I've heard Psalm 46:10 thrown around a lot -- "be still and know that I am God."
But I'd never read the NASB version of the verse until recently: "Cease striving and know that I am God." Cease striving. To strive: make great efforts to achieve something. Devote serious effort or energy to a task. In my life, striving looks like me trying to achieve perfection, to earn approval from God and others, to devote serious time and energy to managing my image so others like me. Some days the striving seems harmless, even beneficial: striving to complete a project or to do list or inbox zero. But it's easy for the goal of those strivings to be all about me- for my own peace of mind, and not for the glory of God or the serving of others. But in the context of the rest of Psalm 46, "cease striving" reminds me to quit being like God, as I attempt to grasp for control over situations where I have none, and the ability to make decisions when I am not the one in authority. He's the one created the mighty mountains and roaring waters. He can raise His voice and melt the earth. He will be exalted over nations. Yet, he is with us; he is our refuge, a place to which we can run when in trouble. "Cease striving" reminds me I really have no control over anything- my current circumstances, or my future plans. My only hope is in God alone; I can do nothing but give Him glory for what he has done.
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I had night and day experiences at church the last two weekends and as I reflect on them I’m surprised at how I reacted to each of them.
This Easter I found myself at my parent’s church, as usual- a small Lutheran congregation with young families, life-long church attenders, farmers and small-town dwellers. It is a church very similar to the one in which I grew up; a small Lutheran church that my family attended every Sunday unless we had a fever or there was a blizzard and the roads were too bad to travel. I enjoyed the singing, using hymnals, and the repetition of the liturgy every week, among many other things. It was small, familiar, and comfortable. Attending church on a weekly basis for the first 18 years of my life gave me a firm belief in God. During my college years, this simple belief that God existed was transformed into the realization that having a relationship with God was possible, something God wanted, and something I could experience myself. I learned this relationship was available to me, if I wanted it. I decided I did. Why not? If God was knowable, then I wanted to know him. If he wasn’t knowable, I’d find out soon enough. This transformation from belief in Jesus into follower of Jesus wasn’t instant; it took place over months and years as I started to actually read the Bible every day and learn more about the God I first experienced in my three person Sunday School class. Since attending my home church while growing up, I’ve attended a Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, an Evangelical Covenant Church, and a Baptist Church. I’ve enjoyed many aspects of each of these churches: the wonderful, loving community, the wise pastoral leadership, opportunities to serve, the focus on Biblical teaching, etc. A big common denominator throughout these churches is the contemporary, upbeat worship and livelier atmosphere than what I experienced growing up. If I’m being honest, since college I have typically have felt more at home in a contemporary worship setting. I find it more likely that I can connect with God with a more free-flowing service than the routine and repetitive liturgical service that is the mainstay of the Lutheran church. I can tend to zone out during the liturgy at times, and not actually sit and listen to the words and let them impact my heart. (Though this can certainly happen in any church- Lutheran or not, liturgy or not). And this Easter, as I stood and recited familiar words and sang familiar songs out of the old green hymnal, I noticed just how God-honoring a liturgical church service can be:
It is not incorrect to say Christ has risen- for he did rise more than 2,000 years ago. It's a historical event. But it’s even more accurate to say Christ IS risen: He died, rose, ascended to heaven, and is still alive today. I’ve never been to my current church on Easter, but seeing how they do a regular Sunday Service, I’m sure there was a fair amount of pomp and circumstance. One day a few months back they actually had live sheep outside when the Pastor was preaching about Psalm 23. (Cool, but things like that feel a little “gimmicky” at times). Despite that particular day, the pomp and circumstance is generally fine with me- especially on Easter- because Jesus is risen and we should celebrate that! But this Easter, in this small Lutheran church on Broad Street, there was a quiet confidence in the risen Savior that made more of an impact on me than stage lights and bright graphic displays. I experienced Jesus in the simplicity of holding a worn green hymnal and singing songs that have been around for centuries. In humbly kneeling, hands folded, to receive the wafer and wine during communion. In reciting liturgy that points us to the gospel, much of which was taken word for word out of scripture. Last weekend my roommate and I tried out a new campus that our church opened downtown. It was much smaller than the main location we’d been attending, but still had the louder, contemporary worship with a full band, and trendy graphic displays. The church is meeting in a theater, so it was dark and intimate and had a cool vibe going on. The sermon was projected on screen from the pastor who was preaching at the main campus, and was scripturally sound and deeper than other recent sermons. As I reflect on these two services, I guess I’m surprised to feel so at home in both settings- the quiet, contemplative, liturgical service, and the more loud, contemporary, “trendy” one. As I think about all this, I'm reminded me of a devotional I read by Shane and Shane recently: “Worship or prayer, whether spoken or sung, is always and ever a response to a Person. Stemming from this recognition that worship and prayer are both personally and relationally oriented is the conclusion that the authenticity and vitality of worship in a community directly corresponds to the accuracy and depth of its knowledge of God. The ‘problem’ of worship in modern Church is not the wrong worship pastor, a bad sound system, an incapable band, the question of traditional or contemporary, or any other question of form. The problem is that shallow knowledge will never produce deep expressions of worship. Personal or corporate devotion will simply never ascend beyond the knowledge of the Person to whom we are devoted. Where the vision of that Person is dim, obscure, or marginalized, true adoration will be rare and fervent cries of intercession scarce. Yet where Christ is treasured and exalted in the hearts of the people, worship and prayer alike will have both their impetus and their staying power.” I know there's no perfect church, because the church is actually the people who attend the service and we are far from perfect. And there is no “perfect” worship style, either. I don’t dare judge the traditional, liturgical church service or the trendy, contemporary church service, or the people who make up both types of churches. But I think that statement above rings true: the authenticity and vitality of worship in a community directly corresponds to the accuracy and depth of its knowledge of God. It was so interesting to see myself connect with God in both worship settings. That hasn’t always been true. And I haven’t always been fair to both types of services; at times I can be too hard on the liturgical service for being boring. Perhaps when I felt that way, the problem wasn’t that the service was boring, but that I did not prepare my heart for worship. And I have been too hard on the contemporary worship church as well, for being too trendy and gimmicky. But well-designed graphic displays, videos, and cohesive atmosphere can also help me prepare my heart well for worship. I guess I’m finally seeing that one is not better than the other. As long as both are rooted in scripture, encourage me to prepare my heart for worship, and welcome the Spirit to work, both are God-honoring services. |
Amy WellnerEncouraging others to intentionally live out their God-given identity. Archives
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