In A Galaxy Not So Far Away

Dear Faith Family,

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker, (Psalm 95:6)! 

Assembled with your brothers and sisters in Christ, your hearted is lifted in praise.  As you attend to the preaching of the Word of God, you begin to hear voices.  Not a heavenly still small voice.  Rather, an obnoxious cacophony of voices that dare attempt to drown out the very Word of God.  A hypothetical scenario of course.  That could never happen here, right?! 

Will you entertain a couple of questions?  Here’s the first question.  What would you do if confronted with such chaos?  There are lots of options.  Confront?  Withdrawal?  Attack?  Stick your fingers in your ears?  Pull the fire alarm?  What would you do?  (Pause right here long enough to wrestle with the question.  Visit the chaos in your mind.) 

Now, there’s a second, more important question.  The answer to the second question might prove helpful in our quest to rightly answer the first question.  Here’s the second question.  What is God doing?  Although some might attempt to divorce God from what happened last Sunday at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the very least God has the ability to stop the event from happening. 

And, if God didn’t stop the event from happening, then it’s safe to conclude that He has some purpose in the chaos.  In fact, it isn’t accurate to paint God in the background as a bystander.  Consider the chaotic, dysfunctional life of Joseph.  Of such the Word of God concludes: God meant it for good, (Genesis 50:20).  God is up to something.  He’s not a bystander.  What is He doing?  Consider two possible answers. 

God is testing His bride, the church.  How important is corporate worship?  Is it simply one option on a calendar of many?  Is union with God through worship THE priority?  How passionate are we for corporate worship?  As passionate as a protestor?  Is that what God is doing – testing His bride?  If so, what if we, in answer to question one, chose to respond to God rather than react to the protestors (the protestors are and should be accountable for their actions)?  What if we fell to our knees first?  And, what if we began to sing with one heart and one voice the praise of our God? 

God is warning His bride, the church.  Seems covid caught the church off guard.  There was confusion.  Do we, can we, gather for worship?  And last Sunday – well, that was probably just a single incident in a single place far, far from here.  Or was it?  Was it a gracious warning from our God to call us to prepare?  “In an increasingly secular America, with cultural tensions running high, a church service is no longer off limits to political disturbance or demonstration….  In other words, look for more such actions,” (Albert Mohler).

Learning the value of worship,

Pastor Karl