Good Morning Friends,
During our summer vacation in Spain, we got a little wet in a rainstorm on the Camino. But honestly, we had our gear and have gotten used to this experience living in Florida. This summer has had very few heavy rainfalls where I live unlike our friends in the Northeast. Interestingly we have been hoping for a few red skies in the morning, so our events relate in a way to the lectionary scripture. You see there is always one thing that causes a shift in our weather pattern and chances are we grumble about it even if we need the rain. The events seem to be dependent upon what is taking place in the atmosphere, and it might well be reflected in our temperament on Sunday mornings and maybe even watching the evening news. Today’s scripture is about the atmosphere and attitude of worship and its effect on us all. Maybe you have a good worship experience and maybe you do not. Indeed, it rains on the just and unjust…and it can be seen positively or negatively for different people experiencing the same event. But this too is changing for the parable of the dragnet does not discriminate on what and who is caught up in the changes to come. There is a surrounding, pervading influence in them both guided by the Holy Spirit. To give the topic form we have passages from the stories of Jeremiah and Martha complaining about the social atmosphere. Of course, now we live in an age of grace, but the character of the environment is changing. So, How Healthy Is Your Complaining About Worship And The World?
Scripture: Moses did everything just as the Lord had commanded him. In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up. Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars; and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it; as the Lord had commanded Moses. He took the covenant and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy seat above the ark; and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the curtain for screening, and screened the ark of the covenant; as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38 (NRSV)
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.
Matthew 13:47-53 (NRSV)
and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
John 11:19-27 (NRSV)
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 9:3-5 (NRSV)
Message: Today we look at the importance of shifting atmospheres and their effect on the life and movement of the church toward the end of the age. Here we face the reality that circumstances affect our moods not just climates. We learn that we all can be caught up in the worship of God in very different ways that form our beliefs that hopefully glorifies God. And that means that we in worship need to give our cares to the Lord and let Him fight our battles for us for we are not in charge. We need to realize that we cannot fight all the mental and physical battles on our own. We need to realize that we must not allow anything to hinder us in our worship and thanksgiving for here the atmosphere is changed in our hearts. Friends, there is a supernatural element that is set into motion when we in faith expect something extraordinary to happen, so we do not feel so alone and anxious in today’s crazy world. Thankfully God responds to people who believe and seek the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of life. When we focus on God, the atmosphere is palatable, and we are set free as Jesus invisibly rules and reigns over our hearts. For now, we sense the change in atmosphere, but the day will come when the rule is a visibly physical Kingdom. Some will hope for that day, and some will fear it. Until then we are to be instruments of God’s Kingdom upon earth. We are to play and worship in tune and on time realizing that what we call the Church, like the dragnet in today’s parable about the Kingdom of God, cannot be discriminative but is bound to be a mixture of all kinds of people, good and bad, useless, and useful. And that makes for an atmosphere that should bring us to our knees in prayer. Now today we have both Martha and Jeremiah complaining about life and then being reassured as to God’s love. Their lament, though highly personal is also a reflection of the community’s cry that we were born both as individuals and as a culture protesting the kind of persons we are, with all our moods and tempers over which we often have little control. The point is that without God we are and will always feel alone even in community. Today’s scripture is a cry of lament because of the bitterness of isolation and rejection we experience as part of life. The experience boarders on being God forsaken. Disconcerted and dismayed until God brings things back into balance and growth. Jeremiah points out the loneliness that he suffered was because of his concern for the truth of God, and his choice of being willing to pay the price. He had not joined in with those who made merry, he did not enter into the general rejoicing of men and women, he had not set out to enjoy life, rather he had sat alone as the weeping prophet because God had had His hand on him and had filled him with indignation at the behavior of the people, whose ways were contrary to God’s covenant. He had refused to compromise because he was responding to the call of God. The idea was of God’s irresistible power and pressure. But that is not the way God always works. God’s response to Jeremiah and Jesus’ response to Martha was to bring home to them that the fault lay at their own door. Jeremiah’s problem lay in the fact that he had gone astray from his own dedication and needed to sort out his life and return to God in repentance. Martha too needed a second chance. There is always a choice to do what we are intent on doing or to seek what God is doing and join in. Power in ministry as in life and worship is about being aligned with God’s purpose.
And So, today we have been exploring how the social and emotional learning process going on in the lives of Jeremiah and Martha might led us to a more mature relationship with God. It is an inside out process reflected in many of the Psalms and in leadership that starts with indignation and hopefully develops into intimacy. Jeremiah’s conflict as with Martha’s arises out the fact that they had a corporate personality with responsibilities to people and to God. And what a person does with their own aloneness in a process of maturation is important in these situations. For in this experience is the emergence of an individual consciousness born out of our collective consciousness. Hopefully here our aloneness in our relationship with God transforms from an experience of God the void and God the forceful power, to God the companion. Friends, we too need to let go of the collective demands with their compromising security to venture courageously with faith to a new awareness. That is what Jesus is asking Martha to do. It is what God is asking of Jeremiah. For the human spirit stands alone before God but for those who have worked through the pain a value judgement is made on what is better. People worship all sorts of things that are not ultimately in their best interest and sometimes they participate in worship without the proper perspective. But God is everywhere not just in places of organize worship so maybe we are to be moved by worship and be willing to find worship everywhere. In preparation we might do well to start the day with God and write down the things for which we are thankful.
Pray we come to worship as worship opportunities come to us. Pray we come to worship without fear or entanglements. Pray we come to worship without bitterness or envy. Pray we come to worship with an expectancy that God will be present and move us and deliver us and reveal the Glory of all creation to us. Pray the Holy Spirit takes charge of our worship. Pray we realize the power of the atmosphere in changing the environment in which we live, move, and have our very being. Pray we submit to the pervading influence of the Spirit of God and that this Spirit have a direct effect on the life and movement of all who believe. Pray God help us to discern the difference between what is worthless and what is precious. Pray we see clearly and yet think differently than the world. Pray we reason together for a better solution. Pray we realize that waiting time is never wasting time. Pray we realize we have been invited to the celebration of life and need to mature in our relationships. Pray we see in scripture the story of how God intervenes in the lives of human beings in order that we all might know more of God’s character and mercy. Pray we admit when we are wrong. Pray our prayers are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray we experience God and enjoy a heavenly fellowship in ways that change the world. Pray we realize that sometimes we feel alone so that we might mature into a more intimate relationship with God that affirms that we are never alone.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 