Friday, January 28, 2022

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Mark 10:13-16 (NRSV)

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.

But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

On Fridays under this new format for Worship Song Reflections, we look back at the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for this week and sit prayerfully with some of the common themes found in them.

This week there has been a strong focus on prophecy, but alongside that is a common theme of children. Did you catch it?

  • God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet, but Jeremiah claims to be too young.

  • The psalmist declares that God has been his trust “from my youth.”

  • Paul speaks of “putting an end to childish ways.”

  • And even though Jesus doesn’t speak of children, in some ways it seems that the people of Nazareth can’t see him as anything but “Joseph’s boy.” They refuse to accept the man (and prophet) he has become.

The life of discipleship is often one of contradictions. On the one hand, we’re called to seek maturity in our faith and mission, but on the other we’re encouraged to remain childlike. It’s a delicate balance, but an important one. But on both sides of that balance there is a glorious, inescapable truth—we are God’s children.

For today’s time of worship and reflection, you’re invited to simply sit with God in that invitation to be his child, whatever that might mean for you. Have you found yourself drowning in self-seriousness? Spend some time asking God to rekindle that joyful, childlike trust. Have you put off some serious soul work that God is asking you to pay attention to? Perhaps use this time to prayerfully recommit yourself to the growth into which God is inviting you.

Below you’ll find three songs on this theme of being children of God. For reflection today take some time to prayerfully read through the lyrics and let God’s Spirit guide you into prayer and meditation on what it means for you to be a child of the Most High God.

Song: “Who You Say I Am” by Hillsong Lyrics


Who am I that the highest King
Would welcome me
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh, His love for me
Oh, His love for meWho the Son sets free
Oh, is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes, I am

Free at last
He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes, He died for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh, is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes, I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God
Yes, I am

I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me
Not against me
I am who You say I am

Song: “Let the Children Come” by Michael Card

Jesus looked so weary
from the worries of the day
But the look on His face lighted
when the children came His way
Before He could reach out to them
and join them in their play
His grown-up adult followers
told the kids to go away

Let the children come
Don't dare drive them away
In them the kingdom comes
Hear the holy, foolish things they say
The springtime of their life decides
the adults they'll become
So let the children come
Please let the children come

The golden gift of childhood
Last a lifetime if you try
The simple trusting faith they hold
Keeps scholars mystified
And so the Lord adopts us
as His daughters and His sons
The Kingdom is for Children
So please let the children come

Let the children come
Don't dare drive them away
In them the kingdom comes
Hear the holy, foolish things they say
The springtime of their life decides
the adults they'll become
So let the children come
Please let the children come

Song: “Children of the Heavenly Father (Instrumental)” by Kendra Logozar

Children of the heav’nly Father
safely in his bosom gather;
nestling bird nor star in heaven
such a refuge e’er was given.

God his own doth tend and nourish;
in his holy courts they flourish.
From all evil things he spares them;
in his mighty arms he bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever
from the Lord his children sever;
unto them his grace he showeth,
and their sorrows all he knoweth.

Though he giveth or he taketh,
God his children ne’er forsaketh;
his the loving purpose solely
to preserve them pure and holy.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

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Luke 4:21-30 (NRSV)

Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'"

And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.

But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

The story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth starts off so hopeful: having read a passage of great hope from the prophet Isaiah to the gathered crowd, Jesus declares that the promised salvation of God is now manifest in their presence. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” At first the people of Nazareth are completely in sync with what Jesus is proclaiming. They ‘re amazed at his “gracious words.” They even indulge in a bit of hometown pride: “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

But with the keen insight of a prophet, Jesus knows what’s coming next. He knows what the crowd expects of God’s Messiah. First, they expect miracles, and Jesus’ reputation precedes him in that area. They’ve already heard about the wondrous things he’s done in Capernaum. But in a tension-filled moment that will echo often throughout Jesus’ later ministry, he refuses to bend to their idea of the Messiah. Not only will he not be performing miracles on demand, he’s also not going to fulfill their other expectation—that the Messiah will destroy Israel’s enemies.

This is where the story really turns, and it’s where I believe we find real opportunity for reflection in this text today. In the stories of Elijah and Elisha, Jesus reminds the crowd that the salvation that comes with the Messiah is a gift that is not for Israel alone. This is a truth the people have forgotten, a truth that resonates all the way back to Abraham’s call:

“All the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants, because you obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:18, CEB)

This is what makes the crowd angry—not that Jesus won’t perform miracles, but that he’s painting a picture of God’s kingdom work which includes Gentiles as well as Jews. That’s not what they want from “their” Messiah. They don’t want to hear how God will bless the Gentiles through the ministry of his Anointed. And so they resolve to kill Jesus. Thankfully, they fail.

As I read this text I can’t help but think of how divided the Christian church is right now—more divided than we have ever seen in our lifetime. And I think how much we can be like that crowd in Nazareth. Quite often we simply don’t want those on “the other side” to be blessed. Too often we only want them to get what we think is coming to them.

We want “our” Messiah to deal with our enemies, not bless them.

Some years after our story in Luke, the apostle Paul would speak to this issue of Gentile and Jew both finding being saved and blessed by God through Christ. In the book of Ephesians he speaks to it quite plainly:

“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.” (Ephesians 2:14-16, NRSV)

At times these days I am tempted to think that there is no way for God to weave his church back together into a unified body committed to his kingdom work, but then I see the miraculous way he knit together Jew and Gentile in the early church despite deep division and hatred, and I find hope. It’s a hope rooted in a supernatural work—only with the Spirit’s help can we ever see it happen.

Our world is hurting, and we have a choice. We can be like that crowd in Nazareth, committed to our own insular ways sometimes even to the point of violence, or we can embrace the unifying work of the Spirit who alone can “put to death that hostility” by calling us to fall on our knees together before Christ.

He is our Messiah. He is our sole foundation. He is our peace.

Song: “The Church’s One Foundation” by Reawaken Hymns

Lyrics: Click here

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. How have you witnessed God’s supernatural work of building the body of Christ despite our differences and sometimes our division? Spend time giving thanks to God for that grace of unity.

  2. How do you process your own anger and frustration at people (even Christians) that you wish “would just get their act together?” What are some healthy practices God might be inviting you into as you think about them?

  3. Spend some time praying for the unity of Christ’s church. If you’d like a musical reflection to aid you in this, here is a song based on Ephesians 2 by musician Richard Jensen: He is our peace (Ephesians 2).

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

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1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NRSV)

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

In his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton describes the chaplain of his (all-male) boarding school by referencing his approach to 1 Corinthians 13:

“He was a tall, powerful, handsome man, with hair greying at the temples, and a big English chin, and a broad, uncreased brow, with sentences like ‘I stand for fair-play and good sportsmanship’ written all over it.

His greatest sermon was on the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians—and a wonderful chapter indeed. But his exegesis was a bit strange … ‘Buggy’s’ interpretation of the word ‘charity’ in this passage (and in the whole Bible) was that it simply stood for ‘all that we mean when we call a chap a gentleman.’ In other words, charity meant good-sportsmanship, cricket, the decent thing, wearing the right kind of clothes, using the proper spoon, not being a cad or a bounder.

There he stood, in the plain pulpit, and raised his chin above the heads of all the rows of boys in black coats, and said: ‘One might go through this chapter of St. Paul and simply substitute the word “gentleman” for “charity” wherever it occurs. If I talk with the tongues of men and of angels, and be not a gentleman, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.… A gentleman is patient, is kind; a gentleman envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up.… A gentleman never falleth away…’”

Merton then goes on to make this pointed observation:

“… The Apostles would have been rather surprised at the concept that Christ had been scourged and beaten by soldiers, cursed and crowned with thorns and subjected to unutterable contempt and finally nailed to the Cross and left to bleed to death in order that we might all become gentlemen.”

It’s a dated illustration to be sure, but it has resonance even today. It resonates because I think we, too, can fall into the trap of thinking that the kind of love the Bible calls us to as Christians is more about “being nice” than a radical, sacrificial giving of ourselves. We can all too easily pat ourselves on the back for the occasional act of kindness and think we’re demonstrating Christian love, when the truth is that Christ calls us to so much more.

As Christians, whenever we think of what “love” truly means we need only look in one direction—the direction of the cross of Calvary. It is there that God put love on full display for the world, as Paul says in Romans:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NIV)

I once heard someone describe 1 Corinthians 13 as a “character sketch of Christ,” and I think that’s accurate. The kind of love Paul describes in this passage is a radical love, a love that echoes the very sacrifice of Jesus. It is the root of who God is, and as such it should define who we are. On paper, it seems impossible to live out…but that’s because it is impossible, at least on our own. The only way we can know and demonstrate this kind of love is by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps the power of this passage has dimmed for us because it’s been so omnipresent in weddings, making it forever linked in our minds with romantic love. Yes, it’s a perfect passage for that event, because it reminds those entering the marriage covenant who they are to be for one another, but it is not just a pleasant exhortation for those entering matrimony. It is a call to everyone who claims the name of Jesus.

For today’s song, simply listen to this version of 1 Corinthians 13 set to prayerful music. As you listen, ask God to move in your heart by the Spirit to root this kind of love deep in your being.

Song: “1 Corinthians 13” by Watershed

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. Who in your life has modeled a “1 Corinthians 13” love to you? Spend some time in prayer giving thanks to God for their presence in your life.

  2. Which of the descriptions of love in this passage seem most out of reach for you today? Where do you struggle to live it out, and how can you be praying for God to build that kind of love in your heart and life?

  3. Spend some time simply meditating on the death and resurrection of Jesus and how they demonstrate God’s perfect love. Sit in that love and let it transform you so that it might shine through you.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

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Psalm 71:1-6 (NRSV)

In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.

Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

I have a friend named Jim who likes to tell the story of a harrowing trip he took once in a plane. Not a passenger jet, mind you, but a small two-seater plane owned by a friend of Jim’s who was a pilot.

If you’ve ever been in one of those smaller planes, you know how easily they can be tossed to-and-fro by the winds. At times it can feel like you’re sitting in a glider, at the mercy of the natural forces around you. Well, on this particular day the winds were quite strong. And Jim was quite nervous. When it came time to return to the airport for a landing, the winds even seemed to pick up, and the little plane was being flung side-to-side in a way to challenge the strongest stomachs. Then it happened—they hit the runway with a great deal of gusto (no pun intended).

And then they bounced up into the air again.

For someone who had experienced landings in a small plane before, it wouldn’t have been a huge surprise—it happens. But this was Jim’s first time, and he didn’t know that, so in his terror he did something pretty stupid. You see, this was the kind of small plane that had two complete sets of pilot controls, one for each of the front seats. And Jim, seeking desperately to control what seemed like a perilous situation, reached for the controls in front of him. He was going to bring this plane in safely.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that Jim had never had a single flying lesson in his life. It was just sheer panic, and in that panic he did what we often do—he tried to take control. Thankfully a quick glance at his friend’s face quickly reminded Jim that it was the last thing he should possibly do, and he backed off while the pilot brought the plane in safely.

I often think of this story when I consider the chaotic and terrifying moments of my life. I think of it because I’m like Jim—when things start to get scary, I want to take control. I want to figure out, in my own wisdom, the best way out of this terrifying situation. Thing is…that’s usually the very worst thing I could do.

In Psalm 71 we find the psalmist in a perilous situation. His enemies are plotting against him, and his life is in danger. And yet he doesn’t try to deal with the problem himself—he knows that it is God alone who can, and will, deliver him. Note how in each line of today’s reading is completely focused on God:

In you, O LORD, I take refuge…In your righteousness deliver me…for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God…for you, O Lord, are my hope…

Upon you I have leaned…My praise is continually of you.

This is the voice of someone who trusts his pilot, even when the winds are strong, the landing is bumpy, and the fear is real. In our flesh, fear prompts us to “grab the wheel,” but the heart of faith rests in the assurance that our deliverer is faithful and true. He is our rock and refuge, our strong fortress.

He will save us.

Song: “My Deliverer” by The Hedgerow Folk
Lyrics: Click here

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. Can you recall times in which God demonstrated his faithfulness when panic and fear were nipping at your heels? Offer your gratitude to God, and offer prayers that you will find trust even when you are tempted to take control.

  2. How do these lyrics from the song speak to your soul today? “You're calling my desperate soul to freedom in surrender. You've offered a hand I can hold to walk boldly together.”

  3. Do you know people in your life right now who desperately need to know God as their deliverer? Spend some time in intercession for them, and for all those who feel the pressure of situations they can’t control.

Monday, January 24, 2022

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Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NRSV)

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,

“Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

There is a definite echo of Moses here in Jeremiah’s call, isn’t there?

When God called Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt, Moses responded with an incredulous question, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” The more God insists, the more Moses pushes back, his final protest sounding a lot like Jeremiah: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” Then finally, “Please send someone else.”

Jeremiah tells God the exact same thing, this time citing his age as added evidence of his unworthiness: “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But just like he did with Moses, God simply won’t have any of it.

In both cases (just like many others in Scripture and throughout history), God promises something to the one he calls: he promises himself. God’s first reply to Moses is simple and to the point: “I will be with you.” And his reply to Jeremiah is the same. Not only does he say, “I will give you the words to speak,” he also tells Jeremiah, “I am with you.”

It is a simple truth heard from many pulpits through the generations: Where God calls, God equips. But there’s really more to it than that, isn’t there? God doesn’t just equip us and then push us out the door, he goes with us into the places we’re called. His empowering is both about gifts AND presence—he enables us to pursue our calling and he also stand with us as we fulfill it.

As we make our way into a new week, we know God will call us in various times and places to live and speak as his representatives. Sometimes the things he calls us to do and say will be difficult. They won’t always be well-received. And the temptation will be to slink back and wallow in our own perceived weakness and inability. But if God has opened the door, he will not only enable us to walk through it…he will go with us.

Not only are we not powerless, we are not alone.

Song: “I Am Not Alone” by Kari Jobe
Lyrics: Click here

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. How have you known God’s presence in particularly powerful ways as you live out his calling?

  2. When you forget that God is with you, what practices and disciplines help re-center you in the truth of his presence and love?

  3. Spend some time before God in worship and gratitude for his empowering presence and his promise to be with us as we seek to align our life with his.

Welcome to the New Daily Song Reflections

Over the past year, our Worship Song Reflections have taken on a number of different forms, from daily devotionals during Lent and Advent to weekly reflections offered each Monday for individuals and small groups. Our hope and prayer with this resource is to provide worshipful and reflective space for meditating on Scripture, and in conversation and prayer we’ve discerned that the daily approach is best suited for this.

Starting Monday, January 24th, we will be providing a daily reflection on one of the Scripture readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for that week (more information on the RCL can be found here), paired with a song of worship and questions for personal reflection. Since the RCL typically provides four readings per week, we will also provide a final reflection on Fridays that looks back over the themes of the week and offers additional thoughts paired with a song and questions.

This resource can be used individually or in small groups. If you’d be interested in using in as a small group discussion guide, suggestions for that can be found in our FAQ page here.

May God bless you as you draw near to him in worship and Scripture!

Come, Let Us Worship (Psalm 95:6,7)

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Visit Archived Resources for the Lenten Song Reflections 2021

Day Thirty-Seven

In Matthew’s gospel there is a specific detail of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances that is worth noting. It happens both times we see Jesus after he has risen from the dead, appearing first to the women who had come to the tomb and then to the disciples who have gathered in Galilee:

“Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.”—Matthew 28:9 (NIV)

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”—Matthew 28:16-17 (NIV)

Worship is a significant part of encountering the risen Jesus. It was in those first hours after his resurrection, and it still is today. In light of that, it seems good to spend a week of these reflections specifically thinking about the act of worship. Not just music, but worship.

To guide us in our contemplation of worship we’ll be focusing on the call of Isaiah, from chapter 6, where the prophet is brought into the presence of God and is commissioned for his role:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
 the whole earth is full of his glory.’

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’

And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”—Isaiah 6:1-8 (NIV)

The experience that Isaiah has in God’s presence is a wonderful pattern for worship that many congregations use as they plan their weekly services. There are six distinct movements, and for this week we will examine one each day. As we look more deeply into Isaiah’s encounter with God, we can understand our own experience of worship with greater appreciation and understanding.

The first movement of worship is the most basic:

We are invited into God’s presence.

It is basic, but it is not trivial. Not in the slightest. The very fact that we are invited into the presence of the God who created all that is, who sustains all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3), should fill us with awe…but more on that tomorrow.

For now, we sit with the invitation. Isaiah places it in a distinct, recognizable time: “In the year that King Uzziah died.” That’s how God’s invitation comes to us—smack dab in the midst of reality, both good and bad. It is not an invitation that waits for a convenient or opportune moment, but it invades our commonplace lives with an uncommon opportunity: come, meet with the God of the universe.

When we enter a time of worship, whether as part of our individual journey or as the body of Christ, we come from very real lives with very real concerns and needs, and that’s the point. God is calling to us in the midst of it all. And his invitation is not burdensome. It is, in fact, an invitation to lay our burdens down at his feet as we give him the honor and praise due his name. We take our focus away from the concerns of this world that so easily distract, and instead look to the very same God seen by Isaiah: “I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” What we see changes everything. And what we see is worthy of our worship.

But before that will happen, we need to first hear the invitation.

Come, let us worship and bow down
And kneel before the Lord, our Maker

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) How do you prepare yourself for a time of worship? What could you do to more intentionally hear God’s word of invitation as you approach a worship service, or a personal time of fellowship and praise?

2) Spend some time reflecting again on the amazing truth that you personally are invited into the presence of the God of the universe. The one who flings galaxies into space desires to spend time with you—how do you respond to that?

3) Do you ever find yourself distracted during a time of worship, with the cares of this world invading your time with God? What can you build into your life to serve as a reminder of God’s invitation? Is there a verse of Scripture you could use to center yourself when distractions come your way?

4) Read and reflect on this passage of Scripture. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

Psalm 100 (TLV)

Shout joyfully to Adonai, all the earth!
Serve Adonai with gladness.
Come before His presence with joyful singing.
Know that Adonai, He is God.
It is He who has made us, and we are His.
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise!
Praise Him, bless His Name.
For Adonai is good.
His lovingkindness endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.