Sabbath
I don’t know of any commandment that we have ignored more than God’s command to keep the Sabbath. It’s even one of the big ten!
I don’t think that we ignore it on purpose, I do believe that most of us just simply don’t know what it really means to Sabbath. A week from Sunday (the 22nd) we will be talking about just that.
To get the ball rolling… think about this, the Sabbath is so important to God that the Bible records a man being killed for no other offense than to be caught doing work on the Sabbath day.
That’s a pretty serious command! Yet the Sabbath isn’t about judgement, it is about redemption. More to come… on the 22nd.
A photo review
Haven’t been as on top of blogging lately as I would like. To catch up, here’s a photo review of the last few weeks.
First off, the vid from Sunday and a couple of worship pics… thanks to Alesha for lending her voice to it!
Also, a peak into the communion meal from a few weeks back. What a rich, reverent and “communal” experience! Watch for our next communion meal after worship on March 1st. Hosts for that meal will be Mark and Karen Boatman.
And for those who missed it, the “Big Game” party was a blast. Congrats to Matt, the holder of the chicken trophy and champion of this year’s fantasy football league!
Going Deeper… Isaiah 1
My wife and I have been doing the Go Deeper challenge since Christmas. So far we’ve read through Hebrews and James and are now getting into the book of Isaiah. For more on Go Deeper, click here.
Yesterday our reading took us through this section (selected portions listed here)…
When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offering disgusts me!
I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them! …
Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of the orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. ”Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” Isaiah 1:12-14, 16-18
There is a lot of debate within the church over “kinds” of worship. Is the church “liturgical”, ”contemporary”, “modern”, “emerging”…
I personally see great depth, richness and symbolism in liturgical worship practice. I appreciate the authenticity and heartfelt expression of contemporary/modern worship. And I admire the community aspect of emerging worship…
But the style is not what makes worship… in fact the style, if it is worshiped in the place of God, can become a hinderance to worship and a “burden” in God’s sight.
Notice at the end of the Isaiah passage that after God’s strong words about being clean that we are the passive one’s in the cleansing. Though as red as scarlet, HE will make our sins as white as snow.
I think that when you get that, you get worship. We’ve used the words forgiven and redeemed so many times that we’ve forgotten what they mean. The weight of Jesus sacrifice has passed us.
When we see who we truly are, and that God loves us in spite of that and brought trauma upon Jesus in our place and for our salvation. When we get the depth of our need and the height of his love maybe, just maybe we will begin to not see worship in the guise of a one hour anything on Sunday, regardless of style. But we would do it as an expression of gratitude, an outpouring of surrender, an on your knees, all glory to God, your very self laid down before him worship.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
