Wednesday in Advent 1: Prayer and the communion of saints

Opening Sentence

Their sound has gone out into all lands, and their message to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:4

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates



Commemoration: St. Andrew the Apostle

Almighty God, who gave such grace to your apostle Andrew that he readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ, and brought his brother with him: Give us, who are called by your holy Word, grace to follow him without delay, and to bring those near to us into his gracious presence; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Texts: Psalm 144-146 (M); Psalm 147-150 (E); Isaiah 9:8-10:4, Mark 2:1-21 (M); Isaiah 10:5-23, Revelation 8 (E)

For every believer, prayer is an essential element of a life wholly devoted to God. There was a time when I thought of prayer as occurring at two levels: the public prayers of the gathered faithful and the private prayers of the individual believer. More recently, however, I have begun to think more in terms of the big picture.

Prayer is an act of worship, and worship is, or at least ought to be, the perpetual posture of every believer. Worship is the act through which the church comes to understand itself as a covenant community in a living relationship with the living God. Whether gathered together on the Lord's Day or dispersed into the world during the other six days of the week, members of a faithful congregation will never lose their vital connection with God and with one another if they cultivate a constant posture of worship and a consistent life of prayer.

The church is, first, a community, one body in Christ. That body consists of many individual members, to each of whom "is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7). Individuals do not receive gifts of the Spirit to serve their own purposes but, rather, to serve God's purposes in building up the whole Body in love and maintaining its unity through the bond of peace.

As one body, chosen by the Father before the foundation of the world; brought into being by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ; and empowered by the blessed, life-giving Holy Spirit, the church experiences communion with God, with one another, and with the whole company of the redeemed who rest in heavenly peace. The communion of the saints, which most of us affirm week after week when we recite the Apostles' Creed, has become, in most Protestant circles, a doctrine so egregiously neglected as to hinder a deeper understanding of the nature of worship, of prayer, and even of God himself as the blessed Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One might think a private prayer to God is just that, a private conversation between the person praying and God. However, a prayer offered by the worshiping community on earth is not only heard, but also echoed, by the saints in heaven as it rises up to the throne of God. Just as, in the Eucharist, the saints on earth join with the angels, archangels, saints, martyrs, and the whole company of heaven in singing, "Holy, holy, holy," so the prayers of the faithful on earth are joined by the faithful who have gone before them into glory.

To enter into prayer is to enter into the realm of eternity, because to pray is to commune with the eternal Triune God. Hence, no prayer is ultimately a "private" matter because every prayer is offered within the context of the divine community. It ought to bring comfort to all believers to know that we are never alone in our prayers. We are surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, prompted by the Holy Spirit, and beckoned by Jesus himself as we approach the Father's throne.

(JAG)

Hark the Glad Sound

Tuesday in Advent 1: Worship and the Apocalypse

Opening Sentence

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Isaiah 40:5

Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending



Collect of the Day

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Texts: Psalm 139, 140 (M); Psalm 141-143 (E); Isaiah 6, Mark 1:21-46 (M); Isaiah 8:16-9:17, Revelation 7 (E)

The vision of Revelation presents two contrasting realities, symbolized by two cities: New Jerusalem and Fallen Babylon. The citizens of these cities are characterized, respectively, by worship of God and worship of the beast. As the vision unfolds, this overarching theme of worship becomes clear. Revelation is best understood holistically, as one synchronous vision. The central event of the vision, around which all other events turn and eventually return to, is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus “has conquered” and is therefore worthy to “open the scroll and the seven seals” (5:5). Through this one decisive act, God has revealed his whole will and purpose. All creation is invited to join in the song around the throne of glory. That is, all creation is invited to enter into the experience of worship. Indeed, all creation does worship, but some do not worship around the throne. Some worship, instead, the image of the beast and join with the dragon in his rebellion against God. But whether you worship the one true God or any number of imitations, the message of John’s vision in Revelation is worship shapes and defines your character and identity.

Throughout Revelation, there is developed the contrast between the redeemed order and the rebellious order, that is, New Jerusalem and Fallen Babylon, each in the process of being conformed to the image of that which they worship. The redeemed, “coming out of the great tribulation”(7:14ff), stand before God’s throne and “serve him day and night in his temple,” gradually experiencing more and more of the fullness of God’s presence around them until, at last, all hunger, thirst, pain, and tears are done away with. The rebellious, conversely, worship the beast and imagine it to be invincible, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (13:4).

The idea of human beings worshiping the image of “the beast” is hardly an innovation. When the people of Israel became impatient waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai (Exodus 32), they made for themselves a golden calf and worshiped it as their god. When Moses finally did come down from the mountain, he found the Israelites behaving much like the beast they were worshiping. Similarly, those who follow after “the beast” in Revelation eventually become much like that which they worship. Thus, what would seem initially to be an ascription of praise becomes a comical farce. “Who is like the beast?” Those who worship the beast are “like the beast.” Having created a god ostensibly in their own image, they have become enslaved by what it represents, namely, their own vanity and self-indulgent passions.

As the redeemed and the rebellious are conformed, respectively, to the image of that which they worship, they each begin longing for the ultimate outcome of the choice they have made. The redeemed long for God to complete his work of redemption and vindicate those who have suffered at the hands of the rebellious. The souls under the altar cry out, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (6:10). Most dramatic, however, is the prayer at the end of the book, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (22:20). This is the prayer of the church for all things to be made complete, for redemption in its fullness at the personal, corporate, and cosmic levels. It expresses the church’s longing for the victory of God in Christ to be made manifest throughout all creation.

Conversely, the rebellious begin to cry out for their own destruction, longing for death in order that they might be relieved of the intolerable suffering which they have brought upon themselves. It is a relief they do not receive. For those who worship the beast and its image “have no rest, day or night” (14:11). Yet, “the dead who die in the Lord” are to “rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them” (14:13). The “rest” here is the Sabbath which yet remains for the followers of the Lamb but will be forever out of the reach of “these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name” (14:11). They will be trapped in an endless cycle of labor, suffering, and pain, symbolized in “the number of the beast,” six hundred sixty six (666).

The marriage supper of the Lamb (19:9) provides another stark contrast between the redeemed and the rebellious. For the redeemed, it is a feast of celebration, complete with a loud, heavenly chorus (19:6-8). For the beast and its followers, it is a dinner of doom in which they are the main course for “all the birds that fly directly overhead” (19:17ff).

Whatever other impressions one gets from reading the Apocalypse, one comes through loud and clear: worship is an inescapable reality of life. If we worship God, we will become like him: holy, righteous, pure, and truly alive. If we worship the beast, we will become like it: corrupt, vile, ruthless, and ultimately devoid of life.

(JAG)

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Monday in Advent 1: You are what you worship

Opening Sentence

Watch, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. Mark 13:35, 36

People Look East



Commemoration: King Kamehameha and Queen Emma

O Sovereign God, who raised up (King) Kamehameha (IV) and (Queen) Emma to be rulers in Hawaii, and inspired and enabled them to be diligent in good works for the welfare of their people and the good of your Church: Receive our thanks for their witness to the Gospel; and grant that we, with them, may attain to the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer. Amen.

Texts: Psalm 132-135 (M); Psalm 136-138 (E); Isaiah 3:1-26, Mark 1:1-20 (M); Isaiah 4, Revelation 6 (E)

I have long believed the adage, "You are what you worship." Whatever you establish in your life as your god, you will eventually become like it. When the Israelites grew weary of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain they rebelled against God and created for themselves a golden calf to worship. When Moses finally did come down, the Israelites were behaving like the animal they were worshiping. The same is true whenever people turn from the worship of the living God and turn instead to the worship of created things.

Psalm 135.15-18 confirms this:

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
they have ears, but do not hear,
nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them become like them,
so do all who trust in them!

It is sheer folly on the part of fallen human beings to think we can create a god in our own image. The end result is not a living god who frees us to become all we were intended to be, but a mute, blind, deaf idol who enslaves us to our basest instincts and vilest passions. The god we thought we had created in our image conforms us, instead, to its image: mute, blind, deaf, and dead!

Conversely, when we turn from false idols to the true and living God, worshiping him in spirit and in truth, loving him with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, we become like him: holy, righteous, loving, and truly alive!

Indeed, we are what we worship. Whether or not we worship the Creator or the creature, we cannot ultimately escape the reality that we are created beings who bear the image of Whoever or whatever we place at the center of our lives.

(JAG)

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus