In the quaint and classic allegory of Christian living, The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan has Christian and Hopeful in the Dark Valley where they have many trying experiences. Then they are taken by shepherds into the Delectable Mountains, and here they are permitted to look through the Perspective Glass. Such an instrument is now known as a telescope or a binocular, but Bunyan called it a Perspective Glass, and very logically so, for it was a glass by means of which one could get perspective on dim and distant things.

Anyway, looking through this glass, Christian and Hopeful are able to see beyond the Dark Valley - and yonder on a high mountain they see the Heavenly City in all its wonder. Seeing it, they are able to overcome the perils of the valley, and make their way on through to victory at last.

You know, in a very real way, worship time is perspective time. It is a time for getting a better view of distant glories, for seeing beyond all the immediate things that press in upon us, for having an inspiring glimpse of inviting summits that call us ever onward and upward.

May this hour of worship, for you today, be a time when your horizons are widened to include wonders you never saw before.