Cinderella and Worshiping God

You know the story of Cinderella, right? A beautiful daughter is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who force her to do all the dirty work of the house. When the Prince announces a ball so that he can choose a wife, Cinderella is not allowed to attend – that is, not until her fairy godmother appears. The rest, as you know, is history: the dress, the pumpkin carriage, the dancing, the stroke of midnight, the glass slipper, the happily ever after.

It’s a classic story, but really the only thing most of us share with Cinderella is the menial housework which we all must do. Most of us don’t marry royalty or attend fancy events. Designer shoes and limousines are rare luxuries. And “happily ever after”? Well, for many of us, that remains to be seen.

In the meantime, all we have time for is mean, ordinary work. Sometimes the “daily grind” can feel as meaningless as picking lentils out of a pile of ashes.

Do you ever feel like church is that way, too? Do worship services feel repetitive, mundane, and even boring to you? Do you feel obligated or required to come to church? It’s all right if you say “yes” – I won’t tell anyone.

Take a look at Leviticus 6:8-13, a passage we came across last week in the course of our “Chronological Bible” reading. Leviticus is full of regulations, procedures, and rules about how the ancient Israelites were supposed to worship God while wandering in the wilderness. And let’s be honest: some of the chapters in Leviticus are downright boring for us to read. (Just think how the Israelites must have felt as they wandered aimlessly for forty years!)

In this passage, God gives the priests instructions about how to care for the burnt offering that was to be presented continuously before God. Each morning, the priest on duty was to wake up, put on his special priestly clothes, get ready to go to work, and then…

…collect the ashes from last night’s sacrifice.

And then he had to put on his regular clothes. He was then allowed to take the ashes outside the camp to the dump site. The priestly linen clothing was only worn for the menial morning task: Cinderella’s housekeeping work.

What was so special about those ashes? Why was the priest required to wear fine linen clothes for a job that would more than likely get them dirty? And why did the cleaning job require special clothes, but taking out the trash called for a different costume?

I don’t have good answers to these questions. But what I do know is this: these few verses point out the importance of treating God with great respect. The very mundane act of sweeping up yesterday’s sacrificial ashes was worthy of special attire. Being in God’s presence, even for that short amount of time, required priestly clothes – a symbol for the priest’s attitude of humility and holiness.

Every Christian is a priest, in the biblical sense: each of us can offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5 NIV). As we do the work of worship, let us pursue humility and holiness before the Lord. Every encounter with God is a unique and meaningful experience, no matter how mundane the activity may seem to us. There is great value in worship, because it is a service that we give to God.

After all, someday the Prince of Peace will come again, and, yes, there will be a “happily ever after” for his Bride. In the meantime, let us express our love for God by worshiping him regularly, joyfully, and intentionally – even in the ordinariness of our worship, and even in the ordinariness of our lives.

Successful Worship

Today, I read an article posted on the Church of God Ministries news website.  This article is entitled “Turning Hearts and Minds Toward God in Worship,” and it explains the approach to worship taken by one large Church of God congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona.  There are some incredible stories coming from that congregation:  many people being baptized as believers, many people engaging in mission projects in that community, worship attendance doubling over the past four years.

But what I find fascinating in this article is how they describe their approach to worship.

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Global Gathering

During the last week of June, the Church of God came together for a “Global Gathering” in which delegates from 63 countries came to Anderson, Indiana, for a week of worship, celebration, prayer, fellowship, and encouragement.  I was blessed to attend the majority of this gathering, and I’d like to share with you some highlights from the week.

  • The major theme of the Global Gathering was “Standing Together” – a testament to our convictions about Christian unity.  Regardless of our nationalities, ethnicities, and languages, we practiced loving, accepting, and encouraging each other because of our common faith in Jesus Christ.  This too was an important theme through the week:  that Jesus Christ is at the center of who we are as the people of God.  Perhaps the most moving experience of this truth was at the opening worship service, in which all the delegates from around the world entered the convention hall behind their respective nations’ flags, accompanied by a sustained standing ovation by everyone else.
  • Each day, we all came together for three worship services – morning, afternoon, and evening – and each service had a preacher from a different part of the world.  We heard the Word of God preached by individuals from Russia, Zambia, Brazil, Jamaica, Australia, Ghana, India, Paraguay, and the United States.  The diversity of life experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives on life was amazing!  And there are some fantastic preachers in our movement around the world! (Remember, you can watch the services online at www.chog.org/gg-media.)
  • All week long, we gave offerings out of love and thankfulness to our Lord.  Now, in the past, the offerings for the North American Convention have gone to cover the costs of the convention itself, or to support other components of the Church of God structure.  Not so this year.  All of the offerings – every dollar and penny – were given directly to an organization called Water4 (www.water4.org).
    • water4This not-for-profit has the goal of eliminating the current world water crisis.  (There are millions of people on the planet who cannot just turn the faucet and get clean drinking water; instead, many must drink from unsanitary, infested pools located sometimes miles from home.)  Water4 exists to train, equip, and support local individuals as they learn to dig freshwater pressure wells in their own communities using simple, cost-effective materials.  From beginning to end, one well costs just $1,000 through this organization.
    • The goal at the Global Gathering was for us to raise $100,000 for Water4.  An anonymous donor made a challenge:  up to this amount, he or she would donate $4 for every $1 that we gave.  This encouraged us to give even more, and by the end of the week, we had given over $106,000 – meaning that the total donation to Water4 from our group was over half a million dollars.  This will sponsor 500 new freshwater wells throughout the world.  Thanks be to God!

This Global Gathering was a tremendous experience.  I am already looking forward to next year, even though it will be back to our regular North American Convention!

You know, you can come along too, even for just a weekend or for part of the week.  This is our convention!

–Pastor David

Ash Wednesday Service

What is Ash Wednesday?  Why are we having a church service on that evening?  Isn’t that something that only Catholics do?  Pastor David, do you really expect us to put dirty ashes on our foreheads?

Those are all good questions, so don’t be afraid to ask them.  I’d like to try to answer them now for you so that you have a better idea of what this experience will be like.  To my knowledge, Mt. Haley has not had an Ash Wednesday service in a very long time, if ever, and certainly not in the past few years.

photo by The Cleveland Kid
photo by The Cleveland Kid

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the season preceding Good Friday and Easter.  Typically, Lent is understood as a forty day period, the same length of time that Jesus spent in prayer and fasting in the wilderness before beginning his ministry (Luke 4:1-13).  Therefore many Christians will dedicate the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter to prayer and fasting.  (That is why people often speak of “giving up something for Lent.”)

Ashes are a biblical sign of mourning and repentance (Job 42:3-6).  Also, ashes remind us that we are dust and to dust we will return (Genesis 3:19).  That biblical truth is found in the midst of the story which explains why people die:  death is a direct result of our sinfulness.  So in the period of time that precedes Easter, Christians remember how our sinfulness separates us from God.  Only then does it make sense to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection on Easter Sunday:  he has conquered sin and death, and those who are in Christ experience victory over both.

I challenge you, then, to begin the season of Lent by coming to worship God at 7pm on Ash Wednesday, February 13.  This type of service is practiced by many different Christian groups, including but not limited to Roman Catholics.  We at Mt. Haley will not put ashes on our foreheads, but we will reflect on our need for repentance and forgiveness.  My prayer is that this service will help us enter a reflective state of mind throughout Lent, so that we might remember the beauty of Maundy Thursday, comprehend the magnitude of Good Friday, and celebrate wholeheartedly the victory of Easter Sunday.

–Pastor David

Does Job Fear God for Nothing?

“Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’” (Job 1:9)

photo by Buck Lewis

A few years ago, I was on an errand of some sort, and I found myself driving through the snowy side streets of inner-city Indianapolis.  In places, the snow was four or five inches deep, and for my light-weight, low-riding Honda, it proved to be impassable:   soon I was stuck in the middle of the road with tires spinning hopelessly.  As I began to rock the car back and forth (which is rather challenging with a manual transmission), I saw a stranger walking by.  A young man in his late teens or early twenties walked just behind my car.  I opened my door and asked him if he could give me a push, and I’ll never forget his response:

“I’ll push you for five bucks.”

I turned down the young man’s offer and finally got myself moving again without his help.  But the deal he proposed stuck with me:  I asked for a small, harmless favor, but he saw an opportunity to get something for himself.

“What’s in it for me?”  This is a natural (if selfish) question that nearly everyone asks sometime or other.  The most dangerous place for this question to appear is in our relationship with God.  And yet, if we’re not careful, the way we relate to God can be as selfish as the motives of the young man I met on that snowy street.

Are we in relationship with God for selfish reasons?  Do we serve God because of what we receive from him?  Think about how you pray:  what kinds of things do you pray for?  How often do you pray simply by giving thanks to God for who he is?  How often do you pray simply by confessing your sins to him?  I believe that many Christians pray mostly about their own needs and desires.  We tend to think of God as a divine vending machine that will dispense grace if we ask for it correctly.

This tendency extends beyond our prayer life, as well.  What motivates us to gather for worship?  Why do we give our tithes and offerings to God?  Why do we study the Bible and apply it to our daily lives?  If we do these things so that God will bless us in return, then we are in danger of being accused just like Job was.

In the first two chapters of the book bearing his name, Job is accused by Satan (whose name means “the Accuser”) of serving God with less than pure motives.  Job is incredibly wealthy and successful, and he has lived a blameless life.  But the Accuser challenges God to take away Job’s material blessings – his oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, servants, and even his children – to see if Job will still serve God.

Would we worship and revere God for nothing?  Would we serve him if there were nothing in it for us?  Can we agree with the suffering Job, who remained true to God despite unspeakable losses?

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there;
the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Unelectric Church

What an experience we had last Sunday! For those of you who were not in attendance here, we experienced a major windstorm in central Michigan on Saturday evening, and around midnight the power was knocked out at the church and at various homes throughout the neighborhood. Electricity was not restored until later on Sunday afternoon, so our Sunday morning meeting was somewhat … different than normal.

We met in the Fellowship Hall for worship, because its windows let in more natural light than the sanctuary. We sang from the hymnal, and we did well without microphones. The congregation sang with tremendous vigor and energy – the strongest singing I’ve heard since Tara and I arrived last August! Several people commented afterward that the service felt like campmeeting and that this was one of the strongest services we’ve had in recent months. I tend to agree: our worship was inspired and greatly energetic, at least partially due to our “extreme” circumstances.

How accustomed we are to the convenience of electricity! And how wonderful to be reminded that our worship of the Lord depends on us, not on the setting in which we find ourselves.

Just a few weeks ago, we focused on the story from John 4 in which Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well. In that passage, Jesus says that “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23, NIV). I raised this question then: what does that kind of worship look like? In a fascinating manner, I believe the Lord gave us an opportunity to experience that kind of worship this past Sunday.

Does our worship depend on light bulbs in chandeliers, lyrics projected overhead by a computer, or amplification via microphones? Does our worship depend on radiated heat, flush toilets, or coffee machines?

What do we expect when we come into the house of the Lord? Do we expect to be comfortable, or do we expect to encounter the living God?

If nothing else, I think we can benefit from this lesson: The value of our corporate worship has more to do with the attitudes of our hearts rather than with the amenities of our facility. Perhaps we should shut off the electricity once a year to remind ourselves of this truth!

–Pastor David

Breathless Worship

This Monday, I had the privilege of attending the funeral service of Rev. Sam Dunbar, pastor of two nearby churches and friend to many at Mt. Haley. I never knew Sam personally, but my parents did, and I know his daughter Jenny from my seminary days. Something that happened at the end of the service was very striking, very powerful, and I’d like to share it with you.

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