This morning, because of the weather, Mary & I decided to not ask our small band of Christ followers to risk driving...so we called a "snow day". However, some other Christian friends of ours have a house church just down the street that meets on Sunday morning. We had a standing invitation to join them. So, we walked a few yards and enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship and prayer. How good it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity!
Afterward I was thinking about what happened and realized that this neighbourhood model of fellowships was exactly how the early church began...meeting in homes for worship and a meal, to listen, counsel, pray, laugh and cry together. This is organic, simple and far more responsive to the real spiritual needs and desires of the people than large and impersonal gatherings where we can hide in the crowd.
Please don't misunderstand me...I love large worship gatherings and times when the whole community comes together to share at the Lord's table. The liturgy, when properly engaged is an wonderful thing. There was just something winsome and pure about a small group of believers speaking about what scares them or encourages them, lifting one another up, laying hands on the sick or injured & sharing reports of times during the past few days where they had encountered the Divine. It just seemed somehow more authentic.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Position and Privilege
As I was reading this morning through Luke 14, I was struck by the comment made by one of those at the Pharisee's table. He said, "What a privilege it would be to have a share in the kingdom." (14:15) Even as we receive teaching to the contrary from the lips of Jesus, we are often....like the Pharisee in question, bound by and reacting out of our brokenness rather than the perspective of the redemption we have received. This man spoke those words moments after hearing Jesus teach on not seeking privilege. The Lord said, "Do this instead...sit at the foot of the table." (14:10) We are to take the place of the least and not seek privilege to which we feel we might be entitled. For, "All those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (14:11)
This may well be the hardest lesson for a Christian to learn, and one which I have struggled with through my whole 30 year walk with Christ. When you grow up in relative poverty clawing your way out of that into a place of privilege becomes your default mode. Then Jesus happens and all that gets challenged. To be told to "sit at the foot of the table" goes against all you have struggled to over come. Therein lies the paradox. My flesh wants nothing to do with this humility and my spirit cries out for submission. My passions are at war within me.
Lord, this battle has already been won for me on the cross. Empower and enable me not to give into the passions of the flesh, but to live in the humble submission at the foot of the table, trusting that in your will and timing I will be exalted.
Bible quotes are from the ESV
This may well be the hardest lesson for a Christian to learn, and one which I have struggled with through my whole 30 year walk with Christ. When you grow up in relative poverty clawing your way out of that into a place of privilege becomes your default mode. Then Jesus happens and all that gets challenged. To be told to "sit at the foot of the table" goes against all you have struggled to over come. Therein lies the paradox. My flesh wants nothing to do with this humility and my spirit cries out for submission. My passions are at war within me.
Lord, this battle has already been won for me on the cross. Empower and enable me not to give into the passions of the flesh, but to live in the humble submission at the foot of the table, trusting that in your will and timing I will be exalted.
Bible quotes are from the ESV
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Sacred Sabbath
Is the Sabbath sacred to you? Do you even practice Sabbath or is the seventh day simply another just like the ones before it....full of commerce, play and entertainment? As a believer, we should give value to those things that God tells us are worthy of our attention. We should be concerned with that which concerns Him.
The writer of Exodus tells us that the Sabbath was so important to God that He commanded any who broke the Sabbath, that is worked on the day that God had set aside for rest, was to be put to death! Exodus 35:2 (NIV) "For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death." They were not even allowed to light a cooking fire!
Many will say that in a modern, mostly secular society, keeping Sabbath is impossible...but that is not so. Mary & I visited Jerusalem a couple of years back. We arrived on the Sabbath and were there for two more. One day the city was teaming with traffic, shopping and people going about their daily routines. The next, however, almost all of the city, Christian, Jew, Muslim and secular stopped. The silence was deafening; the peace was delightful. Businesses thrived, work was completed, the people were fed and housed...but they all stopped for a day of rest and were all the better for it.
Perhaps we in North America should reassess how we live our lives and take a page from our Israeli brothers and sisters. A day for intentional worship, rest, family...the benefits should be obvious. However, that takes commitment and unity. It takes intentional planning so that we don't shop on Sundays. If we don't work, shop, play sports & partake of entertainment on Sundays others wouldn't have to work. It is really that simple.
God has commanded that we work for six and take a Sabbath on the seventh. This is the Word of the Lord. How committed are you to God...committed enough to obey?
The writer of Exodus tells us that the Sabbath was so important to God that He commanded any who broke the Sabbath, that is worked on the day that God had set aside for rest, was to be put to death! Exodus 35:2 (NIV) "For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death." They were not even allowed to light a cooking fire!
Many will say that in a modern, mostly secular society, keeping Sabbath is impossible...but that is not so. Mary & I visited Jerusalem a couple of years back. We arrived on the Sabbath and were there for two more. One day the city was teaming with traffic, shopping and people going about their daily routines. The next, however, almost all of the city, Christian, Jew, Muslim and secular stopped. The silence was deafening; the peace was delightful. Businesses thrived, work was completed, the people were fed and housed...but they all stopped for a day of rest and were all the better for it.
Perhaps we in North America should reassess how we live our lives and take a page from our Israeli brothers and sisters. A day for intentional worship, rest, family...the benefits should be obvious. However, that takes commitment and unity. It takes intentional planning so that we don't shop on Sundays. If we don't work, shop, play sports & partake of entertainment on Sundays others wouldn't have to work. It is really that simple.
God has commanded that we work for six and take a Sabbath on the seventh. This is the Word of the Lord. How committed are you to God...committed enough to obey?
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