What was your Christmas Liturgy?

Now that Christmas day has come and gone and the new year is underway, in the midst of looking forward with our aspirations and resolutions lets take a moment to look back. The Christmas season is a time of year that is particularly suited to traditions, rituals and liturgies. Lights adorn our houses, trees are chopped and decorated, aromas of Christmas spices billow from the cookies in the oven, carols blast on the radio, familiar stories are told and retold accompanied by Christmas “hymns”. I must admit, I rather enjoy all the trappings of Christmas time. It was a pretty big deal growing up. We looked forward to doing the same thing every year. Driving to Granddaddy and Grandmothers house to spend the night on Christmas Eve; Christmas dinner with ambrosia for dessert; presents in the evening; stockings on Christmas morning. My Grandmother put up and decorated a tree in every room of the house. I remember the train that went around the main tree in the living room. I would watch it for hours and play with the different ornaments on the tree. There were ballerinas that would twirl on their own, snow globes that were always snowing and of course the Star Trek shuttle craft. When you pressed the button on the bottom it would light up and say, "Shuttle craft to to enterprise, shuttle craft to enterprise. Spock here. Happy holidays. Live long, and prosper." 

Christmas Thanksgiving

Heavenly Father,

Today we celebrate your perfect decree of salvation by which you have glorified yourself and redeemed your people. We thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ, who put on flesh and dwelt among us, to live as we cannot, and die as we deserve, so that we may be made new and adopted as your own sons and daughters forever.

We thank you for winter mornings, which whisper to us a reminder that you have made us clean, and washed us whiter than the fresh fallen snow out our windows. Thank you for preserving us and keeping us warm with hot chocolate, roaring fires, and insulated clothing. For those lacking, we ask that you would use our abundance as a means to bless them and witness your loving-kindness. 

Advent Prayer of Thanksgiving

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for having brought us to this place today, to be able to hear your Word preached and the good news of the gospel once again. You have reminded us, Most Merciful God, that though our sins are as scarlet, you have washed us as white as freshly fallen snow.

We thank you for making us; that we can enjoy you both now and forever. As each snowflake is uniquely made, and falls in the time and the place you have appointed, we are comforted to know that we also are in your hand, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made in your image. Let us fall down before you in adoration of your creativity and providence.

Merciful God, thank you for crisp clean air, for cold noses, and warm cups of coco and coffee to warm us up. Thank you for gatherings of family and friends and for warm greetings and embraces.

Lectionary Thoughts: Psalm 6

Lectionary Thoughts: Psalm 6

I love the grittiness of the psalms. The psalms were written by real men assailed by real enemies in the midst of real affliction, distress, loss and grief. You can search the psalms, but you will not find any coming “to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses” schlock. Instead you will find a colorful litany of conniving villains, thirsty wilderness treks, back-stabbing friends, powerful foes, searing flames, crashing waves and open graves.

Psalm 6 opens with indications of anguish and vexation intense enough to turn David’s couch into a swimming pool of tears (v6). The psalm closes on a note of relief. But note what is omitted. Generally, relief stories go something like this: Affliction – Distress – Crying Out – Removal of Affliction – Relief.

David’s relief did not come when the LORD dealt with David’s enemies. David’s relief came when he was confident that the LORD had heard and received his prayer (v9). This is real faith for real life. Faith is not trusting God when He marches briskly to the orders that we have given Him. Faith is trusting Him to deal wisely and lovingly with the concerns that we have laid before Him in prayer in His time and in His way.

As the antacid commercial queried: How do you spell relief?

GH

Lectionary Thoughts: Psalm 5

Here’s a question: Do you pray Biblically? Do you pray in the manner overwhelmingly exemplified in scripture?

Psalm 5 introduces us to something that we will see repeatedly in the psalms and beyond: The psalmist prayed out loud. In the opening verses mentions “the sound of his cry” and his “voice” as he prays to God, and the Hebrew words for these words clearly indicate audible noise.

Daniel prayed prayers that were loud enough to convince his enemies that he was violating the king’s decree (Daniel 6:10). And Jesus prayed loud enough in the Garden of Gethsemane for his prayers to be heard and recorded by the apostles.

I’ve looked diligently, but have not yet been able to find any examples of silent prayer, the possible exception being Nehemiah’s prayer in the presence of Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:4).

I started praying in this way several years ago, and would heartily commend it to you. I don’t exclusively pray aloud (counselees would probably not linger in my study if they could hear what I was praying for them as we converse!) but I do find times and places where I can do this without provoking others to wonder (any more than usual) about my sanity.

What might be some possible benefits from praying aloud? Distraction and, yes, let’s admit it, staying awake, are perennial enemies of protracted prayer. Praying aloud leans hard against these proclivities. Our bodies are not, as some like to think, mere conveyances for our brains. We are to serve God with all of our “heart, mind and strength.” Praying aloud reinforces the reality that we are to serve God with the entirety of our beings, not just what happens behind our eyes and between our ears.

Now, I’m not saying that praying silently is sinful (far from it!) We are nowhere in scripture forbidden to pray silently. But I am saying that we should take seriously that which is given to us in God’s Word by precept and by example. So, as you read through the Bible this year, be careful to note the manner in which people pray, and then be ready to “go thou and do likewise.”

GH

Lectionary Thoughts: Psalms 1-2

The first two psalms in the Book of Psalms are unique and tell us something profound about God’s sovereign providence and care while gently directing our attention to Jesus.

Unlike the following 148 psalms, the first two psalms are not prayers, properly speaking. They are not addressed to God. But they do remind us of two important aspects of God’s loving oversight of His creation.

Psalm 1 is intensely personal and reminds us that God cares for every individual, and promises blessing to every single person who will send their roots down deep into Him who is the living water. And do not fail to note, and savor, the very first word of the Book of Psalms: Blessed.

In contrast, Psalm 2 describes God’s sovereign control over nations; nations whose pathetic attempts to thwart the LORD’s plans only cause Him to laugh in derision. And thereby are we assured that the blessedness promised in Psalm 1 cannot be hindered, prevented or disrupted by anyone or anything (including nations!)

As Eugene Peterson notes:

“Psalms 1 and 2 pave the way. They get us ready to pray. The Psalms are an edited book. All these prayers were collected and arranged at one point in Israel’s history, and then Psalm 1 and 2 were set as an entrance to them, pillars flanking the way into prayer. We are not unceremoniously dumped into the world of prayer, we are courteously led across an ample porch, a way that provides space and means by which we are adjusted  to the realities of prayer. Way is a significant word in the first two psalms. Psalms 1 and 2 are a pair, working together to put our feet on the path that goes from the non-praying world in which we are habitually distracted and intimidated, into the praying world where we come to attention and practice adoration.” (Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer, pp. 23-24)

Jesus is the living water that gives us life (John 7:37) and causes us to bear fruit, even in times of drought. And Jesus is the Son who sits at the right hand of the Father ruling the nations and chastening all who oppose his loving rule and reign (Acts 2:22-36; Eph. 1:22; Philip. 2:9-10; Heb. 2:7-8).

GH

Lectionary Thoughts: Revelation 16-17

The Great Harlot/Babylon is Jerusalem

The good news is that Jerusalem is the “Babylon” metaphorically referred to in Revelation 16-17. How do we know this, and why is this good news?

There are at least seven indications that the “Babylon” in Revelation 16-17 is indeed the historical city of Jerusalem.

1)    In Revelation 16:17, John describes the city under God’s fierce judgment as “divided into three parts.” We know from the writings of Josephus (a first century Jewish historian) that the city of Jerusalem was divided in to three warring factions that fought against one another even as the Roman army laid siege to the holy city.

2)    In Revelation 17:4, “Babylon” is described as a “woman arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones.” First century Jews and Christians alike would have immediately recognized these colors, this precious metal and these gems as references to the garments worn by the priests who served in the Jewish Temple (see Exo. 39:2).

3)    In Revelation 17:5, the woman/Babylon is called “the mother of harlots.” In the Old Testament God referred to Israel’s idolatry as “harlotry.” Pagan nations were simply “idolatrous.” But Israel’s idolatry, because it was akin to marital unfaithfulness to Jehovah, was deemed as adulterous and an act of harlotry.

4)    In Revelation 17:6 the woman is portrayed as “drunken with the blood of the saints.” The persecution of Christians did indeed continue after the destruction of Jerusalem. But in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24, it began and continued for many years in Jerusalem proper.

5)    In Revelation 17:9 the woman/Babylon is pictured sitting on “seven mountains.” This indicates how, for a time, the rulers of Jerusalem (primarily the priests and Sadducees) colluded with the Romans (built on seven hills) to retain some ruling power, and certainly did so to murder Jesus.

6)    And then finally, in Revelation 17:15-16 John describes how Rome (the ten horns) hated the Jerusalem (the whore) and destroyed her with fire, which is precisely how Rome destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

7)    And, in order to achieve the “perfect” number, seven, I’ll add one more indication that Jerusalem is the woman/harlot/Babylon of Revelation 16-17: If you agree that the above exegesis is plausible, then it is quite easy to understand the hailstones weighing a talent raining down upon the holy city as the large rocks launched from the Roman catapults.

Now, why is the above “good news?” Because it means that the horrific destruction and suffering foretold by John in Revelation 16-17 is not on the horizon, but rather, as they say, “in the rearview mirror.” The great tribulation has already happened. And so, instead of cringing in fear of what is yet to come, we can read Revelation as the outpouring of God’s wrath for the murder of His son, and His faithfulness to His people during times of terrible persecution and covenant judgments. Good news indeed!

GH