Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Glory


So many powerful words are lost in the obscurity of the familiar. Worship, glory, fundamental, awesome, church… we could each add to the list with words we know we use poorly, but have them so engrained in our churchy vocabulary we just keep saying them without reflecting on their fundamental meaning. Oops, there I go already…

Glory. We want to glorify God, we sing of His glory, praise Him for His glory, but what is His glory? The word itself has a shockingly ordinary origin, being used to describe all manner of things, both good and bad. Here are some examples of the bad:

-Gen 12:10 – severe famine
-Ex 8:20 – great swarms of flies (glorious flies?)
-1 Sam 4:18 – Eli was old and heavy
-Psalm 38:4 – Sin is a heavy burden

The Old Testament usage applies the word to contexts of great significance, or heaviness, both figurative and literal. In summary, a glorious something is something of great substance.

In a volatile world such as ours where everything is in a state of flux from governments, to terrain, to that which quantifies beauty and humor, our souls scream for something constant. Something of lasting substance. Something of glory.

In this universe there is only one such thing. God. The glory of God will never change, never fade, never hide. We can see it in nature, experience it in the attributes that reveal His image within us, and if we do it right, share it in the Church (Ephesians 3:20-21).

So, how do we glorify God? By living in such a way that our lives reveal the one thing of true glory that exists. To love as Christ loved. To live as Christ lived. To die to self and selfish gain and point others to our source of life and happiness. This concept is nothing new. It is as old as, say, the glory of God itself.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Cowboy Coffee?



The aroma was inviting, the music was the weird, the lighting was pleasantly dim while not so much as to inhibit my reading. Sipping my steaming, grande Americano in the thought-provoking ambience provided by Starbucks, I almost forgot what world existed outside the door. Everything was as you would expect in every Starbucks from Boston to Seattle, but suddenly, something didn’t fit. There was a noise totally out of place, pulling me from my leisurely read back into my new reality. I turned and saw a typical college girl whose likeness you would expect to see a dozen times during any visit to any Starbucks anywhere in the world. But the guy she was with told another story. From his Stetson, to the western cut shirt, pie-plate sized belt buckle, all the way to the culprit of the noise – spurs strapped to his manure caked boots, this guy meshed with the Starbucks scene like Joel Osteen at an old time tent revival. But here, somehow it works. Spurs in Starbucks. Only in Wyoming. Oh, and the best part? He ordered a skinny latte with room for sugar. Wimp.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Pastor's Job Description

This is one of many possible job descriptions of the pastor:

My job is to visit with you on Tuesday, fully enjoying your beautiful home, recreative hobbies, and impressive accomplishments, celebrating God's blessings in His gracious gift of these things, then stand before you on Sunday, Bible in hand, and convince you that the love of these things will destroy your soul.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Prayer

It is none of our concern how it works or why it works. We will tie our theological tails in knots if we worry to much about those questions. What we know is that God works. He works constantly and tirelessly for the sake of His glory. The bedrock truth of the Christian experience is that happiness, peace, holiness, and all of life, is written into the eternal saga of God's glory. Prayer is a channel through which we weave our stubborn will into God's perfect will, revealing His glorious workings in the affairs of men. We pour out our confused hearts before His throne and He fills us with holy passion for the revelation of His glory in our circumstance. This is why we qualify our requests with phrases like, "if it be your will." We are emptying ourselves of ourselves as we yearn for more of Himself.

This does not happen quickly. As I wrote in my last post, God is not in a hurry. Learning to pray well, to trust well, to be urgently patient, is a lifelong skill. God has surrounded me with a mighty army of prayer warriors in His church who have learned this far better than I have. I am grateful for their example, that I can learn from them, and that God' glory shines through their lives as they wait on Him in prayer.