Evendays

I got corralled into doing something good. But I’m just not very good at it, which shows how much room there is to grow… How much my heart has got to change. One of the ladies from the Geneva church set up a 24-hour prayer chain, just for a week, so we could pray around the clock with brothers and sisters. She’s a baker and patisserie maker, and took those early hours from 2 to 4. Bless her heart. I took my hour at mid-morning. I have a long list of people and needs to pray for: A member who is in constant pain, a blogger whose daughter has seizures, a generous USA church that supports us, enemies that seem to grow in number every year (it’s not my fault), pregnant family members… You get the picture. So on Thursday, I thought: “Enough of the intercession. I’ll just be thankful for an hour.” I took the same list and prayed through it, but just with thanksgiving. I only made it to 25 minutes. So, I started over. Hope your heart grows in thankfulness for all you have received, from blessings to troubles, from sadness to joy. And thank you for stopping by.

Happy Birthday, MEW!!! – The Harding University Chorus gave a wonderful concert last night in Geneva, just across the way from where the Geneva Church meets. Boy, can those guys/gals sing. Even though sore throats and coughs had sidelined about 15% of the group, the sound was good and the classics, the hymns and the spirituals very powerful. I even enjoyed “O Happy Day” though I’m getting Happy Day overload. (I know, I know. Need some time off.) They also sang “My God is a Rock in a Weary Land”, “I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray” and “My Soul’s been Anchored in the Lord”, which seems to prove, again, that deep faith grows out of deep suffering. Although I’ve heard the song a thousand times, “The Lord Bless you and Keep you” is still moving, still beautiful, and a wonderful blessing with which to end an evening. Visitors and Christians went home with that song in their hearts. “Good music penetrates the ear with facility and quits the memory with difficulty” (Thomas Beecham).

Happy 06-06-06! Today’s post continues the thoughts from June 4. – Inside that Most Holy Place stood… Nothing. A second point is that it’s possible to have all the buildings and activities, traditions and trappings and be, at the very center of it all, empty. Empty of love. Empty of service. Empty of God’s Spirit. For many during Jesus’ time, “seven evil spirits” had filled the empty space and led unbelieving Israel to reject the Promised One. The darkness of their hearts and the godlessness of their religious actions did not permit them to recognize God in their cities, streets and homes. Of course, churches can stand empty at their center, and many of us have had to lament that event at some time in our past. But the reality that shakes us most is knowing our own hearts can be filled with many things but God. So we pray to fill our temple with Spirit, to be grounded in love so that, in the end, we will be prepared for the complete presence of God in all. And not stand before him empty.

While preparing for the Pentecost sermon, I spent time in 1 Peter 2, where the Apostle calls Jesus the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God to be the cornerstone. He reminds his readers that they too are living stones, brought together to form a spiritual house… In order to make known to a lost world what God is up to in Christ. I’m intrigued by the spiritual house image… A temple. The splendor of the Herodian Temple, Peter’s temple, astounds us. Josephus and the Mishna (Middoth) concur that the Temple was a wonder, wowing the Sion-bound worshipper. Golden gates and columned courts, altars and tables and candles and glory… All focused on a building 50 meters wide by 50 meters tall and nearly twice as long. Inside stood a golden table and an incense altar and woven curtains protecting the worshipper from the Holy of Holies, walls covered in gold and curtains. Yet, inside that Most Holy Place stood… Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No ark. No relic. No idol. Two thoughts: First, an empty temple, for the pagan, was absurd. He demanded idols. He needed idols. But God declared his identity, love and grandeur through his mighty deeds. Second…

Sunday is Pentecost in the Western Christian World. The British call it Whitsun, short for White Sunday, describing the white robes that the newly baptized would wear on Pentecost. For the rest of us, the word Pentecost has its origin in two words: PENTE, which means FIVE, and COST, which is the NASDAQ symbol for Costco. I hope that is helpful. The Jewish expression of faith in the only God YHWH was manifested through temple worship, the priesthood, and the three yearly festivals of Tabernacles, Passover and Pentecost. Our Savior referred to his body as God among us and a temple that would be destroyed but resurrected. As chief priest, he intercedes for us. He is our Passover lamb. Likewise, the church is the Temple of the Spirit, a People of Priests, a Harvest that “started” on Pentecost, the day Peter stood up before an amazed crowd who had heard the wonderful actions of God declared in their own language, only to hear the most wonderful deed yet: The resurrection and reign of Jesus, the promised Messiah. Be filled with wonder this Sunday, for forgiveness is offered, and God through Spirit has made his home in the church… In you.