Category Archives: worship

What if the story is true?

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We were singing an old (1707) hymn on Sunday:

“When I survey the wondrous cross on which the king of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.”

I started thinking about writing theology as poetry, thinking it would be a good exercise in slowing down and reflecting. How can you write a crucifixion as a poem? Not a multi-point sermon, not a 6-part small group discussion, not an essay, but a poem. How hard is it to be clear and concise and evocative? How do you make yourself stop and reflect and write?

I do that, by the way. Not the poem part, the thinking part. I think often while singing, while standing in the church service. Nancy is used to me grabbing my Moleskine and writing. Sometimes I’m writing notes about conversations I had before walking into the service. Sometimes I’m writing notes about things that need to get fixed before next Sunday. Sometimes I’m writing things that show up here.

So as we were singing that song on Sunday, I grabbed my book and wrote, “But what if that story is true? The story of giving up everything for someone else?”

We had gotten to the third stanza about then.

“See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?”

Isaac Watts, the one who wrote this poem, was looking at the picture of one crucified, blood, tears, whatever else flowing down. Sorrow, he called it. Love, he called it. And if the story is true, if there was a real, willing, self-sacrificial, walk-right-into-the-trap death, that flow would make you think about a fitting response.

I guess that’s what a poem would do.

That temple

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Two verses rolling around in my head concern our bodies. Christ followers often major on the spiritual side of our lives – our minds and how they’re relating to others and to God.

That’s good, but it’s not the whole picture.

Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

and

1 Corinthians 6:19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself…

How do we give our bodies as sacrifices? One way is to present it to God in a form that honors God. If we’re sloppy with our bodies, they may not honor God. So exercise, get the sleep you need and eat right.

Those of us who live on the internet think nothing of stretching our minds. That’s necessary to compete in today’s world. But how often do we think of stretching our bodies?

Remember that our bodies do not belong to us. If someone lends you their car, you would probably treat it better than your own. Since our bodies are on temporary loan from God, let’s treat them well.

Two people who are an inspiration to me in this are Allison and Rich. Allison started Team OneVerse, a group whose runs benefit Bible translation. And Rich is riding his bicycle 1,500 miles to benefit kids in developing parts of the world.

What amazing ways to really put some meaning into presenting your body as a sacrifice to God!

(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday)

God loves fast and slow

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(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday)

Since I was a little kid, I always thought God valued what was long-lasting more than what was quickly over. Lately, I have been seeing that God lives and breathes in both worlds.

In Matthew 6, Jesus says, “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.”

God made mountains – and flowers. Both are beautiful and can cause us to praise their creator.

God did many amazing things for the Israelites, as He has for me during my lifetime. But like the Israelites, I easily forget those His wonderful actions and interventions in my life. So God asked them to build memorials (piles of stones) that their future generations could look at and remember (or be explained) the ways God had worked. Those altars were long-lasting ways to remember God’s power. That was important for the times when they did not see His actions.

On different piles of stones, God asked his followers to burn sacrifices to honor Him. Those actions were very short-term. But God enjoyed those sacrifices and what they represented. The quick and very much ephemeral benefit of those sacrifices somehow pleased God. He wanted (and wants) both short-term and long-term obedience. And He enjoys both short-term and long-term beauty.

So what does this mean for our lives? We can remember that God is worthy of our devotion, as He wants both our long-lasting, more expensive gifts as well as our smaller, easier short-term acts of worship. God wants every part of us.

a rant

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“You know what ticks me off?

I don’t really upset when people who don’t know the rules break them. I can’t really condone the behaviour, but my heart goes out to them.

But when the people who know the rules take advantage of them for their own benefit, that is frustrating.

Take, for instance, when people know they have to offer a sacrifice. They travel long distances. They’d like to not have to lead an animal all that way. So they want to figure out a way to buy one closer to Jerusalem.

Not a problem.

Except some entrepreneurs say, “We could set up shop close to the temple. That will make it easy.” And then some officials say, “You know, you can bring them right onto the property. As long as you keep them in this area where the foreigners have to stay, that’s fine. They aren’t really part of us anyway.”

That’s what ticks me off.

When people do stuff that makes religion easier for themselves at the expense of people who are interested but aren’t on the inside.

Inside jokes. Insider language. Talking as if people who don’t know the words can’t even hear. Setting up retail in the space for stories. Setting up cashflow in the space for relationship. Spreading manure where people learning to follow me might step.”

I don’t want to speak for Jesus. I don’t want to put words in his mouth.  But one afternoon in Jerusalem, he got pretty ticked off. He tipped tables over. He drove animals out. He hollered.

He did it for the honor of the place that until then represented the presence of God on earth. He then equated the temple with himself. Paul later calls us the body of Christ.

What does Jesus have to cleanse today?

relationship rewards

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“Store up treasure in heaven.”

That’s what Jesus tells us. Don’t spend your energy on stuff that gets eaten up by financial declines so that you panic about how much less you are worth this week than last week.

Because, of course, if your measure of your worth is in your portfolio and your portfolio declines precipitously, then your heart will decline precipitously as well.

——–

Isn’t it intriguing that this image Jesus paints of wealth being devoured rings so true in an economic decline? And isn’t it intriguing how much energy the people in the mirror are putting into thinking about how many more years we are going to have to work before retirement? Isn’t it intriguing how cranky and insecure and strategic we are getting?

And yet, what does it mean to store up treasure in heaven and how does that help now?

If treasures are like rewards, then the first half of Matthew 6 answers that question. Giving, praying, and fasting, done in secret, bring rewards.

What?

You mean that if I look for people in need and help them, that is storing up treasure? But how could that have reward? We are just seeing Jesus, after all (Matthew 25).

You mean that if I am talking with God, that is storing up treasure? But it’s conversation! It is it’s own reward.

You mean that if I am going about fasting with a smile on my face, combating injustice, bringing freedom to trapped people, that is storing up treasure? But it is so fulfilling!

All three of these things that Jesus says are rewarding are rooted in deepening our relationship with God.

I’ve thought of storing up treasure as acquisition. But gold in heaven is the least valuable thing. The conversational relationship is the real treasure.

And it starts now.