Monday, October 27, 2008

Receiving November 1, 2008, worship scriptures

Scriptures for November 1, 2008
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

Part I - Receiving the Word as spirit and life for yourself
By reading Part I of previous posts (for example, click September to view Part I in September posts) you can review the comments about receiving the Word as spirit and life.
Also, at http://charistis.blogspot.com/2008/03/receiving-word-as-spirit-and-life.html
there are basic suggestions for receiving the Word as spirit and life.

Part II - Reflections on this week's scriptures (one place for you to compare notes)

Prayer for Receptivity
Please, God, increase my capacity
not just to ask questions,
but to contain answers,
and to contain what you give
that is better than answers to my questions.
Make me receptive
like soft, moist soil
where Your Word really can
sprout and grow.
Make me soft and moist--hospitable to
life and spirit.

Revelation 7:9-17
"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (vss. 9-10)
The scene in verses 9 through 17 is immense!
No one could number how many people there are in the great multitude that comes from all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues. It's a completely diverse and completely inclusive multitude.
This diverse and inclusive multitude is standing "before the throne and before the Lamb."
The throne and the Lamb are the gathering force, the unifying power, that draws the diverse and inclusive, numberless multitude.
What happens at the throne is worship.
I wonder what experience I have had that can help me "tune in" to this immense scene? I've never stood with a small or large group before a throne. I've seen pictures of coronations or inaugurations. But this is much more than a coronation or inauguration, as much more as divine is more than human.
When by grace, and the Spirit's guidance, we do begin to tune in to this immense scene, we discover something in addition to worship. The One on the throne also dwells among the numberless diverse and inclusive multitude: "And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them." (vs. 15) And "The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters."
It's a stretching experience to even imagine this immense, wonder-filled scene. It calls for the capacity to touch, or at least reach toward the divine. We need to cross a threshold into reverence and worship. Then, stretched and humbled out of numbness, we are prepared to gratefully receive the One who is not only transcendent-beyond-our-wildest-imagination, but also endearing and close, dwelling among us. And we are prepared to be shepherded by the Lamb who gives us living waters, and wipes the tears from our eyes. The great tribulation hurts every one in that numberless multitude, and the Lamb-Shepherd comforts each of them.

Psalm 34:1-10, 22
"...and saved him out of all his troubles." (vs. 6)
Compare the great tribulation of Revelation 7.

"The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them." (vs. 7)
In Revelation 7 it's the numberless multitude all around the throne, then God dwelling with them; here it's the angel of the LORD all around those who fear God.

1 John 3:1-3
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (vs. 1a)
Each person in the whole numberless multitude is a child of God. They are the children of God, who are shepherded by the Lamb.
"...the world does not know us." (vs. 1b)
Compare the great tribulation in Revelation 7 and the troubles of Psalm 34.

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." (vs. 3)
Compare washing robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14).

Matthew 5:1-12
"Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God." (vs. 8)
Each of the beatitude characteristics prepares the people in the numberless multitude to be there with each other worshipping God.
The pure in heart characteristic is closely related to 1 John 3:3. Purity enables the individuals in the numberless multitude to see and value the One on the throne, and the Lamb-Shepherd.
Purify myself as He is pure. Blessed are the pure in heart. Let the importance of purity sink in! There's a vitally important connection between purity and seeing God.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Receiving October 25, 2008, worship scriptures

Scriptures for October 25, 2008
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46

Part I - Receiving the Word as spirit and life for yourself
Recall how many ways you have learned to talk and write. How we express ourselves is important from birth on. There never comes a time when we can't learn to express ourselves in better ways--ways that benefit us and others.
Now recall how many ways you have learned to receive. Did parents (and other relatives), teachers, and friends say as much to you about receiving? How we receive is important from birth on. There never comes a time when we can't learn to receive in better ways--ways that benefit us and others. But receptivity (what it is, and how we do it well) doesn't seem to get much attention.
You can change that. You can give receptivity the attention it needs. You can choose to come as a receiver to the Word that is spirit and life. At http://charistis.blogspot.com/2008/03/receiving-word-as-spirit-and-life.html there are some "starter" suggestions for how to do this.

Part II - Reflections on this week's scriptures (one place for you to compare notes)
Prayer for Receptivity
Let receptivity continue to become all You, God, want it to be in me.
I want to receive Your Word as the spirit and life it is.
Let this happen again, now. And let it happen more fully, more freely, than it has before.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
"And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days." (vs. 8a)
If each of the following (an Israelite contemporary of Moses) were to have written a page or two about Moses, what might that page or two have contained?

  • A child
  • A teenager
  • Young parents
  • A middle-age Israelite
  • An Israelite about the same age as Moses was when he died.
Ponder what Moses had been to the children of Israel at various times. What were their responses to him at various times; what kind of leader did he become to them?

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
"And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands." (vs. 17)
This Psalm is identified as "A Prayer of Moses the man of God."
At what time(s) and in what ways can you imagine God responding to this prayer of Moses (before or after Moses expressed the prayer)?

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
"But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts." (vs. 4)
Consider the following profile of leadership that is in these verses:

  • Our coming to you was not in vain
  • We were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict
  • Our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit
  • We have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel
  • We did not please men, but God
  • We did not use flattering words, nor a cloak for covetousness
  • We did not seek glory from men
  • We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children we longed for you affectionately
  • We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives
  • You had become dear to us
How might the members of the Thessalonica church--from youngest to oldest--have described Paul?

Matthew 22:34-46
"Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him..." (vs. 35)
"While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them... 'If David then calls Him "Lord," how is He his Son?'" (vs. 45)
Piece by piece, question by question, a leader is constructed in the minds and hearts of the followers. Piece by piece, question by question a leader is resisted or accepted by the people. Consider how the peoples' questions, and how Jesus' questions served this dynamic.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Receiving October 11, 2008, worship scriptures

Scriptures for October 11, 2008
Exodus 32:1-14
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14

Part I - Receiving the Word as spirit and life for yourself
As a review, or for the first time, I invite you to read Part I of my September 28 post (click on September at the left). Those who visit this blog are always invited to receive the Word as spirit and life. That comes first. Then compare notes with others who do the same. Here are suggestions for how to receive the Word as spirit and life for yourself: http://charistis.blogspot.com/2008/03/receiving-word-as-spirit-and-life.html

Part II - Reflections on this week's scriptures (one place for you to compare notes)
Prayer for Receptivity
Not grasping, but receiving.
Not trying to make Your Word into what I want it to be, or into
what I think You want it to be.
Receiving isn't grasping.
Receiving is letting.
Letting Your Word be spirit and life.
Letting Your Holy Spirit clear the way in my heart so Your Word can
settle there as the spirit and life it is.
Please, God, increase my receptivity.

Exodus 32:1-14
“…Moses delayed…” (vs. 1)
As I read these 14 verses, I think How could they ever say that; How could they ever do that; How could Aaron, of all people, go along with them? I react that way, and then I realize this reaction isn’t taking me where I need to go. I’m more likely to touch the heart of the people and Aaron and most of all Moses and God when I consider what this situation seemed like to them. Take just the word “delay.” It must have had huge power for them, to the point of seeming unbearable. Has delay ever felt unbearable to me?
I shift to this way of responding not to condone sin, but in order to realize that ordinary people now, as well as then, do glaringly wrong things when circumstances come to the place of seeming unbearable.
There were a lot of people, and also Aaron their interim leader, who thought they were doing what the circumstance called for. If I don’t try to comprehend what it was like for them, I am much more likely to be drawn into responses that, in my very different life circumstances, still parallel theirs.


“…let Me alone…” (vs. 10)
Amazing. Imagine God saying to Moses, “Let Me alone.” What does that say about the place of Moses in God’s life?
Moses could have heard what I read in verse 10 as (1) relief from circumstances that were getting way out of hand, and (2) assurance of a very bright future. It must have appealed to Moses to have the pain of the past gone and to be given a pain-free future. After all, the people were guilty and he was innocent. Why not just start over again? Moses might have given in to what seemed unbearable, and “gone with” what seemed right, or at least “understandable,” under the circumstances. But he didn’t. These are Your people, God. Why should the Egyptians say you brought them out here to kill them? Remember (I can’t leave You alone, instead I must ask you to remember!) remember what you swore by Your own self to your servants. You have already promised descendants as the stars of heaven. Don’t make of me another great nation. Please fulfill Your original promise. You and Your love are more powerful than these unbearable-seeming circumstances. I can’t leave You alone about this.


“‘They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them.’” (vs. 8)
It is so troubling to realize how human it is to “turn aside quickly.” The Children of Israel way back then aren’t the only ones guilty of this. When I turn aside quickly, it’s a call for me to stop and renew my heart’s awareness of what my turning aside causes in the heart of God—Father, Son and Spirit.

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
“Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people.” (vs. 4)
I can't leave You alone about this, remember!

Philippians 4:1-9
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (vs 8)
My sin must be recognized for what it is and confessed. Then, through forgiveness I’m returned to the compassionate heart of God where I’m prepared to meditate on things true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous and praiseworthy.

Matthew 22:1-14
“‘So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.
‘So he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” and he was speechless.’” (vss. 10-12)
It wasn’t that the king saw a bad man there, he saw a man who did not have on a wedding garment.
The wedding garment and my willingness to wear it; I come from reading this parable today realizing there is always more to ponder about the wedding garment and my willingness to wear it.