Archive for the ‘Worship’ Category
Monday, June 14th, 2004
Since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.
Romans 5:10 (New Living Translation)
Rick Warren in today’s chapter reminds us that Jesus invites us into an intimate relationship of friendship with God.
I was a young teenager when the wonder of this invitation almost knocked me over. I was cycling to catch the bus to high school. Where I lived we were a mile away from the bus stop. As I came down the final straight I was looking directly at the snow-covered mountain range, the Takitimus. I was amazed at the spectacular vista - and I almost fell off my bike as I realised that the creator of this mountain range and the whole universe, was accessible to me in an intimate friendship!
Rick draws on Brother Lawrence today for insights into the contemplative life of prayer for the busy follower of Christ.
There’s a web site dedicated to Brother Lawrence’s material, with a downloadable copy of “Practicing the Presence of God” - www.practicegodspresence.com
Rick draws on Brother Lawrence’s practice as a busy monk, learning to pray throughout the day while continuing his work. The first step, Rick writes, is to change our attitude so that we don’t separate spiritual and practical. Everything we do we can include God. That, of course, assumes that you can pray without speaking aloud!
Another learning from Brother Lawrence is to make our prayer nice and short - more like the conversations we usually hold. That assumes we don’t have monologues with our friends where we do all the talking and they put up with us! :>)
The second technique for building friendship with God today is Continual Meditation - focused thinking about God’s word. I know and Rick knows that many Christians have an inbuilt suspicion of the word ‘meditation’. It reminds people of new age and Eastern mystic movements in which people empty their minds and chant mantras. But Christianity has a long deep tradition of people growing closer in their friendship with God through constant reflection on God’s word and its application to our lives. Once again the key is keeping it short. That’s why Scripture in Song was so popular in the 1980s - it gave people a good excuse for repeating Scriptures over and over again.
What can I do to remind myself to think about God and talk to him more often throughout the day?
I like to use symbols to remind me of God’s presence in my life. Like a cross cut of wood reminding me to center myself in Jesus. Unfortunately unless it travels with me all day I forget it. Maybe something attached to my keyring - reminding me of Christ’s constant presence. Yep - I’ll find something like that.
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Saturday, June 12th, 2004
“Give yourselves to God… Surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes.”
Romans 6:13
Rick Warren writes that the heart of worship is surrender.
Paul urges us to fully surrender our lives to God in worship:
“So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us… offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.”
Note: It’s good to see the writer of this verse acknowledged. For a lot of the book so far, we’ve been told that “The Bible tells us…”
Rick names two things that prevent us from surrendering our lives to God:
Fear: Can I trust God?
Pride: Can I admit my limitations?
Can I trust God?
I’m occasionally surprised when people turn down an opportunity to meet with me in my consultancy work. Usually there’s an agenda of hurt from the past. They believe I’ll berate them or make them feel stupid. I guess I could if I wanted to. But my purpose in consultancy is to listen very carefully and fairly so that the organisation can build a good atmosphere for moving ahead together.
I think sometimes we find it hard to trust God because we’ve been hurt, let down, disappointed, or frustrated. If God cares about every detail of my life, why does he let me suffer? Why do unfair things happen? Those were the questions Job would have asked in his time of suffering. These questions have certainly crossed my mind a few times.
It boils down to what we’re trusting God for. A bedridden woman asked me if she could trust God to protect her from intruders. I was stuck with that one. In all honesty, I knew she was vulnerable to harm like anyone. God doesn’t give us immunity to harm just because we’re children of the King. So what do we trust God for? Is just for an assurance of love, acceptance and concern? Or is there something deeper - a purpose drawn out of our experience.
Rick reminds us that surrender is not passive resignation, fatalism, or an excuse for laziness. He actually uses the phrase “God does not want robots to serve him” - a phrase that came to mind when dealing with his concept of instant obedience in Day 9.
I like the way surrender to God is linked with relationships and money. We don’t always have to be in charge. We don’t edge others out, demand our rights and self-serve when we’re surrendered. Retirement in comfort is not the goal of a surrendered life. These are healthy challenges to the me-centred values of our time.
So how does this relate to the surrender of Jesus to the cross? Rick refers to Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.
“Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”
Mark 14:36 (New Living Translation)
Rick takes this a step further by telling us that genuine surrender says:
“Father, if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another’s, please don’t take it away.”
I think we have permission to ask if God has any other way of achieving his purposes. After all Jesus asked. And I think generally, God does have a huge range of options. It’s just that Jesus was the one who had to carry the load of the cross. No one else. I’m glad I don’t have to step into Jesus’ role. I am not the Messiah. (Something I remind myself when tempted to unthinkingly take on the expectations of others.)
Surrender for me is more often than not about letting go of responsibility rather than accumulating it. I’m happy to have a go at the inconvenient, unpopular, costly or seemingly impossible tasks. And I’m happy to do these in the spirit of worship to God.
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Saturday, June 12th, 2004
“May the Lord smile on you”
Numbers 6:25 (New Living Translation)
“Noah was a pleasure to the Lord”
Genesis 6:2
Noah loved God supremely.
The NRSV translation says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” . The New Living Translation has put the Hebrew concepts of into classic Evangelical language: “Noah consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.” Genesis 6:9b (New Living Translation)
Walking with God - that’s the image I find helpful here. It implies that Noah’s life with God was not linked with a daily quiet time - reading the Bible and praying about the day. He didn’t have a Bible for starters. He had to find a way of living his life without blame - with integrity. Although I believe that our relationship with God is supreme, I don’t think we can understand that relationship on the same level as the relationship between two people.
Noah trusted God completely.
This an interesting one. It’s obvious that the in the story of Noah that he does get the ark built. But we don’t know about the process. We don’t know if Noah doubted, or if he complained, or if he made excuses. What counts is that eventually that ark was ready when the rains came.
I like Bill Cosby’s take on the events:
Noah: Right … Who is this really? What’s going on? How come you want me to do all these weird things?
God: I’m going to destroy the world.
Noah: Right … Am I on Candid Camera? How are you gonna do it?
God: I’m going to make it rain for a thousand days and drown them right out.
Noah: Right … Listen, do this and you’ll save water. Let it rain for forty days and forty nights and wait for the sewers to back up.
God: Right…
Best of Bill Cosby at Amazon.com
That complete trust in God involved some conversation between Noah and God. It was not a case of blind trust.
Noah obeyed God wholeheartedly.
It’s a big assumption to say, as Rick Warren does, that Noah didn’t have any questions, objections or reservations. Where in the Bible does that come from?
I firmly believe that calling people to ‘instant obedience’ without understanding is dangerous and manipulative. This is the language of cults. Certainly there are some things we need to do without understanding all the subtleties. Forgiving someone can be an obedient action before the desire or attitude kicks in. But I don’t think God treats us as robots who obey. Try ordering anyone around like that and see what happens.
God smiles when we praise and thank him continually.
Noah offers his sacrificed animal to God after he gets to dry land. Rick uses this act as a reminder that we are called to offer our thanks and praise to God, obviously avoiding the slaughter of animals as we do so.
A thankful attitude does make us more pleasant to be with. I’m sure God enjoys our thankfulness and appreciation.
Noah used his abilities.
Rick points out that those abilities included making love to his spouse, bringing up kids, planting crops and eating meals. He reminds us that God gains pleasure in watching us enjoy his creation, using all our senses. Amen to that.
I like the way Rick reminds us that God enjoys us at every point of our development. God is not an unpleasable teacher or parent.
Today’s a helpful reminder to me that pleasing God is the highest priority of my life. I’m not here to curry favour with anyone. I’m here to live the life God calls me to. There is no shortage of people with a plan for my life. “Work this way. Speak this way. Apply for this position. Aspire to this ambition.” I’m strengthened by the reminder that I’m living for God’s pleasure.
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