Scripture: Luke 3:1-18
Today, we continue in this journey called Lent. For the last few weeks, we’ve been considering the ways that we prepare for that premier Christian holiday – Easter. We’ve talked about the ways we experience the Lord, we’ve considered the need to become faithful servants in our walk with Christ, and we’ve reflected on the ways we experience God at work in our lives. All of these issues are part of our preparation to meet the Lord in a new way, both in this life and in the next.
Today, we specifically look at our preparations for the Lord’s coming into our lives. But normally, this would seem to be a more appropriate topic for Advent than for Lent. Christmas is our celebration of Christ’s appearance as a flesh and blood man, with all that this brings to our world. But Easter is a similar type of entry that we can’t overlook.
In The Genesee Diary (Copyright 1976) Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest and internationally known writer and lecturer, reflected on an Advent sermon he had heard on Christ’s second coming:
“We should desire not only the first coming of Christ in his lowly human gentleness but also his second coming as the judge of our lives.”
‘When I first heard that comment in an Advent sermon’, Nouwen writes, ‘I sensed that [the] desire for Christ’s judgment is a key to my growing in holiness and yet I realized how little I felt or cultivated that desire. Since it was not easy to desire fervently this second coming and very hard to prepare ourselves for the Day of Judgment by desire, at least we ought to prepare ourselves by fear.’
‘Fear? Yes.’, he wrote. ‘I’ve begun to see more clearly how part of Christian maturing is the slow but persistent deepening of fear to the point where it becomes desire. The fear of God is not in contrast with divine mercy. Words such as fear and desire, justice and mercy have to be relearned and re-understood when we use them in talking about our intimate relationship with the Lord.’
Our preparation to receive the Lord into our lives, whether it is for his first coming or the ultimate second, it is about maturing in faith and in righteousness. It’s interesting, though, that Nouwen considers Christ’s judgment, and our fear, as instrumental in our growth in holiness. First fear, then growth, then desire, then a deep and truthful relationship. But the more we think about this, isn’t this the same approach that John the Baptist took in his ministry?
Read Luke 3:1-6
John’s initial approach was that we have to prepare this life for Christ’s arrival – not that he is coming to prepare us! He would eventually get around to what Christ does for us, but not at first. It is generally believed that the words from Isaiah were prophesy regarding John, but I just might suggest that it might be about us, too. God had chosen John to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry, and we, the Church, have been given the responsibility to prepare the way for Christ’s return. And the preparations aren’t to make it easier for Christ - they are to remove the obstacles from the lives of people, to prepare their way to come to Jesus. And in verse 6, we read “And all mankind will see God’s salvation.” That doesn’t mean that all will experience that salvation – just that they will come to the knowledge that it is true. This is why our faith walk is so important – we are the ones who are to prepare the “lost lives”, to help them to remove their obstacles, to smooth out the rough ground, to make the way to Jesus one that they can travel.
Read Luke 3:7-9
And John isn’t exactly gentle with the folks. You would think that he would be thrilled at the response of the people, but instead, he berates them. Why would he do that? Verse 8 gives us a clue – “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” It’s very possible that many were simply hedging their bets – they knew that they were the “chosen” people and because of that, God loved them. But just to be on the safe side, just in case this strange itinerant knew something that they didn’t, some had decided to go through the motions of John’s baptism. But the Baptizer is telling them that the motions aren’t enough. The ritualism that they had always depended on would no longer suffice. John chastises them by saying that if they aren’t willing to go all the way, then God will produce new offspring from those sources that they consider unworthy, as an irritation, as worthless – stones – other nations – the gentiles!
And not only that, but God is prepared to cast them aside and to declare them worthy only of destruction.
I guess I’m surprised that any of them even remained to go through baptism. That was nothing short of an insult. But John was never one to mince words, and while many came to respect him for his blunt and even abrasive ways, others would see him as one of those obstacles that had to be removed. And yet, some of the people did come repentant and prepared.
Read Luke 3:10-18
Not only were they repentant, but they came ready to discover the new way that John was offering them. And not only did the everyday Jew come to see and hear John, but tax collectors and Roman soldiers came, too! What a mixture of people! It’s surprising that the ordinary people would even stand with these others. Tax collectors were hated nearly as much as the soldiers were feared, and both groups were seen as the worst of sinners. Tax collectors were thieves and traitors, and the Roman army did everything they could to keep the people oppressed and broken. And yet, they came seeking a new way of life, too.
John was preparing the way for the people to eventually see and seek Jesus, and he wasn’t wasting a lot of time in doing it. “Share whatever you have with those who are in need.” “Do your job as honestly and as well as you possibly can.” “Don’t cheat others, even if everyone else is.”
John was bringing a message unlike any they had ever heard before – or at least none since the days of the prophets.
Could he be a prophet? Israel hadn’t had a real prophet of God in hundreds of years, and they all knew that a prophetic age would reappear before the Messiah came. Could Messiah be near?
Or might this man be the Messiah himself? He certainly spoke with authority, and his message was one of turning away from sinful and Godless ways. He spoke of a renewing Spirit and a refining fire, he told of a time of judgment when the bad would be separated from the good of earth, and how the unworthy would be destroyed. He spoke of judgment and consequences, and he spoke of the good news that was coming into the world.
John was a “preparer”, without question, and undoubtedly some, if not many, would listen to him – a few would be ready to receive the Christ when his ministry began. And the urgency of this message is just as critical today as it was 2,000 years ago.
Henri Nouwen confessed that he had thought very little of the coming Judgment Day and what it would mean, not only for others, but for his own life. He saw little desire for Christ’s return, and even less of a need to prepare for that monumental event. Maybe he was right – a return to “fear” might be the world’s one last and greatest hope for preparation! Remember our prayer last week? The one that I urged you to pray every day until Easter?
Once more for today.
“O Lord God, let it be known today that you are God in and of this world, and that all good things are of you. Answer my prayer, O Lord, so that others will know that you, and you alone, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. Amen.”
Are you prepared to be the Lord’s messenger, prepared to carry a word of hope, as well as one of impending doom to the people? John’s words went to “good” Jews, as well as sinful ones, to faithful and oppressor alike. He never picked the easy ones. He never offered sweet and fluffy words. He never allowed the people to nurture the opinion that ritual and ancestry were enough.
Are you prepared for Christ’s arrival?
Will you be a preparer for others like John was?
Will you bring the message of Good News to the world in a way that can never be misinterpreted?
Will you carry the plain and simple truth of Christ, and be ready to share it with those who are seeking a new way and a new life?
Will you today?
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
“Preparing to See God at Work”
Scripture: 1 Kings 18:16-39
I think everyone knows that the church in America is in a decline, and while program after program has been developed to reverse that trend, I think they have all been overlooking one of the primary reasons for the decay. In my opinion, the church has forgotten that we are called to expect that God is not only present in this world, but that he is also actively working in it for our good! And because people have forgotten that the Lord works for us, we have also stopped preparing to see him at work.
Yes – we have to prepare to see God at work! When we take a close look at scripture, it becomes obvious that we have to be ready to see God in action. Otherwise, we may see the event but never see the Lord in it. Why do you think so many think that events are “coincidental”? They know that something has happened, but are unable to place any importance on it. We have to expect God to work, we have to be prepared to see him work, we have to know that he works, and that he works in wonderful ways!
Read 1 Kings 18:16-21
“and the people said nothing!” Makes you wonder why, doesn’t it? Elijah had the answer, and even Ahab and Jezebel would have had an answer! But not the people!
I think that their silence was primarily due to the fact that the real question wasn’t a question at all – it was a statement. “Pick one and stick with him.” is what Elijah was actually saying, and the people didn’t understand and they couldn’t choose.
From the book “God’s Partners” by Wendland & Menking:
“Biblical faith says you are God's partner. To God, you aren't a slave whose only duty is to do what you are told. You aren't even an employee who agrees to do work in exchange for pay. You are a real partner whom God invites to share the responsibility for carrying out God's plan for the world ....
God coming to you in Jesus gives you the freedom to be who you are: God's partner .... God's coming to you in Jesus, however, is not a demand. It is an invitation. God doesn't tell you, “This is what you must be!” God says instead, “This is what you can be!” So when you encounter Jesus, you can say not only, “There God is”, but also,” There I am.”
--Barbara Wendland and Stanley Menking, God's Partners: Lay Christians at Work (Valley Forge, Penn.: Judson Press, 1993), 2, 54.
Israel had never seen faith as a partnership – for them, it was a dictatorship! And that is the same problem that exists today. People don’t see God’s call as much as an invitation as they do a command. “My way or the highway!” is the public perception of what Christianity is all about – both from within the faith and from without! The authors of “God’s Partners” got it right! The world sees faith as slavery, as being bound to a duty to do as God directs, and if you deviate from that direction, then you are condemned to hell! Fortunately, the Lord sees it in an entirely different light!
When Elijah confronted Israel with the question ‘’How long will you waiver between two opinions?”, they simply weren’t ready to make the choice! They needed a prompting, and so do the people of today.
Read 1 Kings 18:22-29
“A contest! What a great way to help us make a choice!” God is going to oblige them, and he will even let the false god go first! Why would the Lord be so generous and accommodating to a people who won’t choose him? And how could Elijah be so confident that his God will win? The truth is that he was prepared, he had the faith to see his Lord in action! Solid and unbridled faith is our preparation!
God has always worked best when his people believe in him. Remember when Jesus was in Nazareth, and because of the lack of faith in the people, he could only perform a few, minor healings? (Mark 6:1-5) God will always be at the top of his game when his people are for him, and with him, and confident that the Lord can and will win! “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20) That’s how God works! He could so easily do it all by himself, but he always chooses to do it in partnership with you and me! Why? I don’t know – I just know that he wants to work in and through the faith of his own!
And so, the contest begins. Baal starts out a little slow, and Elijah decides to ‘encourage” the priests. But no matter how loudly they call, and no matter how sacrificial they become, Baal remains silent. So, who do you think is going to win?
It isn’t the priests of Baal & Asherah, that’s for certain!
The winner doesn’t have to be God, either – he has been the victor since before time began and will be even at the end. One minor event means little to the eternal Champion!
The real winners are to be the people, but only if they learn from this incident.
Read 1 Kings 18: 30–39
Some of the significance that surrounds the event:
Elijah chooses 12 stones from an altar that had been damaged. First, we need to see this as representative of the rebuilding of Israel’s faith. It had been severely damaged, torn down, had become useless, but it was being raised up once again for a Godly purpose.
Second, Elijah chooses 12 stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. But remember that we were in the time of the divided kingdom, and this takes place in the north – in Israel. There were 10 tribes as far as they were concerned, not 12, but I think that at least a few got the point. The Lord is telling the people that he is calling them all back to his side, back to his glory, to his plan, and that the proof will be in the miracle that is about to happen.
The miracle itself is certainly significant, not so much in that the fire rained down on the sacrifice, but rather how and what it consumed. It not only consumed the entire sacrifice, but it also destroyed every last bit of the wood, the 12 altar stones, the soil, and every drop of water that had been poured on them.
The things that weren’t burned, though, are just as significant – it didn’t burn the pagan sacrifice, and it never touched the people!! Evil in this world will not be destroyed until the Lord says it is time, and his people will escape the destruction even then.
And the people learned just how powerful their God was, and they loudly proclaim it. Of course, they had proclaimed God before, and would do so again, but their faith never seems to remain constant or firm. But on this day, Elijah had prayed a prayer that would be answered in an incredibly dramatic way - “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac & Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
What a prayer! The Lord would hear it, and he would respond in a miraculous way, and if only for a short time, Israel’s heart would, indeed, be turned back to their Almighty Partner. And all because Elijah not only believed, but because he was prepared and expectant for the Lord’s miracle.
My friends, this isn’t just a great story of faith – it is an example and a call for the church of today.
Even as Israel had fallen away from their God, so has our nation, and the world of 2012.
Even as Israel had been taking in the foreign God’s of other nations, so have we.
Even as God’s greatest desire was that Israel would once again accept his glorious “partnership of faith’, he is calling our world to that same relationship.
Even as Israel desperately needed a faith revival in their life, so does the Church of today.
And what is needed for this revival? God needs one or two, and maybe even three of his faithful to be ready and anxious to see his glory at work, and who are prepared to pray Elijah’s prayer – “O Lord God, let it be known today that you are God in and of this world, and that all good things are of you. Answer my prayer, O Lord, so that others will know that you, and you alone, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. Amen.”
Will you pray this prayer every day from now until Easter morning? Will you pray it confidently? Will you pray it expectantly? Will you pray it faithfully? Will you pray it as one of the Lord’s partners?
I think everyone knows that the church in America is in a decline, and while program after program has been developed to reverse that trend, I think they have all been overlooking one of the primary reasons for the decay. In my opinion, the church has forgotten that we are called to expect that God is not only present in this world, but that he is also actively working in it for our good! And because people have forgotten that the Lord works for us, we have also stopped preparing to see him at work.
Yes – we have to prepare to see God at work! When we take a close look at scripture, it becomes obvious that we have to be ready to see God in action. Otherwise, we may see the event but never see the Lord in it. Why do you think so many think that events are “coincidental”? They know that something has happened, but are unable to place any importance on it. We have to expect God to work, we have to be prepared to see him work, we have to know that he works, and that he works in wonderful ways!
Read 1 Kings 18:16-21
“and the people said nothing!” Makes you wonder why, doesn’t it? Elijah had the answer, and even Ahab and Jezebel would have had an answer! But not the people!
I think that their silence was primarily due to the fact that the real question wasn’t a question at all – it was a statement. “Pick one and stick with him.” is what Elijah was actually saying, and the people didn’t understand and they couldn’t choose.
From the book “God’s Partners” by Wendland & Menking:
“Biblical faith says you are God's partner. To God, you aren't a slave whose only duty is to do what you are told. You aren't even an employee who agrees to do work in exchange for pay. You are a real partner whom God invites to share the responsibility for carrying out God's plan for the world ....
God coming to you in Jesus gives you the freedom to be who you are: God's partner .... God's coming to you in Jesus, however, is not a demand. It is an invitation. God doesn't tell you, “This is what you must be!” God says instead, “This is what you can be!” So when you encounter Jesus, you can say not only, “There God is”, but also,” There I am.”
--Barbara Wendland and Stanley Menking, God's Partners: Lay Christians at Work (Valley Forge, Penn.: Judson Press, 1993), 2, 54.
Israel had never seen faith as a partnership – for them, it was a dictatorship! And that is the same problem that exists today. People don’t see God’s call as much as an invitation as they do a command. “My way or the highway!” is the public perception of what Christianity is all about – both from within the faith and from without! The authors of “God’s Partners” got it right! The world sees faith as slavery, as being bound to a duty to do as God directs, and if you deviate from that direction, then you are condemned to hell! Fortunately, the Lord sees it in an entirely different light!
When Elijah confronted Israel with the question ‘’How long will you waiver between two opinions?”, they simply weren’t ready to make the choice! They needed a prompting, and so do the people of today.
Read 1 Kings 18:22-29
“A contest! What a great way to help us make a choice!” God is going to oblige them, and he will even let the false god go first! Why would the Lord be so generous and accommodating to a people who won’t choose him? And how could Elijah be so confident that his God will win? The truth is that he was prepared, he had the faith to see his Lord in action! Solid and unbridled faith is our preparation!
God has always worked best when his people believe in him. Remember when Jesus was in Nazareth, and because of the lack of faith in the people, he could only perform a few, minor healings? (Mark 6:1-5) God will always be at the top of his game when his people are for him, and with him, and confident that the Lord can and will win! “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20) That’s how God works! He could so easily do it all by himself, but he always chooses to do it in partnership with you and me! Why? I don’t know – I just know that he wants to work in and through the faith of his own!
And so, the contest begins. Baal starts out a little slow, and Elijah decides to ‘encourage” the priests. But no matter how loudly they call, and no matter how sacrificial they become, Baal remains silent. So, who do you think is going to win?
It isn’t the priests of Baal & Asherah, that’s for certain!
The winner doesn’t have to be God, either – he has been the victor since before time began and will be even at the end. One minor event means little to the eternal Champion!
The real winners are to be the people, but only if they learn from this incident.
Read 1 Kings 18: 30–39
Some of the significance that surrounds the event:
Elijah chooses 12 stones from an altar that had been damaged. First, we need to see this as representative of the rebuilding of Israel’s faith. It had been severely damaged, torn down, had become useless, but it was being raised up once again for a Godly purpose.
Second, Elijah chooses 12 stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. But remember that we were in the time of the divided kingdom, and this takes place in the north – in Israel. There were 10 tribes as far as they were concerned, not 12, but I think that at least a few got the point. The Lord is telling the people that he is calling them all back to his side, back to his glory, to his plan, and that the proof will be in the miracle that is about to happen.
The miracle itself is certainly significant, not so much in that the fire rained down on the sacrifice, but rather how and what it consumed. It not only consumed the entire sacrifice, but it also destroyed every last bit of the wood, the 12 altar stones, the soil, and every drop of water that had been poured on them.
The things that weren’t burned, though, are just as significant – it didn’t burn the pagan sacrifice, and it never touched the people!! Evil in this world will not be destroyed until the Lord says it is time, and his people will escape the destruction even then.
And the people learned just how powerful their God was, and they loudly proclaim it. Of course, they had proclaimed God before, and would do so again, but their faith never seems to remain constant or firm. But on this day, Elijah had prayed a prayer that would be answered in an incredibly dramatic way - “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac & Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
What a prayer! The Lord would hear it, and he would respond in a miraculous way, and if only for a short time, Israel’s heart would, indeed, be turned back to their Almighty Partner. And all because Elijah not only believed, but because he was prepared and expectant for the Lord’s miracle.
My friends, this isn’t just a great story of faith – it is an example and a call for the church of today.
Even as Israel had fallen away from their God, so has our nation, and the world of 2012.
Even as Israel had been taking in the foreign God’s of other nations, so have we.
Even as God’s greatest desire was that Israel would once again accept his glorious “partnership of faith’, he is calling our world to that same relationship.
Even as Israel desperately needed a faith revival in their life, so does the Church of today.
And what is needed for this revival? God needs one or two, and maybe even three of his faithful to be ready and anxious to see his glory at work, and who are prepared to pray Elijah’s prayer – “O Lord God, let it be known today that you are God in and of this world, and that all good things are of you. Answer my prayer, O Lord, so that others will know that you, and you alone, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. Amen.”
Will you pray this prayer every day from now until Easter morning? Will you pray it confidently? Will you pray it expectantly? Will you pray it faithfully? Will you pray it as one of the Lord’s partners?
Sunday, March 4, 2012
“The Scent of Service”
Scripture: Exodus 30:17-38
The church has always had a strong connection to ritual, even though ritual, in and of itself, has little to do with true faith. Ritual, at its best, is a way for each of us to express our faith and to be reminded of how we must live within our faith. In my studies for my upcoming class on the “Reformation”, the “persecuted” church survived through many trials, simply by meeting together privately, during severe tests of faith, but without a lot of public fanfare. They did this as a means to continue to celebrate their connection with each other and with God even though others were trying their worst to break that connection. Sometimes it was the Protestants who had to go underground, and sometimes it was Catholicism that had to drop out of sight – it all depended on who was wearing the crown or carrying the scepter at that particular time.
Through the centuries, Protestants, in particular, have tried to move away from the extreme focus and dependency on ritual that the early church seemed to immerse themselves in. But it has a purpose, none the less.
One of my books, “The Story of Christianity”, Vol. 2 by Justo Gonzalez, addressed the survival of the Russian Orthodox Church during the 80 year period of Russian Communism. Gonzalez writes “Western Christians – particularly Protestants – may have underestimated the power of liturgy and tradition, that allowed these churches to continue their life, and even to flourish, in the most adverse of circumstances.” By varying estimates, as many as 1,000,000 Orthodox Christians may have been worshiping and growing within the oppression of Communist Russia. Gonzalez mentions that after Gorbachev instituted the policy of “perestroika” in the late 1980’s, the Russian church began to reemerge. In 1989 alone, 1,000 new churches were established, 2 seminaries were opened, and several Orthodox monasteries were reopened. And it was by the remembrances of Christ’s suffering that came in worship and ritual, that kept the church strong during those very dark days.
The ancient Israelites were given a lot of ritual for their lives. Passover and the other feast days are probably the most recognizable to us, but complete preparation for celebration of the Lord was just as necessary and important to the people. Whenever the people stopped for a time during their wilderness journey, and as soon as the Tent of Meeting was set up, ritual began. Incense was burned, anointing oils were prepared, and ritual washing would become a way of life for the priesthood.
Read Exodus 30:17-21
Washing was a ritual that implied spiritual, as well as physical cleansing. It wasn’t that water had any great spiritual power in itself, but it reminded the priests that they needed to be rid of their sinfulness before they could come to the Lord in worship and service. They were to wash their hands when they entered the Tent, and hands and feet again when they approached the altar. They knew that the Almighty hated “filth”, and they didn’t want to take any chance that “dirt” of any kind remained on or in them – not the physical kind and definitely not the spiritual kind.
But we know that spiritual cleansing is a lot more difficult than its physical counterpart, and that the degree of need for each is also in the same proportion. But the recognition of “need” hasn’t changed in 3,000 years! Israel knew that they were unworthy and unprepared to approach the throne of grace, but ritualistic washing was the only way they knew of to prepare themselves. And personally, if it gave them a sense of divine fear and heavenly humility, then maybe it wasn’t all that bad!
The Catholic Church, in my view, seems to have their own ways of instilling this concept of holy fear and heavenly humility in the people. The process of confession, the celebration of Mass on a weekly and even daily basis, even their choice of a crucifix instead of a bare cross, all serve to remind the people that sin is an ever present issue in their lives, and that they have to deal with it. Protestants have few of these reminders.
Now don’t take me wrong - I’m in no way advocating for a return to the Roman church’s style of ritual and traditions. Rituals can have the tendency to replace heart felt repentance with works of repentance, and that, to my way of thinking, is a failure in faith. But we need those reminders from time to time just the same. We need the Lenten season!
We need Ash Wednesday to remind us of our sinful state and the need to repent of our failures in this life.
We need Maundy Thursday to remind us that God loves us so much that the Almighty, the Creator of all that is, the One who has established plans not only for his own glory but for our salvation, the Glory who knows that we are unworthy but who has taken his own steps to overcome that condition, the Divine God who came to make us one with him, not through proclamations of dread and destruction but by becoming a servant who willingly washes us clean.
We need Good Friday to remind us of the lengths that God will go to, and the unbelievable means that he will use, to reunite our humanity with his eternity.
We need communion to remind us of God’s sacrifice on our part.
We need healing services as a form of surrender to the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior.
We need organized worship and prayers to celebrate the Lord’s presence in our lives, while at the same time taking care that we don’t get too wrapped up in the words and process, and completely forget all about the purpose and intent.
We need rituals to sustain us and remind us, but we also need to embrace a holy commitment if we are truly saying “Yes” to Christ.
Read Exodus 30:22-29
Anointing is another ritual that we sometimes overlook. Anointing is a means of dedication and consecration for a Godly purpose. For Israel, anointing the Tent of Meeting and all of its appurtenances was not for purposes of purification, but for dedication. And think about the spices that were used – myrrh, cinnamon, fragrant cane, cassia, olive oil. Is it any wonder that the writer of the text called this “a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer”? And in case you are wondering, the total weight of these ingredients would be 37 ½ pounds, plus a gallon of olive oil! That’s a lot of anointing!
And we anoint, too, but seldom with such a grand mixture of scents. In our healing services, I anoint with a fragrant oil or salve. When we send people out into mission fields or ministry, we anoint them and consecrate them for their endeavors in the name of Jesus Christ. 2 years ago, Diane and I attended a seminar at Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester. At the luncheon session, the speaker asked how many pastors held healing services, and how many of those used aromatic oils. His contention was that our sense of smell is very powerful, and can bring a visual reminder to our minds and souls. His wanted us to know that we truly need these reminders.
Read Exodus 30:30-38
The anointing, consecrating, and washing is to be a unique event – not only in the ritual, but in the senses that perceive it. They are not to be offered in a routine manner, and they aren’t to be used in worldly ways. These “rituals” are all intended to be a reminder, through all our senses, that we are God’s people, called out to serve him in unique and holy ways in this life.
Now you may be wondering why I chose this passage and this topic for a message during Lent? The truth is that I was originally planning to simply address our need to prepare for our Christian service, but I kept coming back to the issue of remembering our relationship with God, and being reminded over and over of just how glorious that relationship is. Whether we are attending Sunday worship or journeying out into the mission field, we can never see it as a routine thing. It can’t be perceived as an obligation; it can’t be approached as a burden; it can’t be viewed as the way to salvation. Our time of worship and service, and the ways we worship and serve, and the means of our worship and serving
must all come together in the fullness of our love for God, and our joy in celebrating him in this life.
The sensual aspects of our life in Christ – the use of water in baptism and cleansing, the use of fragrances in anointing and consecrating his people for mission or ministry, the inclusion of candles and a cross in our sanctuary, the ritual and the order with its music and prayers and witnessing – all serve, through touch and scent and vision and sound, to remind us of just how much God wants the most intimate of relationships with each of us. Not that we are worthy, not that we are deserving, not that we could ever earn it, but simply because the Lord wants it. Nothing more, nothing less.
The church has always had a strong connection to ritual, even though ritual, in and of itself, has little to do with true faith. Ritual, at its best, is a way for each of us to express our faith and to be reminded of how we must live within our faith. In my studies for my upcoming class on the “Reformation”, the “persecuted” church survived through many trials, simply by meeting together privately, during severe tests of faith, but without a lot of public fanfare. They did this as a means to continue to celebrate their connection with each other and with God even though others were trying their worst to break that connection. Sometimes it was the Protestants who had to go underground, and sometimes it was Catholicism that had to drop out of sight – it all depended on who was wearing the crown or carrying the scepter at that particular time.
Through the centuries, Protestants, in particular, have tried to move away from the extreme focus and dependency on ritual that the early church seemed to immerse themselves in. But it has a purpose, none the less.
One of my books, “The Story of Christianity”, Vol. 2 by Justo Gonzalez, addressed the survival of the Russian Orthodox Church during the 80 year period of Russian Communism. Gonzalez writes “Western Christians – particularly Protestants – may have underestimated the power of liturgy and tradition, that allowed these churches to continue their life, and even to flourish, in the most adverse of circumstances.” By varying estimates, as many as 1,000,000 Orthodox Christians may have been worshiping and growing within the oppression of Communist Russia. Gonzalez mentions that after Gorbachev instituted the policy of “perestroika” in the late 1980’s, the Russian church began to reemerge. In 1989 alone, 1,000 new churches were established, 2 seminaries were opened, and several Orthodox monasteries were reopened. And it was by the remembrances of Christ’s suffering that came in worship and ritual, that kept the church strong during those very dark days.
The ancient Israelites were given a lot of ritual for their lives. Passover and the other feast days are probably the most recognizable to us, but complete preparation for celebration of the Lord was just as necessary and important to the people. Whenever the people stopped for a time during their wilderness journey, and as soon as the Tent of Meeting was set up, ritual began. Incense was burned, anointing oils were prepared, and ritual washing would become a way of life for the priesthood.
Read Exodus 30:17-21
Washing was a ritual that implied spiritual, as well as physical cleansing. It wasn’t that water had any great spiritual power in itself, but it reminded the priests that they needed to be rid of their sinfulness before they could come to the Lord in worship and service. They were to wash their hands when they entered the Tent, and hands and feet again when they approached the altar. They knew that the Almighty hated “filth”, and they didn’t want to take any chance that “dirt” of any kind remained on or in them – not the physical kind and definitely not the spiritual kind.
But we know that spiritual cleansing is a lot more difficult than its physical counterpart, and that the degree of need for each is also in the same proportion. But the recognition of “need” hasn’t changed in 3,000 years! Israel knew that they were unworthy and unprepared to approach the throne of grace, but ritualistic washing was the only way they knew of to prepare themselves. And personally, if it gave them a sense of divine fear and heavenly humility, then maybe it wasn’t all that bad!
The Catholic Church, in my view, seems to have their own ways of instilling this concept of holy fear and heavenly humility in the people. The process of confession, the celebration of Mass on a weekly and even daily basis, even their choice of a crucifix instead of a bare cross, all serve to remind the people that sin is an ever present issue in their lives, and that they have to deal with it. Protestants have few of these reminders.
Now don’t take me wrong - I’m in no way advocating for a return to the Roman church’s style of ritual and traditions. Rituals can have the tendency to replace heart felt repentance with works of repentance, and that, to my way of thinking, is a failure in faith. But we need those reminders from time to time just the same. We need the Lenten season!
We need Ash Wednesday to remind us of our sinful state and the need to repent of our failures in this life.
We need Maundy Thursday to remind us that God loves us so much that the Almighty, the Creator of all that is, the One who has established plans not only for his own glory but for our salvation, the Glory who knows that we are unworthy but who has taken his own steps to overcome that condition, the Divine God who came to make us one with him, not through proclamations of dread and destruction but by becoming a servant who willingly washes us clean.
We need Good Friday to remind us of the lengths that God will go to, and the unbelievable means that he will use, to reunite our humanity with his eternity.
We need communion to remind us of God’s sacrifice on our part.
We need healing services as a form of surrender to the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior.
We need organized worship and prayers to celebrate the Lord’s presence in our lives, while at the same time taking care that we don’t get too wrapped up in the words and process, and completely forget all about the purpose and intent.
We need rituals to sustain us and remind us, but we also need to embrace a holy commitment if we are truly saying “Yes” to Christ.
Read Exodus 30:22-29
Anointing is another ritual that we sometimes overlook. Anointing is a means of dedication and consecration for a Godly purpose. For Israel, anointing the Tent of Meeting and all of its appurtenances was not for purposes of purification, but for dedication. And think about the spices that were used – myrrh, cinnamon, fragrant cane, cassia, olive oil. Is it any wonder that the writer of the text called this “a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer”? And in case you are wondering, the total weight of these ingredients would be 37 ½ pounds, plus a gallon of olive oil! That’s a lot of anointing!
And we anoint, too, but seldom with such a grand mixture of scents. In our healing services, I anoint with a fragrant oil or salve. When we send people out into mission fields or ministry, we anoint them and consecrate them for their endeavors in the name of Jesus Christ. 2 years ago, Diane and I attended a seminar at Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester. At the luncheon session, the speaker asked how many pastors held healing services, and how many of those used aromatic oils. His contention was that our sense of smell is very powerful, and can bring a visual reminder to our minds and souls. His wanted us to know that we truly need these reminders.
Read Exodus 30:30-38
The anointing, consecrating, and washing is to be a unique event – not only in the ritual, but in the senses that perceive it. They are not to be offered in a routine manner, and they aren’t to be used in worldly ways. These “rituals” are all intended to be a reminder, through all our senses, that we are God’s people, called out to serve him in unique and holy ways in this life.
Now you may be wondering why I chose this passage and this topic for a message during Lent? The truth is that I was originally planning to simply address our need to prepare for our Christian service, but I kept coming back to the issue of remembering our relationship with God, and being reminded over and over of just how glorious that relationship is. Whether we are attending Sunday worship or journeying out into the mission field, we can never see it as a routine thing. It can’t be perceived as an obligation; it can’t be approached as a burden; it can’t be viewed as the way to salvation. Our time of worship and service, and the ways we worship and serve, and the means of our worship and serving
must all come together in the fullness of our love for God, and our joy in celebrating him in this life.
The sensual aspects of our life in Christ – the use of water in baptism and cleansing, the use of fragrances in anointing and consecrating his people for mission or ministry, the inclusion of candles and a cross in our sanctuary, the ritual and the order with its music and prayers and witnessing – all serve, through touch and scent and vision and sound, to remind us of just how much God wants the most intimate of relationships with each of us. Not that we are worthy, not that we are deserving, not that we could ever earn it, but simply because the Lord wants it. Nothing more, nothing less.
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