A Temple Meeting

Day 79: II Chronicles 1-5

Once again, the story of building the temple is re-told. David didn’t like living in a house of cedar while the Ark of the Covenant was in a tent, so he made plans to build a temple to house the Ark and other items for the Lord. When David (through Nathan) asked God if he could build the temple, God told him that David would not be allowed to build the temple because he had been too violent during his lifetime. At the same time, however, God told David that He would build a house for David instead—a house in which the Lord would dwell forever. So Solomon was the one who built the temple.

When Solomon decides to build the temple, this is what he says, “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?” (II Chronicles 2:5-6a)

The whole idea about building a temple is interesting. The Israelites wanted to honor God and to give him a holy place, even though they knew that He couldn't be contained in a building. They knew that the earthly building they created would not be near enough for the Lord, yet they wanted a place for their holy items and a place where people could go to feel closer to God. A special place. A holy place. A place that held history inside. A place that cost a lot of money but that was worth it because God was worth it.

Today, we, too, construct temples to the Lord. We have houses of worship where we go to meet God, to be closer to God, to worship God. We have churches where we meet together and commune with others and with Gods. Some of these buildings are elaborate and ornate, while others are simple and bare. Whatever level of the spectrum these churches may fall in terms of decoration, they all are filled with hope that in these places we will meet God. Although we can meet God in many different places, settings, and venues, there's just something special about meeting Him in a church building. God still cannot be contained in a building; He is too big for our roofs, yet we can still meet him there. How wonderful is that.

While we may not always agree about how to build our churches, how they should be used, or even how much money should be spent on them, we can all agree that when we enter there and gather in Jesus' name, we hope to experience the Holy Spirit, the sweet nature of Jesus, and the loving kindness of the Father. May you meet the Lord God as you enter into the doors of your temple.

David's Words of Praise

Day 76: I Chronicles 14-16

David uses such beautiful words to describe the Lord. Tonight, I leave you with these words in which he tells the Israelites to praise God.

⁸ Give praise to the LORD, call on his name;
       make known among the nations what he has done.
    ⁹ Sing to him, sing praise to him;
       tell of all his wonderful acts.
    ¹⁰ Glory in his holy name;
       let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
    ¹¹ Look to the LORD and his strength;
       seek his face always.
    ¹² Remember the wonders he has done,
       his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
    ¹³ you his servants, the descendants of Israel,
       his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
    ¹⁴ He is the LORD our God;
       his judgments are in all the earth.
    ¹⁵ He remembers ^[c] his covenant forever,
       the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
    ¹⁶ the covenant he made with Abraham,
       the oath he swore to Isaac.
    ¹⁷ He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
       to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
    ¹⁸ "To you I will give the land of Canaan
       as the portion you will inherit."
    ¹⁹ When they were but few in number,
       few indeed, and strangers in it,
    ²⁰ they ^[d] wandered from nation to nation,
       from one kingdom to another.
    ²¹ He allowed no one to oppress them;
       for their sake he rebuked kings:
    ²² "Do not touch my anointed ones;
       do my prophets no harm."
    ²³ Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
       proclaim his salvation day after day.
    ²⁴ Declare his glory among the nations,
       his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
    ²⁵ For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
       he is to be feared above all gods.
    ²⁶ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
       but the LORD made the heavens.
    ²⁷ Splendor and majesty are before him;
       strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
    ²⁸ Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations,
       ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
    ²⁹ Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
       bring an offering and come before him.
       Worship the LORD in the splendor of his ^[e] holiness.
    ³⁰ Tremble before him, all the earth!
       The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
    ³¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
       let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"
    ³² Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
       let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
    ³³ Let the trees of the forest sing,
       let them sing for joy before the LORD,
       for he comes to judge the earth.
    ³⁴ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       his love endures forever.
    ³⁵ Cry out, "Save us, God our Savior;
       gather us and deliver us from the nations,
       that we may give thanks to your holy name,
       and glory in your praise."
    ³⁶ Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
       from everlasting to everlasting.
       Then all the people said "Amen" and "Praise the LORD."

Symbolism, God, and the Church

Day 22: Leviticus 8 to 11

Over the past two years, I have come to appreciate symbolism, artwork, and beauty in places of worship.

I grew up in a church tradition (Church of Christ) that did not have such symbolism in its places of worship (even the Lord's Supper table was used for functional purposes). No artwork was hung on the walls. No candles were scattered around to set the tone for worship and thus there were no aromas to engage our sense of smell. Windows did not typically have stained glass. No banners, crosses, or tapestries could be seen. The building--the "auditorium" as we called it then--was bare. White walls. Flourescent lights. A podium up front. The building was purely functional; it wasn't at all symbolic.

And this was purposefully so. The people who founded our churches, for whatever reason, wanted simplicity and functionality above all else. Perhaps they didn't have the money to purchase such items. Or maybe they wanted the focus to be on God and not on the human artwork on the wall. Or maybe they didn't want to be like other denominations that they didn't agree with who used such items in their buildings. I'm not really sure.

This tradition was all I knew, so I didn't think too much about it at the time. When I went to college, though, I began visiting a great variety of churches--all in my religious tradition--and noticed that some of the churches had artwork on the walls. Some even had drama and drawings during the worship service. It felt a bit odd to me at the time because these practices were so different than I was accustomed to, but I still didn't consider these practices in a critical manner.

Over the past two years, though, I have thought much more about the place of symbolism, ritual, and ceremony in places of worship. In our church plant, for instance, the order of our Life Groups went like this: First, we met together for worship, prayer, Bible study, and discussion. We then moved on to communion where everyone participated. Finally, we ended our night with dinner.

This may seem pretty typical of a lot of house churches and small groups, but what made this especially important to us was the symbolism of the practice of communion. We broke bread together as a group in Life Group, and then we moved that communion bread and cup over to the dinner tables where we broke bread again through a meal. We loved this association between communion and sitting together with others around a table--just like Jesus did in the Bible.

That is just one example of the many ways in which Shane implemented symbolism into our worship. Through this experience with the church plant, I have come to see just how important it is to me as I worship. And what strikes me from the reading today is how much symbolism and ceremony goes into everything that God does in the Old Testament. When Aaron becomes the high priest of Israel, for instance, God gives explicit instructions about the ceremony and ritual that must go into his appointment. Over and over again God institutes ceremony, ritual, and symbolism. If God thinks ceremony, ritual, and symbolism are important, shouldn't we think so, too?

Reasons I Like Symbolism in Churches:
1. God is the ultimate creative one, and including artwork, symbols, crosses, color, and the like shows how God has passed this creativity on to human beings. We can praise God for the creativity he has bestowed on human artists.

2. It helps focus our minds on worship. When we look at the beauty adorning the walls or the royal colors draped over a cross hanging on the wall, we remember that we are in the presence of God.

3. It engages more of our senses than just aurality. It also engages the visual sense, a sense that today's society makes more and more use of when we process our environments.

4. Symbolism in our churches connects us to the rituals and ceremonies of God. You don't have to read through the Bible long to see how.

5. God is worthy of beautiful things. Even though our symbols may cost money--money that we might rather spend somewhere else--God is worthy of this money being spent on Him. Just think about Jesus and the woman who sat at Jesus' feet and poured expensive perfume on him. Jesus said that she had chosen what was better.

6. It is meaningful. Symbolism brings meaning to us by making connections between our lives, the life of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the life of the church. Symbols mean something to people. 

I hope you will consider where and how you can find symbolism in the place you worship and try to make it meaningful to you.

Contending for our release

Day 15: Exodus 5-10

God told Moses to say this to the Israelites:
"I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." (NRSV)

Here, God finally reveals himself to his people. He lets them know what he will do for them.

But, they don't listen because they can't see past their immediate circumstances.

Yet still, Moses keeps doing what God is asking of him.

I really like this section of text where you see a conversation between The Lord and Moses. God asks Moses to do something. Moses goes and does it. Then Moses returns to God, and they make a new plan about how to get the Israelites released from Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardens his heart (and sometimes the text says that God hardens Pharaoh's heart) and a new plague ensues on the Egyptians.

It's interesting to me the reason why God tells Pharaoh to let his people go. God could have wanted them released to save them from the brutal hand of slavery, to save them from pain. Or he could have wanted them released to show them the Promised Land. Or he could have ordered their release because he is God and Pharaoh is not. But no. It's not any of these reasons. Instead, God wants the Israelites released so that they can worship him.

God wants the Israelites to worship him.

God places an extreme importance on worship. He vies for his people's release so that they can worship him.

Does God contend for our release, too? Does he want to release us from something so that we can worship him? From what does he want to release us? Selfishness? Work? Busyness? Depression? Worry? Immorality? Faithlessness?

This metaphor of God trying to save his people is still at work today. In the end, God wants us to worship him. He wants to release us from our worries, fears, anxieties, and everything else that is keeping us enslaved. He wants us to worship him instead.

When we come to worship him (any time and any place), we should remember that God has released us--he has FREED us--from our prison chains. We can now bow down knowing that he has taken away our pain; he has liberated us. For that, we should worship God.

Delivered

Day 14: Exodus 1-4

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for a long time. They must have been wondering where God was during this entire time. They groaned and cried out to God. God heard their pleas and remembered his covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Over this past year, I have felt like the Israelites—-groaning and crying out to God, wondering when he was going to listen to my prayers. I prayed and prayed that God would lead us to a new job—and do so quickly—but he didn’t. Shane and I were both in very low emotional states—depressed, actually—-and for the first time we both got on depression medication (I feel a little awkward admitting that, even though I know it’s common.). I wondered when God was going to take care of us (Technically, I know He always was, but I still wondered where his hand was in all this and why he wasn’t answering our prayers for a new job).

Dreams lost.

Faith tested.

Souls scarred.

What comes next for the Israelites—-God calls Moses to delivery them from slavery in Egypt-—offers me hope. While I can’t see into my future, I do know that God is taking care of me. He has already provided us a new job. Now, I’m hopeful that he will start re-casting our dreams, firming our faith, and healing our souls. And just like the Israelites do at the end of Genesis 4, I, too, will believe in God and bow down and worship him.

Side Note: I’m learning more why these Bible stories (and the Old Testament) are important. They can guide us as we live our lives.