My daughter recently said to me, “I guess it’s really true that when men get older, they get smaller but their cars get bigger.” Now I’m sure that you don’t have children like that who speak so endearingly to and of their parents, but that’s the cross I bear! However, I have noticed this in recent years; God has certainly built me more for comfort and less for speed. It’s the comfort part I enjoy the most in life. For me, there’s nothing like putting on those favorite pair of old slippers on a cold day and sitting in front of a roaring fire, or wearing my soft and pliable loafers on any day. Mind you, it doesn’t matter that the lining of the slippers or the sole of the shoe has seen better days. And, it doesn’t matter either that I’ve been wearing the same pair of either for years, maybe even a decade or two. I also enjoy putting on loosely fitting shorts in the summertime when I arrive home. You know the ones made out of soft cotton, or wearing my favorite sweat pants during the rest of the year. The fabric is soft, yielding (!), but mostly they are comfortable. Comfort is a good thing. In fact, comfort is a great thing! The more comfortable you are the more pleasant you tend to be. But being contented because you are comfortable isn’t necessarily a good thing. Which brings me to our attitude about worship, music in particular. I love the great old hymns of the faith. Some of them even contain great doctrine (!). I also enjoy classical music, almost to a fault. But, I have learned to appreciate other genres of music: jazz and country gospel to name a couple. But should my comfort with the grand old hymns of the faith or Beethoven’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” keep me from worshipping or even enjoying other more contemporary sounds of music? Has not the Holy Spirit blessed the body of Christ with a variety of gifted musicians whose music (melody and words and instruments) can bring as much glory to God as any hymn by Fanny Crosby has? And doesn’t Psalm 150 indicate that there are more instruments with which to praise God other than piano or organ? It seems to me that Paul mentioned in Ephesians that we are to worship with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Now that leaves quite enough room for a variety of sounds, melodies and content. So how’s your worship comfort zone? Got any room in there for another pair of (musical) slippers?