Tag: prayer

Narrowed Ways

Read: Matthew 7

Focus

‌“Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” —Matthew 7:13-14 (NRSVue)

Devotion

‌Depending on the publisher (including online ones), much of Matthew 7 is broken into sections. This is instead of the long speech that it is (including the chapters themselves). Our focus verse (similar to Luke 13:23-30) is often popped out all on its own, leading us to conclude that it stands alone.

‌This chapter is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount remains challenging to this day. As such, there are not sections that one can tear out separately from the rest.

‌All too often, the focus verses become solely about doing the right thing and living the right life. I’ve heard sermons preached, and I’ve preached them. However, when we put the focus passage in its context (within the Sermon on the Mount), it gets a bit harder (even arguably impossible) to think that way.

‌If we look at just the verse before:

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12 (NRSVue)

‌…and the verse after:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
Matthew 7:15 (NRSVue)

…perhaps our perspective would change.

‌What if, instead of being a standalone set of verses about narrow gates and hard roads, they were the transition verses between treating others as you’d have them treat you and looking out for false prophets?

‌Many of us have inherited a high view of the Scriptures (which we, I believe, should have). However, a high view of the Scriptures is, in many circles, a rigid view of the Scriptures, which does not allow for setting aside of traditions, such as looking at the narrow gate and hard road verses in isolation from the rest of Jesus’ words that Matthew has happening during a single event.

Reflection

‌In our expanded context of Matthew 7:12-15, we are presented with the Law, the prophets, and the false prophets. How might verse 12 impact your understanding of verse 15, when taken together? How does this affect your thinking about verses 13–14?

Act

‌As you read the Scriptures, remember that while the Books are valid separations, chapters (except for the Psalms and Proverbs) and verses are not the original way the Scriptures were presented. Instead of defaulting to chapter, verse, and heading, read the words, and see what that does to change how you read and what you read.

‌???? Prayer

‌Jesus, you have the Word of eternal life. Let us remember with honor and dignity that through you all of Creation was made, that words do mean much, especially yours. Holy Spirit, guide our reading of the Scriptures that we are transformed from the inside out. God, forgive us when the tools that we deem to help us, interfere with what you have to say to us today. Amen.

2024-01-26
Our Blindings

Read: Luke 13:23-30

‌‌‌????Focus

“For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord, and he examines all their paths.”
Proverbs 5:21 (NRSVue)

Devotion

‌When you read the passage (Luke 13:23-30), what did you focus on? Did you focus on Jesus’ command to enter the narrow door? Did you focus on its narrowness?

‌While Jesus’ answer is very important, you’ll note he didn’t actually answer the question, at least in any way that is definitive.

‌“Lord, will only a few be saved?” (Luke 13:23 NRSVue)

‌What if the issue is the question itself?

‌“There are no right answers to wrong questions.”
Ursula K. Le Guin

‌

If you don’t ask the right questions, you don’t get the right answers.
Edward Hodnett

‌How did you read the question in the passage? Is the asker wanting to know who gets in and who is kept out (exclusionary)? Or is the asker wanting to know if they can even make it?

‌Our reading of the question helps us define the answer, thus understanding how we see the question is important. Is it a question of rule or a question of grace?‌

Another possible view is the end goal of the asker. Is this about seeking the best way, the sure way (what can I get away with), or a different way?‌

What if Jesus’ long answer was less about rules and such, but instead about focus? Are you focusing on Jesus (God) and God’s ways, or are you focusing on the behaviors of others?

‌What if the narrow way is more like a horse wearing blinders? A horse that wears blinders is doing so because their rider or driver is seeking to keep them from being distracted from everything around them, and wanting the horse to focus on what’s ahead, and on the rider (driver).

Reflection

‌When you first read the passage, what was your focus on? Has your focus changed at all? Do you ever find yourself watching others more than you are watching and seeking God?

Act

‌Find one small and simple thing can you remove from your life to narrow your focus on God.

‌???? Prayer

Help us to look ahead to you, Lord God, and not look side to side at others. Amen.

2024-01-25
People Past

‌Read: Psalm 25; Isaiah 25:6-9; Philippians 3:20-21; John 6:37-40

Focus

‌“This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”
John 6:40 (NRSVue)

Those who have died, that have been a direct part of our lives, they still live. Our hearts and memories hold them close (or far). Their good and bad helped shape us, for good and bad.

Devotion

Today is All Souls Day. The day that is also termed as the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. However, even those who do not believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior have had an impact on those of us who do so believe. It might be a stretch to want to take a church tradition and expand it, but the truth is that many of us have that person who is gone, who we miss.

‌They may have not been a believer. They may have been baptized as infants or children, but were either not raised in the faith, or lapsed. Depending, of course, on one’s tradition/theology, that baptism may or may not seal them to Christ. Ultimately, it isn’t up to us.

‌This is a little personal, I suppose. My stepfather died a number of years ago (my mom has since remarried to a good man). I realized all the conversations we didn’t have, and they are a source of regret. I remember learning that my stepfather had been baptized as a child. That was news to me. I learned it as he was being lowered into his grave.

‌Then I looked at his library. He was an avid reader. He read far more broadly than I ever have. What shocked me was the books about the Bible and religion. As an English teacher, they shouldn’t have surprised me. They were read. They had not been ignored or put on a shelf and forgotten (like many of my books), though they may have not been read in quite some time. Who knows where is heart really was with Christ? I could assume. I do hope.

‌Did my stepfather and I have issues? Of course! Yet, he still formed me. It is not unreasonable to grieve that he is gone. He was long part of my life. There is a hole where he was. My mom, dad, stepmom have their own places in my life, so this is not exclusionary, which is also important. No person can ever take the place of another.

‌Another can help you heal from the damage of bad history (including abuse), but they cannot replace someone else.

‌Perhaps today ought to be the day we set aside in our calendar to remember, mourn, celebrate, reflect, upon the lives of others and how they touched us. If you’re reading this, you are likely a believer in Jesus Christ. As such, we who believe also call Jesus the Redeemer. We can take solace, hope, and joy in that. Jesus can redeem both the joys and pains in regard to those who have touched our lives.

‌May it be so.

Reflection

‌Which deceased person has affected your walk with Christ (for good or bad)? How did they affect your walk? How do you imagine their life through the eyes of Jesus?

Act

‌Ask another person who the most impactful deceased person has been in their life, and share yours. As you talk together, where can you see the redemptive power of Jesus?

‌???? Prayer

‌God, you have place people in our lives to help guide us into your ways. Some of them have been undisguised blessings, some are so through the redemptive power of your Son. Holy Spirit, guide our hearts and thoughts to see the power and influence of others in our lives. Amen.

2023-11-02
Happiness and Joy…or Not

Psalm 44; Isaiah 22:8b–14; James 4:4–10

Focus

‌Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
James 4:4 NRSVue

‌…you did not look at the One who did it, nor did you see the One who planned it…
Isaiah 22:11 NRSVue

We don’t like pain or suffering. We often do anything to avoid it. We can also do anything in an attempt to make it feel better, when we’re suffering from it.

‌It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of everyone, and the living will lay it to heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 NRSVue

Often sitting in our mourning and pain is more honest and healing than living and striving for revelry and happiness. When we do not confront and deal well with our pain, our wrongs, our being wronged, we react in ways that can be unhealthy for us and for others.

Devotion

‌The full passage in Isaiah talks about how Jerusalem’s vulnerabilities were uncovered (or unhidden) by God. Why? Because of iniquity. What does iniquity have to do with pain and suffering? Well, by this point, the people of Jerusalem (and by extension Judah), had ignored the testing of prophets by the words, and of God by many means.

‌Instead, they chose to tear down homes (and likely the homes of the poor and powerless) to fill the holes in their walls. Were they literal holes in the walls, or is this a more figurative imagery indicating that there was a wrong focus? Probably both.

‌It would be completely within expectations for Isaiah (as inspired by God) to use a practical and physical example to examine the spiritual life of the People of God. Instead of doing the hard (and sometimes painful) work of self-reflection, they chose to do the easier, more worldly thing, find something to dull the pain.

‌They forgot the One.

‌This is James’ starting point with his tirade against Christians who have forgotten whose they are and have reverted to the ways of the world. Instead of putting cooperative peace and mutually humble care for one another—the called for characteristics of Christians—first, they chose to be no different than behavior in the world. Instead of being God’s light and reflecting God’s love, they were reflecting the world’s darkness.

‌What ought to catch our attention is that James equates worldly behavior among Christians to adultery. The ultimate betrayal of marital union is equated to worldly behavior.

‌We, as Christians, aren’t paragons of what we are supposed to be. Per James, we are adulterers. Perhaps not individually (but how do we contribute), but collectively we are. This is something we need to do the hard work on and not skip it. This covers politics, church theology, even pastors and leaders.

‌We forget the One.

Reflection

‌What do you think of non-Christian behavior as adultery? Does it change your view of non-Christian behavior? How do you work through disagreements on things, even what defines non-Christian behavior, with other Christians?

Act

‌Choose a light topic that you know a fellow Christian disagrees with you on. Discuss it with respect and love. The goal is not to change minds, but to understand the other.

‌???? Prayer

‌Gracious God, while we might know intellectually that you are gracious, help us to believe it to the depths of our souls, so that we are gracious to one another. Help us to see our faults, failures, even our love affair with the ways of the world, in light of your gracious love. Guide us to see where we have placed the world and its ways ahead of you and your ways. Amen.

2023-10-13
Successfully Unsuccessful

Psalm 144; Song of Solomon 8:5–14; John 11:45–57 ISV

‌⁜Focus⁜

A great deal of water cannot extinguish love,
rivers cannot put it out.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
he would surely be viewed with contempt.
Song of Solomon 8:7 ISV

“…You don’t realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but that he would also gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
John 11:50–52 ISV

When we look at people’s lives and the result of their lives, we ought to be looking from God’s perspective rather than the world’s (or the earthly) perspective.

‌⁜Devotion⁜

‌The comparison trap is real. Are my kids as successful as yours? Are your kids as well-adjusted as mine? Is your career doing better (financial, influence) than mine?‌

It is an easy mental and emotional trap to fall into because others are the only way we believe we can measure our lives. There is, of course, a problem with that. Who decides what makes for success?‌

The world looks at tangible (money and stuff) and intangible (influence and power). God looks beyond even the intangible.‌

In many respects, God’s baseline measurement is based on nothing we’ve done, nor anything we can do. God’s measurements begin with Jesus.

‌The High Priest, Caiaphas, had prophesied the death of Jesus. Not a good marker of success for Jesus, or anyone. Death is rarely a measure of success, but of failure.

In the Song of Solomon, the bride says, “If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, he would surely be viewed with contempt.” Jesus gave up the wealth of his house for love…his love for us.

The bride of Christ has long been a term used to describe the Church (as a whole). It is somewhat ironic, then, that the bride is saying such words, for Jesus is the groom. According to the bride’s words, then, Jesus is understandably viewed with contempt.

No one reading this, I hope, views Jesus with contempt, yet it seems that many Christians evaluate success in the lives of others, and in their own lives, based upon what the world views as success.

We will often hear that history is written by the victors, except that isn’t entirely true, for Jesus and those who followed him were the losers. Yes, Christianity did eventually win in the Western World. We can see how the church is growing outside of the Western world, where becoming a Christian is a losing proposition, and should question the definitions of success we’re using.

‌⁜Reflection⁜

‌What do you think of as success? Do you ever wonder if you are successful? Who/what are you allowing to define success for you?

‌‌⁜Act⁜

‌Talk to a believing peer and discover how they define success. Talk to a non-believer and discover how they define success.

‌⁜Prayer⁜

Lord Jesus, your birth, life, death, and resurrection break every human model of success. Holy Spirit guide our thoughts to success as you would have us define under the authority and wisdom of God, the Father. Amen.

2023-10-11
Reconciling Fruit

Psalm 144; Isaiah 27:1–6; 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (ISV)

In times to come, Jacob will take root,
and Israel will blossom, sprout shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.
Isaiah 27:6 ISV

All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
2 Corinthians 5:18 ISV

Reconciliation: the action of reconciling and/or the state of being reconciled.

‌Reconcile/reconciled/reconciling
‌1a) to restore to friendship or harmony
‌1b) settle or resolve (differences)
‌2) to make consistent or congruous
‌3) to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant.
‌4a) to check (a financial record) against another for accuracy
‌4b) to account for
Merriam-Webster.com

⁜Focus⁜

‌The (or God’s) fruit of reconciliation should fill the whole world, and we are to be the fruit.

⁜Devotion⁜

‌Depending how many sermons you’ve listened to, it is likely that you have heard at least one sermon about the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. This list comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Galatians 5:22-23). Depending on the preacher or author, it could be an unordered list, or an ordered list. These fruit, though, are supposed to be increasing in each Christian day-by-day.

‌Isaiah’s words are, in particular, about the people of Israel (God’s first chosen people). The concept was that despite their trials, exiles, and spiritual (and physical) wandering, that God would cause them to be plentiful and to fill the earth. Over the years, many Christians have believed (and even preached) that Christians completely replaced the descendants of Israel as the new chosen. Today, most Christians don’t believe that. On the other hand, Christians are spiritual descendants of Israel (through Jesus), so should be accounted for as fruit of the promise in Isaiah.

‌Yet, if we look around, we can see that Christians are as likely to be reconciling as anyone else. In other words, we Christians appear to be just as unloving and unreconciling as those who do not believe in Jesus. Paul notes that Christians are particularly called to the ministry of reconciliation. While, yes, much of that does have to do with being in a reconciled (or “right”) relationship with God, this does not exclude or diminish the call on the Christian to be a reconciling force in their family, community, and the world.

‌Re-examine the definitions of reconciling. Except for definition 4a, one could actually apply each definition to the life a Christian is to exemplify. 4a would occupy a special place that is that of the price of sin paid, and thus has a place in (or origin for) the conversation of reconciling.

‌In the Greek language, there is an imperfect tense, which doesn’t (sadly) exist in English, though reconciling comes close per the Merriam-Webster definition, especially when we say reconciliation is the action of reconciling (the mission or ministry) and being reconciled, which was done through Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection. It is done, and yet there is more work to be done.

⁜Reflection⁜

‌Of the five (1a, 1b, 2, 3, 4b) definitions, which do you see as the strongest in your life? How do you see each of these working through your life?

⁜Act⁜‌

What is an act (or series of acts) of reconciliation that you can do in your family and community?

⁜Prayer⁜

‌Father God, you have given us the ministry of reconciliation. Help us not to forget that by giving it to us, you have given us responsibility. Help us to remember that through this responsibility you have given us the honor of working alongside you, the Creator, in the world. Jesus, help us to continually examine your life as conveyed in the Scriptures to understand what it means to live a life of reconciliation. Holy Spirit, just as you provide each of us “fruit of the Spirit”, so, too, do you provide the ability to be aware of where the world needs reconciliation. Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), guide us more deeply into your truth to be the light of reconciliation and the people of love to the world. Amen.

2023-10-10
Perspective and Significance

Psalm 144; Ezekiel 19:10–14; 1 Peter 2:4–10 (ISV)

In the fictional universe housing the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (written by Douglas Adams), there is a machine called the Total Perspective Vortex. Originally built (per the fictional universe) to provide beings a comparison of themselves to the infinity of creation, it became a torture device to (effectively) destroy a being’s mind.‌

‌It sounds a little extreme, except that much of the religions over the years are concerned with is much about finding our place in the universe.‌

‌The (Roman Catholic) Church attacked Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei for proposing that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the sun (and the other planets) revolving around the earth. While the majority of the (entire Christian) Church now believes Galileo Galilei, we need to recognize that Galileo Galilei’s hypothesis was, for that era and theological framework, similar in effect to the Total Perspective Vortex.‌

‌On the other hand, in contemporary fiction and philosophy, there is a deep concern regarding the Butterfly Effect. This is the theory that if time travel were possible, a person going back in time could catastrophically affect the timeline (including the era from which the time traveler came). Many people have bought into this concept, and yet disparage the one small thing they do today.‌

‌Perspective matters deeply to how we function in life and how we treat others.‌

‌For me one of the most peaceful things is to stare at the night sky at the stars (most effective away from city light pollution). It brings peace to my soul and heart. It also guides me to have a better perspective of myself. I am tiny compared to the entire of Creation. I am only 1 person among over 8 billion people walking the earth at this moment.‌

‌For you, this may be disquieting. We have a need to be significant, but so much around us shows how insignificant we are.‌‌

Lord, what are human beings, that you should care about them, or mortal man, that you should think about him?
Psalm 144:3 (ISV)

‌‌God cares about us. No matter how insignificant we believe or are told we are, God cares for and thinks about we humans. In comparison to the infiniteness of God, we are not even microscopic, yet God loves us.

‌‌If we derive our significance from others, we are often emotionally and spiritually doomed. If we derive our significance from God, however, that is a solid foundation on which to place our worth and identity.

‌‌There is, though, the danger of arrogance. “I’m loved by God, so I can do…” We are all guilty of this to some degree.

Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land!
‌Ezekiel 19:13 (ISV)

‌When we get too full of ourselves, or when we look too much to others, we can be in the desert of faith and relationship with God. It’s not that God ceases to care, quite the contrary. We can be chasing after things that we think will water and feed us, but we end up in a desert, where receive the bare minimum to live.‌

‌The desert experience isn’t necessarily bad, ultimately. It can teach what is really important if we let it. On the other hand, far too many people stubbornly refuse to move from the desert, and so end up dry and withered. That doesn’t have to be the end.‌

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
‌1 Peter 2:10 (ISV)

‌God is merciful. Yes, we’ve done stuff that doesn’t please God. We could even say that because we are fallible and fragile creatures, we will never measure up to God’s holiness and love. God is merciful.

‌⁜Reflection⁜‌

‌To whom are you significant? Why?‌
‌How do you think significance and mercy are related?‌

‌⁜Act⁜‌

‌Share with someone what makes them significant to you.‌

‌⁜Prayer⁜‌

‌God, it is often so hard to see my significance to you. Help me to be understand my significance to you, and help me focus on you defining my significance, rather than leaving it to others. Amen.

‌

2023-10-09
Untrashed
Malachi 1:6-9

Perhaps you’ve heard an acquaintance, a friend, a family member say, “God won’t accept me until I clean myself up.” Or perhaps, “if I enter the church, lightning will come down and/or the church will catch on fire.”

Behave, believe, belong has long been the order in the church. That’s likely where these saddening responses likely come from. Even worse, some church-type folks might have said to clean up their act so that God loves them.

It’s strange. Long after the Reformation brought us back to saved through faith, it amazes and horrifies me that people who claim “the faith” still believe and (even worse) tell others that they must behave first before belief can kick in.

The Scriptures don’t, I think, lead us that direction. God has long pursued those who left God behind and does so today. Which leads me to Malachi.

Malachi’s oracle is about people claiming to worship God, which was (per the rules, the Law) including a healthy animal and viable grain. Instead, people were giving God anything besides the “good stuff”. Set aside the whole sacrifice part (that does tend to trip up we modern folks) and recognize the intent behind the actions. The people claimed to love God and worship God, but deliberately chose not to, because the sacrifice of the good animal and good grain was too much.

It could be tempting to equate the broken animals and rotten food to the people we see in the opening paragraph, but we must not. Such a person is bringing the best to God, themselves. If they are lame, God will love them. If they are blind, God will love them. If they are diseased, God will love them.

God accepts broken people. I know this because I too am broken and was more broken still when I began my true relationship with God.

The sacrifices that are condemned in Malachi reflect the people who brought them. They were blind, lame, and diseased. Yet, they chose to neither acknowledge it nor repent of it. In fact, it seems they took pride in it.

The blind, lame, diseased person who comes to God saying, “here I am, broken and all.” God says, “welcome, beloved.”

⁜ Reflection ⁜
- How do you see yourself in this? Do you see yourself in this?
- Does this challenge or change how you view those whose life decisions (including lifestyles) and their place before God?
- How often do we see the blindness, lameness, and illnesses of others rather than our own? Why does that matter?
⁜ Prayer ⁜

Gracious God, help us to learn how to be gracious and welcoming to others, just as you have been to us, and because you have been to us. Amen.
2023-09-08
Too Busy To Live
Exodus 5:7-9; Romans 8:5-8, 12-17

Recently, there was a song going around the internet called the “Rich Men North of Richmond”. It mostly speaks to the anguish of a working man who is striving and working and is not making ends meet, and, yes, there are some digs that many are questioning, and sometimes just questioning those who are supporting the song.

There seems a lot of truth, or a lot of perception of that this is the truth, that below middle-class wage earners (and many middle-class ones, too) are working their fingers, bodies, souls, minds off to make ends meet. How many are the like the Hebrews at this point in Exodus, who are trying to make ends meet without a basic component previously supplied, and now not.

In a culture that has idolized working hard to the nth degree, why are we surprised that rest and worship are viewed as a measure of luxury and a sign of laziness. There is, of course, too much rest, but our culture, at this point, does not value rest.

COVID seemed to have reset the rest aspect, but we are now watching it fade away. Mindfulness and meditation apps were all the rage during COVID. It doesn’t seem so now. As worship, especially the type depicted in the Pentateuch of no normal work (arguments over what defines normal, aside), is not normal work (which, of course, is the point), it must be rest, and rest is not to be trusted.

As the culture turns away from organized faith, it appears to diminish and deride worship as well. We can see this among people who used to call the church a home. We know that the human body itself cannot function without rest. Neither can the human mind. Binge-watching television, youtube, or tiktok, isn’t resting, or relaxing. It is, in so many words, medicating. It is helping us bury our lack of rest.

I wonder if many people are so leery of rest and so leery of a set time of difference, that times of gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts (i.e., sermon or homily), are to be avoided. It may be that we are watching even many of whom were thought to be Christian walk away from gathered worship because it is different. And we avoid the different, and different includes worship and rest.

Whether it is the drive to make money, for person or corporation, would have fill our lives with activity without rest, we can see that we do not value rest, and that we are no different than pharaoh and looking at rest and worship it’s nothing more than laziness.

We can see it in the old (in internet age) FOMO (fear of missing out) and YOLO (you only live once). FOMO has fear in its name. YOLO is really the same, just with a positive twist. It seems we almost might fear rest.

Whether we’re looking at the world or reading the Word, fear is not always fully understood (or desired to be understood). The fear noted in Romans may seem different that the fear of FOMO and YOLK, but the fear is still fear. The paarticular type of fear of YOLO and FOMO can lead to parents, meaning well, burying their children in activities so that they don’t miss out on something. What if my child is a hidden talent? What if my child is the greatest gift to humanity in something? They must know!

However, perhaps they are missing out on what is most needed, us. What if, too, we keep them busy because we are to fearful of rest? True rest.

⁜ Reflection ⁜
- How do you view and experience rest? How does worship (gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts) fit into that?
- Who in your circle of influence do you see as needing rest? How can you encourage them to take rest?
- What activities in yourself and others do you see as attempting to be rest, but actually aren’t?
⁜ Prayer ⁜

Jesus, you didn’t call us to work to the bone. You called yourself the Lord of the Sabbath while telling your disciples that Sabbath was made for humanity. Help us to continue to recover what it means to rest as was intended for us, not for how we see it. Give us the courage to say, “no” and help us not self-condemn when we seek rest. Amen.
2023-09-03
Beautiful Words and Songs
²⁰“Now as for you, Son of Man, your nation’s children keep gathering together to talk about you beside the walls and at the doorway to their houses. Everyone tells one another, ‘Please come! Let’s go hear what the Lord has to say.’ ³¹Then they come to you as a group, sit down right in front of you as if they were my people, hear your words—and then they don’t do what you say—because they’re seeking only their own desires, they pursue ill-gotten profits, and they keep following their own self-interests. ³²As far as they are concerned, you sing romantic songs with a beautiful voice and play a musical instrument well. They’ll listen to what you have to say, but they won’t put it into practice! ³³When all of this comes about—and you can be sure that it will!—they’ll learn that a prophet has been in their midst.”
Ezekiel 33:30-33 (ISV)

If you’ve been a Christian for a length of time, you’ve probably experienced heated discussions (or just overheard) on the appropriateness of certain worship songs or instruments (or for some any instruments or songs). There has been an ongoing focus on paid performance worthy worship, which isn’t the reality for most churches.

Most churches do not have recording artists (or recording artist worthy) musicians or singers. Some do, and are blessed.

It’s not just the music and songs. In the Protestant circles—even in the Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist traditions—there has been a sometimes pathological (hyperbole) hatred of anything even vaguely resembling stereotypical Roman Catholic services; whether it is incense, garments, candles, colors, keeling (or kneelers), crossing oneself, and so on.

Read the words from Ezekiel again. What is your perception of what worship is? Is “seeking only (your) own desires”? Are they romantic (like much of Christian music, these days) with great voices and well played instruments?

I have nothing against good playing and singing. I am my own worst critic in regard to that. Partially, I think, because I am my own worst critic, I have to ask myself, what is the purpose of our gatherings (in particular, on Sundays)?

Is it romance? I can be caught up in it, too. Yet, we aren’t called to only enjoy well played and sung songs. We aren’t only called to have a few songs, a prayer (or even ten!), a sermon, a remembrance meal (i.e., Communion/Eucharist), and a benediction.

We are called…perhaps, better said, commanded to put it into practice. If you go to a weekly (Sunday or whenever) gathering, a Bible study or discussion group, sing a dozen Christians songs a day…and don’t put it into practice…then Ezekiel’s words are for you. If think Ezekiel’s words don’t apply to you, then you still need them as a warning, to make sure that the words continue to not apply to you.

※Reflection※
- What is an essential for you (This is your personal answer, not a test.) to experience proper worship? Why do you think that is? How does that fit (or not) into Ezekiel’s words?
- Do you think that there is a disconnect between what you hear and participate in for your weekly (e.g., Sunday) gathering, and what you do the remaining 167 hours (approximately) of the week?
※Prayer※

God, as we ponder what it means to rightly worship and honor you, please guide our thoughts and heart that we might be better today than yesterday at putting our actions at the center of worship. Amen.
2023-08-09