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The Need for Reverent Worship….and the Challenge of Guiding it….
Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross…
“The people were delighted with their donations, for they contributed to the LORD with a willing attitude; King David was also very happy.” (1 Chronicles 29:9, NET)
““But who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much? Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours.For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.O LORD our God, all this wealth, which we have collected to build a temple for you to honor your holy name, comes from you; it all belongs to you.” (1 Chronicles 29:14–16, NET)
53 Servite Domino in laetitia!—I will serve God cheerfully. With a cheerfulness that is a consequence of my Faith, of my Hope and of my Love—and that will last for ever. For, as the Apostle assures us, Dominus prope est!…—the Lord follows me closely. I shall walk with Him, therefore, quite confidently, for the Lord is my Father, and with his help I shall fulfil his most lovable Will, even if I find it hard.
I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about the idea of reverence in life and in a life of worship. (see Romans 12:1-3 – worship is far more the Sunday Morning!) It goes along with my version of the ancient rule that how we worship/pray determines how we depend on God, which determines how we live. (Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi is the old phrase.
With that floating around in the back of my mind, my readings this morning included David’s provision for the Temple. He made all the arrangements, he subsidized most of it out of personal wealth, then he realized he needed to share that opportunity with others. This is all the vivendi part of the concept, the way in which they lived out living in the grace of the God whom they worshipped.
You see it in the embracing of difficulty, cheerfully, that St. Josemaria describes! Joy that is a consequence, he teaches, of the faith, hope and love he receives from the Lord. It is the same joy and attitude describes there in Chronicles, a joy that comes from realizing all that we have is from God. it all belongs to Him.
This to me is the core of reverence then, the attitude towards God that is found as we contemplate and live, reflecting the joy that comes from realizing how He comes and blesses us! I would say you have to experience that joy before reverence develops–but that means reverence has to come out of the joy of being blessed by God.
One might even say that reverence then is the reaction to the grace of God. It can be quiet and in awe, it can be loud as full of joy as when singing Handel’s Messiah. But as a reaction it needs to be natural, not forced. It may be shaped by cultural norm, or what is available in the language of the one God has given the gifts of faith, repentance and deliverance to, as they express their awe. And certainly their attitude toward the deliverance itself matters, someone who knows the depth of their sin maybe more enthusiastic than one who considers themselves less of a sinner, or just a normal sinner.
As an example – a stoic person from Finland, who grew up in a family that loved them, but no one spoke of it, would respond reverently different than a family from Jamaica–neither group wrong in their reverent worship – but surely different! Forcing the Finns to worship in a manner reverent to the steel drums and even dancing of the Jamaican would be awkward, the same as forcing the Finn to smile and laugh would cause them so much stress, they couldn’t focus on the God who delivered them from sin, and Satan and an eternity in Hell.
So what do you do in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi expression of joy and reverence community? How do you facilitate and encourage reverence? I believe the key is not focusing on the vivendi, but rather on the reason for worship/prayer. To focus on the gifts of God, being given to the people of God, . This requires making it clear that we should respect each other in their way of celebrating the presence of God, but not dwelling ther, but immediately returning to the fact that the Lord is good, He is with us, and He gives himself to us.
With the focus on Jesus, and the work of God in us, the response will happen, it will be natural, and it will be reverent….for it is only a response.
Escrivá, Josemaría. Furrow (p. 23). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Can I Get a Witness? The Witness is the Same! a sermon on 1 Cor. 15:111
Can I Get A Witness?
“The” Witness is the Same!
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May the grace of God our Father, shown to you in the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus, assure you of His love, as the same power is at work in your life!
Can I get a witness?
It’s been years since I heard the phrase, but I remember a church that I guess preached at once, where the pastor asked after the sermon, “Can I get a Witness?”
And person after person would talk about how God had redeemed them or reconciled a relationship that had been trashed by sin.
It’s been probably close to forty years since I was there… but I remember the people shouting and testifying to how good God was, and how he rescued them.
As our journey together changes from the weeks of Lent to the weeks of Easter, we go from looking at the broken people at the foot of the cross to the work God did and is doing.
That is the content of the witness and the impact of the witness.
It’s not about the witness but the witness.
Paul will state the witness clearly in verse 3 of our Corinthians reading this morning,
“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said
Christ died for our sins
He was buried
He was raised from the dead
Three short points – that change the world – that change our world….
And no matter who preaches Christ, that is their message.
Christ died for our sins,
He was buried
He was raised from the dead…
That is the witness we need today, for it is the only witness that will change those who are broken…
- I don’t want the witnesses; I want what their witness
In the epistle, Paul then proceeds to document the witnesses. Peter, the 12, 500! James, everybody, then Paul.
If you asked any of them, they would agree with Paul, that they weren’t worthy to see the risen Lord, never mind account themselves as worthy to witness the fact that He died, that he was buried and Alleluia! He is risen!
They are right in a way, because they didn’t deserve to witness the cross and the resurrection any more than we do. And the witness isn’t about them, though it will change them, though it will change us.
It is about the idea that Christ has died, Christ was buried. Christ has risen, and He is coming again!
Someone should make a song out of that… 😊
When I look at social media, most of the critique of the church and of Christianity has nothing to do with the witness that Christ has died, Christ was buried, Christ has risen. Often that is because the witnesses are talking about other things—usually the sinful behavior of others, or why that denomination’s not right, or that pastor or politician is evil.
Even yesterday while writing this – out of the first 25 posts were negative religious posts, and only one mentioned Good Friday or Easter. It wasn’t one side or the other; it was both sides.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – that’s a given – we don’t have to show everyone’s sin publicly. Or assume what someone else shared about someone’s sin is accurate?
What has happened to those who have the witness?
Can I get a witness? Can I know what the Lord has done?
- We all preach the same message – you believed.
We have to get back to following the example of the early church!
11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
We have to get back to it, not because this is our duty. If I say you must go share your faith, I am robbing you. All I would be doing is making your work the focus, taking the attention and focus away from what Jesus has done.
That wasn’t how the early church worked…
They saw what God did—they told others about it!
They experienced His love and peace, and they shared it with others.
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:16-19 (NLT2)
Therefore, the witness is so important –not it is critical!
The witness reveals God’s love, our identification with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection changes everything.
That is the message we need to stand firm in the only message that will save us.
Christ has died!
Christ was Buried!
Christ is Risen! and
Christ will come again!
All for those who know this – who bear the witness…
Who answer the call, “Can I get a witness!”
And respond with Jesus! AMEN!
Was Pentecost as Effective as Advertised?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
15 until the Spirit from on high is poured out on us.
Then the desert will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest. 16 Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the orchard. 17 The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever. 18 Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, in safe and secure dwellings. Isaiah 32:15-18 (CSBBible)
It is right that we should think about how we are imitating the Master. We should pause and reflect so that we can learn directly from our Lord’s life some of the virtues which ought to shine out in our lives, if we are really anxious to spread the Kingdom of Christ.
Yesterday, I had the blessing of preaching on the Holy Spirit’s undeniable work, seen as the Spirit filled those drawn to believe in Christ. It was earth shattering, not only because of the crowd doing miraculous things, but because that crowd wasn’t the kind you considered good or Godly – at least according to the Jews of the Day.
The Sunday after next is Pentecost Sunday, when Pentecost changed its meaning. No longer just a Jewish holiday, it now was the anniversary of the Holy Spirit descending on the Jewish believers. There, just like in Cornelius’s mansion, the miracles were amazing, the things that people saw drew them closer and closer to God.
I look at the Church in the world today, and at first I wonder – why doesn’t the miraculous happen today?
Why don’t we have peopel really speaking in languages they don’t know – with other people understanding it so clearly that they are trasnformed by the gospel? Why don’t we have others, seeing what God is doing, and giving thanks and praise – without any prompting but just astounded by God?
Or maybe, it is going on…. and we are to use to focusing on the wrong things, and we miss it?
The Holy Spirit has been given to us, to help us see Jesus. As we and our communities grow more aware of Jesus, the more we see the Spirit doing the work that is always done, and the more we imitate Jesus, for that is the transformation the Holy Spirit causes!
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your people, and kindle in them, the fire of Your love, that many will see it, and come to rejoice in that love as well! Amen!
Escrivá, Josemaría. Friends of God . Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
