Reflections on True Worship

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4 (ESV)

What is meant by worshiping "in the Spirit and in truth"? Truth is not capitalized. It is not prefaced by the article "the." I'm used to understanding this verse in terms of worshiping as the Spirit leads grounded, rooted, established, growing out of the Truth of Who God is. But is that what this passage is saying? I mean, it makes sense. But it seems a little too removed from the situation at hand, too academic. The story of the woman at the well encountering Jesus is powerful and intimate. Jesus opens by displaying his own needs--he is tired, and he is thirsty. Against all cultural bounds, he asks the woman there for a drink. Which quickly turns into a discussion about spirituality, Jewish history, and eternal thirst. Jesus sees straight into her heart, sees her need and desire. Immediately following these verses, Jesus discloses to her that he himself is the long-awaited and desired Messiah. This story is full of heart-communication. (Yes, I just made that up. But it fits.) "Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know..." It is true that there is a mind-knowing, communicated in French using the verb <savoir>, and a heart-knowing, communicated with the verb <<connaitre>>. I don't know Greek, so I can't tell you what the verb is in this verse. (If anyone would like to enlighten me, I'd love to hear it!) I feel like the context, including the interaction that is happening, the desire being answered with these statements, God's desire for worshipers who worship "in the Spirit and in truth", lends itself to more the heart-knowing usage of the word know here. In which case, an exhortation to worship in the Spirit and in truth given to mean Spirit-led and Truth-grounded, while accurate, feels a little..stilted, academic, heady to me. I could be wrong here. I really could. I'm just thinking about this, and I'd love feedback here. What if, what if, "in truth" means "in sincerity"? What if this is an exhortation to be led by the Spirit (who communicates Truth) and to be honest and sincere in worship? Without pretenses or pretexts?

Maranatha

For all the thirsty in need of the river
For all the sleeping hearts waking from their slumber
For everyone still standing at the shoreline, come!
For all the hurting souls running from their Healer
For all the skeptics running from an answer
Let everyone who hears these words, say 'Come!'

For the Spirit and the Bride, say 'Come!'
Yeah, the Spirit and the Bride, say 'Come!'
For all the Pharisees, empty on the inside
For all the lovers who spent their love on a lie
For the forgotten, the Father's heart says come!
For all the fatherless looking for approval
For all the daughters who've never heard they're beautiful
Let everyone who hears these words, say 'Come!'

Amen, Amen, come Lord Jesus, come again!
Until then, until then grace and peace be ours, Amen!
Amen, Amen, come Lord Jesus, come again! 
Till You come again peace be ours, Amen!
Till You come again!

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

~Revelation 22:17

A Shepherd's Compassion

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.  Luke 15 (ESV)

Imagine with me that you are a shepard.  You've been roaming the hills with this flock of 100 sheep for a while.  And then one goes missing.  You suddenly notice that that one little ewe with the wide set eyes and the little notch in her ear is not among your sheep.

What are your first thoughts?  What are you feeling?  What do you do?  You aren't thinking about logistics, are you?  You aren't thinking about philosophical ideas.  You aren't thinking about anything other than that missing sheep.  You are filled with a desperation to find that ewe.  And so you leave your flock and you roam the hills, calling for her.  You are hoping that around the next bend, you'll see her.  Hills go by, you are bounding from boulder to boulder, trying to find a place to see as much of the ground as you can and still trying to move quickly.  The shadows begin to shift and lengthen and you haven't found her yet.  You are beginning to despair of finding her, worried that if the night comes before you find her, the wolves will find her first.

And then you hear her bleating.  You whirl in the direction of the sound, and dash after it.  You don't see her yet, but she is still crying.  Your heart aches with the knowledge that she is at hand but not immediately present to you.

And then you see her.  You find her hiding in the space between two rocks.  As much as you want to run to her and fling your arms around her so you can take her back to the flock, you still.  You approach gently, and carefully and stroke her head once she recognizes you.  You take a few minutes to calm her before lifting her on your shoulders and heading back to the flock.

At the days end, you're sitting with your family or friends or Shepherds Non-Anonymous Group or whatever, and you get to share with them your joy of your finding of your lost sheep.  You had an emotional and troubling day, and yet it has all ended in joy--a joy that came because she was lost but is found.  A joy that came because what has been lost has been found.  The joy of finding is proportional to the hurt at the losing. 

It's a stunning picture of the love of Jesus, is it not?  The compassion of the Shepherd seeking after his one lost sheep.

Let's change the picture a little bit.  Let's paint this in a different color.  What if that ewe with the wide eyes and the notched ear had a habit of disappearing?  What if this was not the first time the shepherd had noticed this sheep missing?  Does this change the shepherd's desire to find her?  No.  It might change the initial emotions, but it doesn't keep the shepherd from wanting to find her.  The shepherd will still climb over hills and rocks to find her.  And when he does, will he not still stroke her head and lift her on his shoulders?  Will he not still not rejoice that this missing sheep is on his shoulders again and headed back to his flock?  Might not he have even more compassion on this sheep that always seems to be getting left behind or lost or separated?  And while at SNA, someone might ask him, Isn't that the one that ran off last week?  And might he say, Yea.  I know.  I'm just glad she's back now, again. 

Let's paint this a little differently still.  Let's use oils instead of acrylics, and shift the perspective.  When the shepherd realizes he's missing that sheep and chooses to leave the flock to find her, is it not possible that the shepherd, even in his distress over the missing sheep, takes pleasure in knowing that he *can* leave the flock to find this one?  He trusts these sheep, because he knows these sheep trust him.  Does he not rejoice in this as well?

And is it not possible that he looks at each of those sheep and remembers a time when it was that sheep with the funny colored nose who ran off, or the one with the odd gait, or the one with a cowlick in his coat?  Is it not possible that each of these ninety-nine that he has left behind have been that one sheep before?  And is it possible that these sheep stay put because they know that even when the shepherd leaves them, he always comes back to them?

 ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.  John 10 (ESV)

Compelling 2011: Luke 10:1-24

-Find the text here-

This was our text for one of our quiet times this weekend.  I pulled it out of my folder and groaned: How many times have I done this passage? Just in the past calendar year alone, even, I feel like I've done it at least twice.  But then I said, Okay God. I'll give this a shot... (Which, would have been harder to do had one of my students not earlier shared a similar experience with us. :p)

Ten minutes later, I was frantically scribbling all over my paper in pink, purple, orange...running out of time, torn between dismay that I had to leave and anxiousness to go tell people!

Behold my (addended) scribbles:

Verse 16 is usually noted when your witness is rejected, and is used to say that it's not you they are rejecting, but Christ.  So don't take it personally.  But we do.  We do, and even if we know that, it can still hurt.  But the verbs here are all applied to *both* Jesus and me.  "Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me."  Jesus is WITH US in our experience of rejection.  Is that not what Jesus came to earth for?  To know our experiences?  To live our life as we live it, to become identified with humanity so as to redeem it?  He is WITH US in our experiences of rejection.  He experiences that feeling with us.


I love verse 18: In English: "It was awesome guys, seriously."


Verse 19: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes...and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." I have authority.  Why do I ignore it?  Why don't I use it?  Why do I live and lead as though I have none?  And it was GIVEN. It was his to give.  And he gives it to me.  (Why, escapes me...) And there's nothing to suggest it was earned, either.  


I was pretty sold back on verse 16.  I have it boxed in several times over on my sheet.  But here is where my mind/heart gets really blown:


Verse 23and 24: Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

First, there's a quiet awe: It's intimate.  He's sharing a secret with his disciples.  He's marveling at his sons' growth.  (And let me tell you, as a leader, it's such a warm, unique experience.  To see "my" freshman, now a senior, taking charge of chapter time is one thing.  But today I got to pick up my students' commitment cards.  I haven't read them all yet, but glancing at them, I am so...tickled for them.  Anyway, back to Luke)  It's that kind of thing that just..bonds them.  At least for me, as someone whose love language is words of affirmation, that speaks volumes of quiet love to me. And I ask, Intimacy?  From going out and working in towns and getting down and dirty with it's people for the sake of the message?  Intimacy from that?  Yea. Yea. (Shared experience-->intimacy)


And then, the smallest thing that just, to me, sent echoes through all the other things I've scribbled about, and really made everything just click for me.  THE VERB TENSES, PEOPLE.  Three. little. letters.  The verb is see.  The verb is not saw.  "Blessed are the eyes that _see_ what you _see_."  You see it now.  You didn't just see it then.  But you continue to see it.  You are seeing it now.  Something changed during that experience. Something fundamental happened then, whose effects are lasting.  Ongoing revelation.

Yea, as a staffworker, I'm going to be rejected.  I'm going to get looks like, 'You do what?'  I'm going to get doors shut in my faces, and I'm going to try really hard to do awesome things on campus that are just gonna fail.  But Jesus is going to be there with me.  And he's going to rejoice with me, saying, yea, that was awesome.  And he's going to change me, even as he changes my campus.  And it's going to be beautiful.

Remembrance and Repentance

8"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery,swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD. 12Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer 14therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. -Jeremiah 7 (ESV)

I've been reading Jeremiah lately. It can be hard to read because it is so full of these proclamations of coming tragedies. It can be hard to read because of the conviction it can bring, because of the myriad of things it points out. But I love this book so far (haven't ever read it all; only about 9 chapters in). It's not vicious. Through all the punishments spoken over this people, God's longing saturates all of it. God longs for his people to listen to him, to return to him, to walk with him (see Jer 7:22-24, 9:24, also Micah 6:8 Revelation 2:4-5, to name a few). God recalls fondly of the former days, and mourns the loss of those days. God remembers what happened at Shiloh--and invites Judah to remember it as well. As with all the prophets, the message is not one of predetermined doom. Rather, it is a message of warning, of offered hope and grace. The punishments are never absolute, and the message is one written to turn God's people back to him. I love how God's emotions are so intertwined in this prophet's writings. Throughout it all, God asks in mourning and anguish, Why have my people left me? Are they such that they would follow other gods--and then come back to my house and tell me that they love me?? Oh, that you would repent and return to me! Why have they ignored me? I have sent them prophets, I have called to them, but they do not respond to me!

I am so grateful for the Word given to us so that we can know the heart--this longing, aching, desperate heart!-of God.

Aches

37As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." 40He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

from Luke's account of the gospel, chapter 19 (ESV)

God will defend me in battle

Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.
These are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
They say to the seers,
"See no more visions!"
and to the prophets,
"Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!"

Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
"Because you have rejected this message,
relied on oppression
and depended on deceit,this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.It will break in pieces like pottery,
shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
for taking coals from a hearth
or scooping water out of a cistern."

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'
Therefore you will flee!
You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill."

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"

He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

(Isaiah 30:8-29)