Stay Awake to Music and the Discussions
Good Morning Friends,
Today we look at how the early church worshipped and contemplate the songs they sang. Jews of course sang Psalm 114-118 for the feast days but after the resurrection when Christians gathered new songs developed. Today’s passage from the letter to Timothy is, I am told, the lyrics to one of those songs. Insert it into and today’s scriptures in Acts with a little more music and a little less talk and people may have stayed more alert. But then again Paul and Silas’ jailer seems to have slept through the singing and needed an earthquake to stir him. We will perhaps never fully know. Still the message of the lyrics about our need for godliness is engaging. So today contemplate the joy of community worship as God transforms apathy into revival and our breaking bread into a mysterious purposeful love of a God and each other.
Then we might just Stay Awake to Music and the Discussions.
Scripture: Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.
1 Timothy 3:16 (NRSV)
On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, ‘Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.’ Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.
Acts 20:7-12 (NRSV)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:25 (NRSV)
Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
Psalm 57:8 (NRSV)
Message: Have you ever wondered exactly what worship was in the first century? Well we may never fully know and yet we get a look at it in today’s scripture from Acts. It went on into the night in a setting much like the Upper Room but also in a jail. It is combined with a passage from Timothy that was apparently a first century hymn… a new song sung by the early church. Imagine its words in the setting of the passage about Paul and Silas singing in a place we may not so easily associate with worship even though the largest Church in American might very well be behind bars. As we consider the message in the hymn from Timothy and the passages from Acts about the gathering of worship it becomes clear it is not about our words spoken or sung but of the Word made flesh for others to see. It is about the mystery of Jesus and His book and His church as an incarnation of God with us in a new way. Yes Jesus can be revealed to us in song and discussions and earthquakes vindicated by the Spirit, seen and proclaimed and believed everywhere and lifted up risen in glory. That is why we worship together. That is why we sing hymns to pub tunes. That is why it is at this hour so easy to stay awake for Jesus.
Pray we realize that we will never completely understand Jesus but that by trusting and loving and worshipping we can come closer to bringing out the best in ourselves and others. Pray we are reminded of the importance of the Lord’s Supper and the teaching of the Word when we gather. Pray we experience the importance of our mutual fellowship around Christ, which takes place when we eat together. Pray worship becomes for us an opportunity to honor Jesus as our Resurrected Lord. Pray we remember each moment of worship that Jesus was raised from the dead, and that He’s alive today. Pray we realize that where we gather together is not nearly as important as the Person whom we worship. Pray we realize we are part of the greatest miracle of all. Pray we become dead to sin and alive together with Jesus Christ. Pray we gather as a church glorified in the midst of Christ. Pray we realize it is all about Christ and our adventure together. Pray our life is as music to awake the dawn.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 