66¹

"Come and see what God has done. . ."ps

In the context of Israel's worship one finds a continual and recurring theme of remembering and recalling all that their god has done in the process of salvation history. This occurs on many different levels, from the personal and intimate to national history and the miraculous. What I found to be of special note on this topic, particularly in Psalm 66, is how the story of salvation and the activity of the divine among humanity is told in both historical and present form. In other words, the past and the present are told in one breath.

This is due to the fact that the biblcal portrait of heavenly activity is seen as a single and unified event. The past serves as a heritage for the faith that we display in the present. In turn, our present activity will be the heritage upon which the future will be built.

And whenever we remember the past it actually becomes part of our present experience, which means the telling and retelling of God's activity allows it to live and impact and save today. "In the cultic representation the 'there' and the 'once' of history becomes the 'now' and the 'here' of the [salvation-history]; it becomes the eternal presence of the rule of God which is the true object of the cultic ceremony and of the hymnic praise of the tribes of the covenant people."*

So if the 'there' and 'once' become the 'here' and 'now' it is our responsibility to make the 'here' and 'now' become the 'everywhere' and 'tomorrow.' Our story must be continually present.




*Artur Weiser, The Psalms OTL (Louisville: WJK, 1962), 470.

sycamore

"The statement of Zacchaeus [Luke 19:8] is to be understood as a reaction to the initiative of Jesus and to the objections of the crowd. In order that Jesus may be freed from the suspicion of consorting with a sinner he makes a public declaration of his intention to live a new life. In such a situation a declaration of intent was an adequate sign of repentance. At the same time, his action is to be seenas an expression of gratitude to Jesus for his gracious attitude to him, and as an example of the sort of change in life that should follow upon the reception of salvation." *

This particular comment struck me quite odd, yet remarkably difficult to pass by. The second line is what makes this account leap off the page - In order that Jesus may be freed. . . - and thus creates a shocking situation. Most people know the basic story of Zacchaeus (p.s., from what I can gather he was a wee little man) and thus are familiar with the fact that Jesus invited himself to this tax-collector's home. Two observations: 1) Jesus appears to have no hesitation to invite himself to someone else's house, which is a bit weird; 2) by going to this certain house he would have raised a number of eyebrows, as evidenced in Luke 19:7 with the response of the crowd. In fact, the response of the crowd shows that this activity of entering into a sinner's home was the same as sharing in Zacchaeus' sin.**

But at the end of the story the weight is given to the action of Zacchaeus to free Jesus from the reputation he had taken upon himself. What an incredible portrait of grace is demonstrated (once again) here to see the length to which God will go to reach his beloved. Such a magnificent humility is found in Jesus' willingness to bind himself to a sinner with the intent purpose of making that sinner pure. How is this possible? Jesus knows that holiness is not corrupted, but that it is the more contagious entity. In other words, holiness influences unholiness.

So in spite of the separationism of many modern evangelicals, this is not the solution. Rather than sit back and let this world pass on by, it is our duty to engage the sinfulness of this world on its own terms. For only then can we allow our holiness to pervade it and draw it to Christ.

And what about ourselves?
Christ has bound himself to us in our sinfulness.
Have we freed him from such a reputation?



*I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 697.
**Craig L. Blomberg, Contagious Holiness: Jesus' Meals with Sinners (Downers Grove: IVP, 2005), 153.

stumbling

One of the most interesting observations about biblical narrative is the frankness with which the story is told, with much care given to the perfection of the Author and a seeming disregard for how each character comes across. Never are the blunders or shortcomings of any individual glossed over for the sake of good storytelling. Even some of the most well-known (greatest?) of our Sunday School heros are a bit rougher than we first realize. Samson is a sex-starved dimwit; Jonah is a jerk and a half who does not preach because he does not think his recipients worthy of salvation; Paul calculatingly murdered Christians; the Twelve had their own problems throughout; etc. . .you get the idea.

Much like Moses, we get the idea that these are ambling through this life and somehow stumble onto holy ground. When this eighty-year-old sheep-herder ascended the mountain he just wanted to see what all the smoke was about. He never envisioned himself returning to Egypt for some divinely commissioned task. And then he tried to get out of the job. Walking along, minding his own business he found himself on the brink of a movement that would shake the foundations of the world. He was unholy on holy ground.

I once learned that true greatness does not seek out great things. Rather, great things will come to those who are destined to be great. Not that we always find greatness accompanied by much acclaim. For the truest greatness is standing by the power which God has given you in those times into which he has brought you. And perhaps we find that in all of our stumbling along we are doing a great thing. We stand in the middle of a movement that is shaking the foundations of the world. We are unholy on holy ground.

So we who trip and lose footing find eventually that it is because we have actually and unknowingly been ascending a mountain. And certain moments demand we remove our sandals. . .

CR550N

As I was driving down the highway today I became acutely aware. . .

1. There is such a wonderful color and beauty which surrounded me in nature. Since it is autumn, the various colors that are otherwise hidden within the leaves are able to emerge and display such a magnificence. And this is all part of a dying experience. For some this already sounds too morbid, but I believe this is because we have too easily lost a proper appreciation for the seasons of life - it is not that those who see beauty in the process of dying are particularly warped.

2. There seems to be an equation to spiritual existence. Yet this is not some mathematical economy which may be experienced as a formula in which lives are placed in a cosmic algebraic recipe and have all turned out. There is faith and hope. . .faith is built upon that which God has done in the past and hope is looking forward to the future. Yet there are three that remain: love is that which enables us to move from faith to hope in a three-part pilgrimage.

c. Trinity gains us an understanding of reality (it is the ultimate reality). Three persons, one essence. Bound together by an eternal and perfect love. Which means (among MANY other things) that Jesus and the Spirit and the Father are connected through love. We are told to display love toward each other and toward this loving perfection. The only possible way we can experience love is through the Spirit, which is the presence of Jesus who has enabled us to enter into the throne room of his heavenly Father. Could it be that the love we share carries the very presence of Christ? Perhaps even the heavenly glory of the Father?

4. Have you ever stopped to realize how close we are to the eternal? Our world is marked by so much that is temporary, yet the activity of grasping for these straws somehow binds us to that which will never end. We try to hold on to this life - sometimes for good and sometimes because we can't help ourselves - and we find that everything slips away from our reach. Even the most spiritually momentus occasions can not be preserved, yet we are still reaching for them. Perhaps our lives are indeed sacraments: outward signs of an inward grace. Sometimes we might be sacramenting the wrong direction.



four roads: one intersection: in more ways than one. . .




“Gratitude is a spiritual virtue that opens the door of the soul to the world around us.” *



C. Hassell Bullock, Encountering the Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 160.

penetrable

There are, I suppose, two incompatible thoughts of god which dictate human existence. At least, they may be found incompatible in our particular uses (or understandings) of them. The first is to believe that god is a mighty fortress which cannot be infiltrated. And the other is that god is so interested in our lives that he can be summoned over the slightest murmur of a prayer. In modern day evangelicalism I do not see a healthy connection of these ideals. Perhaps this is because we do a rather poor job of acurately living this out. Our church spaces are most likely the best indication of this: either we have spaces that are truly contemporary but display little (if any) sense of reverence and awe or we have spaces which are stately and majestic but which make it difficult to approach god on terms other than white-collar, upper-class, management terms.

An interesting situation.

However, a solution might be approached if we realize that god is not an impenetrable and ineffable mystery before which one bow down to the dust, overwhelmed by mystical emotions but one who is intimately involved with every aspect of his creation. When Scripture speaks of his mindful eye it makes a profound statement that God is actively caring for all he has made. What is more, all that he has made is given an incredible position of being able to call out his name.

An interesting solution.

The notion of this god being available leads to the biblical position of god being moveable. Although many systematicians claim that god is not able to change (despite things such as the incarnation), Scripture is very clear and forthright about praying as though prayers make a difference! All of this leads to a god who has opened himself up to the risk of being hurt all so that he might have a genuine love and relationship with his people. This does not sound like an impenetrable force.

An interesting vantage point:

Since we are enamored with the biggest, strongest, best, etc. . .we cannot help but have pictures of might color our view of God. Even after he has demonstrated not a love of power, but a power of love (see blog. And given his position as creator and sustainer, it is not a question of whether or not this god exists as one who cannot be dethroned, but rather what kind of god is this that would risk rejection and a thwarted will (at least, in part) that he would enter into this world.

And as the creator, sustainer, and foundation. . .one must not worry about his lack of mighty strength (cf. Isaiah 40)




*gratitude to: Artur Weiser, The Psalms (Louisville: WJK, 1962), 467-472.

penitence

illuminate

my heart's conscience

that

I might emerge

from your Shadow


:

simply

. . .but success in whose terms?

I once was told that churches seldom (if ever) divide over matters of doctrine or theology, yet somehow find ways to split over the color of carpet, which font should be used on the hymnal engraving, or other seemingly meaninglessness tidbits. Although this mostly a facetious statement, there is a sting of truth in it. More acurately, it is the love and desire of power of influence which causes the difficulties to emerge. Perhaps this is because it is very much a part of human nature (or fallenness) that we should seek to have control. After all, is it not the first sin to take matters into our own hands?

St Francis penned:

To those who have lost their way, let me restore it to them.
To those who are aimless, let me bring purpose.
To those who do not know who they are,
let me teach them that they are the children of God and can be used as his instruments in the never-ending work of healing and redemption.

The image of 'instrument' is a far cry from the power struggles which so often characterize our modern Christianity. The relevant passage here is Romans 6:13: "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness."

Interestingly enough, this simple monk from Assisi has reached across time and space in order to impact so many who have listened to his words. With a lack of regard for himself, he allowed the glory of God to shine through his words and actions and so let his power of influence be controlled by the Almighty. It is noticeable that the great saints that have gone before simply sought the face of God. It is because of this that they have been so powerful in reaching across the centuries as "instruments."

All the while so many are determined to walk the easy path of complex religion rather than the difficult path of simple faith.

nauseated

The moral flabbiness born of the bitch-goddess success. That - with the squalid interpretation put on the word success - is our national disease.*

Just how long will our churches and religious communites submit themselves to such earthy notions of success, whereby we measure our effectiveness by number and power? I have been a part of churches both large and small, economically secure and lacking, in fine facilities and those with peeling paint. And no matter how many times the issue of overemphasis on attendance, buildings and cash is denounced by religious leaders there remains many power struggles ranging from the direction of millions of dollars worth of funds to what color the sanctuary carpet should be. Why? Because we have sold ourselves to the notion that success is them most important ideal.

But success in whose terms?

Denominations want to see increased revenue, membership and baptisms. Church boards want to see people filling their pews. Churchgoers desire the best music and a flashy sermon. And everyone desires their churches to be admired and accepted by the community. Perhaps the case can be made that each of these are fine in and of themselves, but the constant hyperextension to include these at the center of church life demonstrates the current situation of moral flabbiness of which William James speaks.

I have found this in many conversations following all types of religious gatherings (from church 'business' to church 'fellowship' - as though the life of a church can be separated). There are many who want to immediately decide if everything was a 'success'. What if it wasn't? Then what? Do we work to make it a success next time, if there even is a next time? Provide enough of these situations and one can easily trace the downward spiral of fabricating socio-cultural entertainment. In other words, our incredibly poor concept of success leads us further away from our mission as a church. And the result is a moral flabbiness which is characterized by the lack of understanding truth and pervading sinfulness within our churches today. It also explains the failure of the 'seeker-sensitive' movement which paved the way into this level of churchy leisure instead of holding fast in a world of shifting sands.

It is indeed a shame that the words of Amos are so quickly forgotten in our modern culture. Speaking on behalf of God:

I can't stand your religious meetings.
I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want just - oceans of it.
I want fairness - rivers of it.
That's what I want. That's all I want



I have to admit that there are times when my stomach turns as harshly as this. And I am begin to think that it's not last night's pizza anymore!


"So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship."**







Bible translation from The Message: a good paraphrase for those "too comfortable" with Scripture. . .

*William James, 11 September 1906
**Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

IX

My Dear Wormwood,

I hope my last letter has conviced you that the trough of dullness or "dryness" through which your patient is going at present will not, of itself, give you his soul, but needs to be properly exploited. What forms the exploitation should take I shall now consider.

In the first place I have always found that the Trough periods of the human undulation provide excellent opportunity for all sensual temptations, particularly those of sex. This may surprise you, because, of course, there is more physical energy, and therefore more potential appetite, at the Peak periods; but you must remember that the powers of resistance are then also at their highest. The health and spirits which you want to use in producing lust can also, alas, be very easily used for work or play or thought or innocuous merriment. The attack has a much better chance of success when the man's whole inner world is drab and cold and empty. And it is also to be noted that the Trough sexuality is subtly different in quality from that of the Peak - much less likely to lead to teh mild-and-water phenomenon which the humans call "being-in-love," much more easily drawn into perversions, much less contaminated by those generous and imaginative and even spiritual concomitants which often render human sexuality so disappointing. It is the same with other desires of the flesh. You are much more likely to make your man a sound drunkard by pressing drink on him as an anodyne when he is dull and weary than by encouraging him to use it as a means of merriment among his friends when he is happy and expansive. Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy's ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return - that is what really gladdens Our Father's heart. And the troughs are the time for beginning the process.

But there is an even better way of exploiting the Trough; I mean through the patient's own thoughts about it. As always, the first step is to keep knowledge out of his mind. Do not let him suspect the law of undulation. Let him assume that the first ardours of his conversion might have been expected to last, and ought to have lasted, forever, and that his present dryness is an equally permanent condtition. Having once got this misconception well fixed in his head, you may then proceed in various ways. It all depends on whether your man is of the desponding type who can be tempted to despair, or of the wishful-thinking type who can be assured that all is well. The former type is getting rare among the humans. If your patient should happen to belong to it, everything is easy. You have only got to keep him out of the way of experienced Christians (an easy task nowadays), to direct his attention to the appropriate passages in Scripture, and then to set him to work on the desperate design of recovering his old feelings by sheer will power, and the game is ours. If he is of the more hopeful type, your job is to make him acquiesce in the present low temperature of his spirit and gradually become content with it, persuading himself that it is not so low after all. In a week or two you will be making him doubt whether the first days of his Christianity were not, perhaps, a little excessive. Talk to him about "moderation in all things." If you can once get him to the point of thinking that "religion is all very well up to a point," you can feel quite happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all - and more amusing.

Another possibility is that of direct attack on his faith. When you have caused him to assuem that the trough is permanent, can you not persuade him that "his religious phase" is just going to die away like all his previous phases? Of course, there is no conceivable way of getting by reason from the proposition "I am losing interest in this" to the proposition "This is false." But, as I have said before, it is jargon, not reason, you must rely on. The mere word "phase" will very likely do the trick. I assume that the creature has been through several of them before - they all have - and that he always feels superior and patronising to the ones he has emerged from, not because he has really criticised them but simply because they are in the past. (You keep him well fed on hazy ideas of Progress and Development and the Historical Point of View, I trust, and give him lots of modern biographies to read? The people in them are always emerging from Phases, aren't they?)

You see the idea? Keep his mind off the plain antithesis between True and False. Nice shadowy expressions - "It was a phase" - "I've been through all that" - don't forget the blessed word "Adolescent."

Your affectionate uncle
Screwtape





C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Letter IX

chase

. . .and when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. . .
Revelation 5:8

. . .those who had been victorious [sang]. . .'Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.'
Revelation 15


In the first scene there is a portrait of the heavenly throne room, which is painted in terms similar to the earthly temple that stood in Jerusalem. For morning and evening worship there was offered from the temple incense to symbolize the rising of the prayers of God's people to his throne. What happened next? Perhaps there were some individuals who had various answers or thoughts on what happened to these prayers once they had ascended from the earth, but most likely it was considered to be in God's hands and therefore unnecessary to ponder. Or maybe even some who (so much like us today) felt as though they had fulfilled their religious quota by praying and could then move on with the remainder of the day.

There is, however, a picture of what happens to this rising incense: it is gathered in heaven and held in the presence of God. For the sake of accuracy, we must recognize that not all prayers are being described here, even though there seems to be a more universally principle understood. Rather, these prayers are specifically for the return of Jesus and the glory and judgment which will accompany his coming. These prayers for justice and righteousness - the heart of God's kingdom - are held in the very presence of God that he might be mindful of them.

In the second seen there is a portrait of those who have prayed and have proven themselves victorious, which is painted in terms that display a deeply spiritual significance to their lives. As God's will is being done on earth as it is in heaven, these persons cry out a worshipful song of praise, All nations will come and worship before you.

"Thus the saints have followed their own prayers to heaven. The faithfulness with which they lived and died in hope of the kingdom for which they prayed, has made them part of the answer to their prayers."*

The picture is this: the saint offers a prayer (a life) which rises as incense to the heavenly throne room. From there the saint runs furiously after this prayer to witness and worship the one who brings fulfillment. Perhaps this sounds odd, yet this could only be the coloring of our own culture which does not see prayer as a source of empowerment to godly action but a means of escapism from the duty and responsibilities of partnering with the divine. We chase because we can act. . .and we can witness. . .and we can worship.

. . .as it is in heaven. . .




*Richard Bauckham, "Prayer in the Book of Revelation" in Into God's Presence, ed. Richard N. Longenecker (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 266.