WISE MEN STILL WORSHIP

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." (Matthew 2:1-2)

The World was too busy to notice the birth of this child. There was no room found for Him in the Inn. And no room in the hearts of men. The angels had announced His birth, the shepherds had bowed before Him and the two intercessors had confirmed His identity and yet Israel did not know this King.

Two years would pass before these Wise Men of the East would come searching for this child. Into an occupied country three princes came looking for the real king. These Arabs of the East seem to be more aware of the coming of the King than Israel. They explained that a star has guided them to this place. Today most Christians would dismiss them as simply too "new agey" or "weird." And yet here they are very close to the Christ.

I think that they were astounded to find Jerusalem so complacent. I think they believe they would find people worshiping the Christ. However, they were not deterred by the indifference of the people, they simply started going door to door. Like the Lover of the Song of Solomon they began to ask "have you seen him whom my soul loves?"

These men were more in tune to the fact that God had promised a Christ, than the believers or the religious leaders of that time.

"WISE MEN SEEK TO WORSHIP THE CHRSIT"

We now live in a world where worship is no longer considered a need in our lives. You can if you want but you don't have or need too. You can be a believer and not worship. Perhaps that is because our society has lost a sense of value of the Christ.

Once people lose a sense of the value of the Christ it follows that worship is diminished in our society. I was praying this morning and I realized that "WISE MEN STILL WORSHIP THE KING."

Worship -- why participate in it?

I looked across the top of my bookshelves at home and took inventory of several pieces of, well things, things that my children made me either in school, vacation bible school, or children's church. Things that in themselves have very little value compared to other things that are in my office, and yet my heart was overwhelmed with emotion as I held each piece with great appreciation. Why?

If you are a father, do you not like receiving tiny gifts from your children, even if you don't know what to use the piece of clay pottery for? Why do you value it more than a pen from your insurance agent or a gift from a friend? If you are a mother, does not your heart find a greater joy in a handful of yellow dandelions from your little daughter, than in a bouquet of roses from a dinner guest?

Do these trivialities make you richer? Do you need them? Would you be imperfect without them? Yet you love them. Why? Because your children are "worshiping" you; because they are acknowledging your love, your goodness, and by doing so they are perfecting themselves--that is, developing along the lines of love rather than hate, thankfulness rather than ingratitude, and service rather than disloyalty. They are becoming more perfect and more happy children.

Just as you do not need more dandelions or hand made childhood pottery, neither does God need your worship. If their giving is a sign of your worth in your children's eyes, then, are not prayer, adoration, and worship a sign of God's worth in our eyes? If you need your children's worship, why do you think God needs yours? If their worship is for their perfection, not yours, then may not your worship of Him be not for His perfection, but yours? Worship is your opportunity to express devotion, dependence, and love, and in doing that you make yourself happy? Full of Joy!

Are You Too Familiar to Worship???

G.K. Chesterton said, "The greatest of all illusions is the illusion of familiarity."

Familiarity is then the death of respect, wonder and awe! When our hearts and minds are no longer poised for surprise and astonishment... we have lost our sense of child-like faith, without which we can no longer worship. Or for that matter perhaps that is why some never worship.

The illusion that we can control our lives and our destinies has led humanity to turn away from the very "mystery," of knowing Him who formed us in His likeness and image.

I am expecting to be amazed by His "appearing." He came to earth as a child, He comes to us as Spirit and He will come again in great Power. And I know that He has promised us that He manifest Himself to those who gather in His Name to worship and adore Him.

I realize that much of the western church has reduced Him to a law to be obeyed, when in fact He is a Presence to be embraced. And that Presence is manifested by the union and unity of His People who are focused on being "grateful."

Familiarity.... thanks Him for granted. God forgive us!

Church who needs it?

It seems that most Christians think that the Christian faith is something that a person does alone, like monks in a cave. They believe that the backbone of the faith is time alone with God, reading and praying or meditating on some special text. Or simply being good when others are not, or at least they are not as bad as some. If you go into the faith section of any bookstore it certainly appears that faith is something that you do alone. It appears to be a private, personal journey of self-improvement and behavioral modification. This mindset is a symptom of our societies love affair with individualism and compartmentalization of our lives.

A few days ago I was cruising through the social clubs of the digital/technological society in which we live (facebook, twitter, emails, texting, etc.) when I stumbled across this conversation-taking place in the corner of the smoke filled club of this digital world. It began with a one liner (just another pick-up artist).

“My faith is private, (he starts slowly) I don’t need other people’s help to realize my faith.”

In no short order “like this” filled the room (hear the applause?) It wasn’t long before he had gathered an entire entourage of eager listeners. “That’s right, who needs Christians?” “I don’t like organizational religion.” “They are all hypocrites, (now who’s judging?).” Oh, by now I’m leaning into this conversation with open ears, I knew what was coming, keep listening……

“Yeah, going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, you don’t really need any of that, in fact, this is more real than that.”

I leaned back into my chair and wondered how the “Christ” who came from heaven to earth to be with us would respond to this conversation. “Immanuel” – “God with us,” (no me, alone, but “us”).

Christianity or shall we say, “those who follow Christ,” are people who have been adopted into the very family of “Abba Father.” His family is called “church.” Contrary to the popular conversations in the digital clubs of our time, “The Faith,” the Christian faith is a very public, very communal reality, which is realized not as an individual who is left alone, but who is gathered into this family to be nurtured and matured in this new family.

As I write this I’m looking at a picture of my new Granddaughter, and I am flooded with the urge to drive three hours just to hold her. You see, her parents did not bring her into this world and then set her out on her own and hope that she could discover how to live on her own.

I am so grateful that when I was spiritually born they did not set me out on my own, but rather brought me “home.” His House, His Family, “the church” is the very community that has loved, and nurtured “the faith, the very life,” that Christ came to give me.

And now, now that perhaps I don’t need as much as I did as a child (although I think we are always children) I realize that I am called to nurture others. Grandpa may not be needed every day, but he is needed. So I remain in the family, not necessarily because of my need, but because of the needs of others. We are supposed to have realized that “it’s not all about me,” that we are here for others.

Maybe you don’t need church, family or community, maybe you think that your faith is “private,” but that is the paradox of Christianity, it is personal but it is never just yours. You see if you have received “the faith” it requires, no, it pushes you to share that “love,” that “faith” with others. Just maybe someone needs you, (or least what you have) and perhaps that is the real value of your existence.

Christmas – is the celebration of how God gave His Son to us! Maybe we ought to consider giving ourselves?

So I leaned away… away from the conversation of the social clubs of our day!