guitar Slim."

Our impressions are multifaceted. So is our testimony. Visuals matter along with proficiency and technical obedience. How much enthusiasm and creativity comes through in what we do? How much gratitude is conveyed for the opportunity to do it? Or, by sheer routine, have we long since stopped relating that THIS is the day that the Lord has made, a day in which we have an individualized opportunity to rejoice and be glad in it?

The sensory experiences that go with obedience and excellence might be what those who come behind us notice most. So it is that God institutes the Passover to prompt questions from the next generation like Exodus 12:26. We can tell the story and relate the standards by rote, but actually living them out with flare infects with contagious curiosity. We would not be what the Bible calls eye pleasers, simply looking to make a visual impression without putting our hearts into the work God gives us, but neither would we neglect a 360° testimony simply because we tell ourselves our heart is right.

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