Monday Morning Music Ministry

5-13-24

The origin of the word “holiday” is “holy day,” which, once upon a time before used-car sales and peoples’ desires for three-day weekends, virtually were synonymous.

Vestiges of holiness have been stripped from commemorations, and lately even the names of observances have been neutered. It is a symptom of the Strange New World we live in, where “BC” (“before Christ”) has been de-personalized as “BCE,” Before His Era. Where Thanksgiving, in schools, has been stripped of giving thanks and replaced with noticing a “harvest” (even in districts where a farm is an abstract concept). Where college entrance-exams are no longer really tests; where urban crime rates go down because crimes are, simply, not called crimes any more; where Bible passages are labeled as hate speech by the government.

Christianity is not always the victim of such sea-changes in contemporary life. Not when Christianity itself sometimes is in the forefront!

Note: I am not referring to denominations. Like the United Methodist Church, recently in the news for encouraging homosexual ordination and blessing of homosexual “marriage.” Nor churches that deny the Virgin Birth or Divinity of Christ. Nor the Catholic Church’s tolerance of its most prominent member, the president of the United States, who frequently and aggressively advocates for the abortion of unborn children.

Those matters aside, I note with particularity how large swaths of the contemporary church has sublimated aspects of essential Christian doctrine. I attended a church service recently on Pentecost Sunday where the entire sermon on the Holy Spirit mentioned the Gifts of the Spirit only once, and then not with reference to them as… well, God’s spiritual gifts offered to us for edification and power and service. The latest monthly magazine of a church I attend was devoted to the Gifts of the Spirit… and addressed not one paragraph to the Gifts described in Acts and listed in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

These sins of omission are endemic to many contemporary denominations. Instead of a Triune God, do Christians today prefer to worship a Diune God?

Another example, actually dispositive, is the Church “calendar” as it largely is regarded these days. It is a symptom of contemporary theology, and represents a deficient view of Christ and Who He really is; how He is regarded by His people.

Returning to “holy days” and what they once said to us, in effect –

The Annunciation once was a major observance in the church, calling us to remember how the Holy Spirit told Mary she was with Child;

Christmas marked the fulfillment of uncountable prophesies, and reminds us of God becoming incarnate, dwelling in human form;

Palm Sunday once was a festival, symbolically marking the entrance of Jesus as He should be welcomed – into our hearts;

Good Friday was “God’s Friday” or “good” because God’s Son was made a sacrifice for our sins and spared us the punishment we deserve;

Easter was the recognition that Christ overcame death, and the promise that we may do so likewise, when accepting Him as Lord;

Pentecost was the “birthday of the Church,” when the Holy Spirit, foretold in prophecy and promised by Jesus, came to live in our hearts, imbuing wisdom and power.

That’s it, right? The Gospel story in one bundle of holidays? No. Actually, far from it. All of those sacred days are worthy of commemoration. Essential to our understanding of God’s plan for humankind. Vital to our faith. However, as Holy (indeed) as they are, they all lack one final piece of the Gospel puzzle, so to speak.

Mary, bearing Jesus, beheld a miracle.

The birth of Jesus, God-with-us, was a miracle and blessing.

That Jesus can enter our hearts, like He entered Jerusalem, was a miracle and blessing and opportunity.

Jesus’s betrayal and crucifixion and death on Good Friday was a miracle and a blessing and an opportunity and a call to repentance.

The Resurrection of Jesus on Easter was a miracle and a blessing and an opportunity and a call to repentance and a promise of New Life.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was a miracle and a blessing and an opportunity and a call to repentance and a promise of New Life and a Gift from God.

… but none of these fully confirmed the Deity of Jesus. That only happened on the next Holy Day on the Church Calendar: the observance of the Ascension. This commemorates when Jesus bodily rose Heaven in the presence of Old Testament saints and His Disciples.

Yes, we know that God proclaimed “This is My beloved Son,” and we know of many miracles performed, many supernatural acts and Godly wisdom He dispensed. Signs and wonders. But on Ascension Day, Jesus again became one with the Father.

In some traditional and Orthodox faiths, Ascension Day is still observed as a major Holy Day. In some European countries, lip service (at least) is paid to the Day of Ascension, and it is a holiday from work and schools. I wonder, in most American churches, how many worshipers know when or what it is. We ought to. Without the Cross, and the Resurrection – and the Ascension – our faith is in vain.

Do you know the Jesus of the holidays or the Jesus of the Holy Days?

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Click: Holy, Holy, Holy

2-14-22

Many regular church-goers, pious people, folks who study their Bibles and do devotions, who might belong to prayer circles and church fellowships… a lot of us do not fully understand everything in the Bible.

This is not bad, necessarily. At least regarding theology – literally, the study of God – we can study but not know everything… otherwise we would be as God. Even the angels do not know all, see all, nor can be present everywhere. God is God.

But beyond our comprehension and even spiritual and intellectual curiosity, I think we all accept some sentiments and words and traditions without fully understanding them. We find solace in some things as a result. Sort of spiritual security blankets, or comfort foods of the soul.

I am among such folks. Imagery, allegories, symbols… in some things I let the mystery be, because I trust the meanings of passages and the ways of the Lord. If there are texts whose precise meanings elude me… or prophecies that are “seen through a glass darkly…” well, God has made His will known so often and in so many ways, that I surrender to those occasional things God wants to keep wrapped in His poetry.

Yet we should not always exercise sweet surrender. Surely the Lord wants us to understand as much as possible, especially since every word has been imparted, inspired – literally, “breathed” by the Holy Spirit – for our instruction and for reproof. So… we can always try a little harder. That bread cast upon the waters never comes back void.

I was thinking about such things recently when singing the old hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, which has some verses that we sing perhaps automatically without fully understanding them: and the same for Bible passages from which the lyrics are drawn, in Revelation chapter 4.

The hymn:

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim are falling down before Thee, Which wert and art and evermore shalt be!

Verses from Revelation 4:

Immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne… And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold….And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne…

The four and twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

For our attention here I have left out descriptions of beasts and wings and lightning and thunder and lamps, all wondrous – and mysterious – enough. We can study and profit from signs and symbols, and especially numerology and types, in the Bible; particularly in Revelation. And we can discern lessons from these passages, more-than-allusions and symbols as they are.

First, we must realize that, no matter how mysterious they seem, they are descriptions of the Heaven that is, and the Heaven that will be as we see it.

Second, the hymnologist’s use of “Holy” three times is citing the praises of God quoted throughout Scripture: Three always represents holiness. We know that numbers like seven and 40 are repeated in God’s story, all with consistent significance. We will join the angels in singing “Holy, holy, holy…”

Then, I believe the “glassy sea” is to tell us that, contrary to many examples of troubled waters and stormy seas throughout the Bible and in life, before the Throne of God the waters shall be not roiled. Untroubled, placid. A miraculous calm, in His presence. Like a mirror.

The Elders we might correctly assume are the prophets and apostles in Scripture; and perhaps saints and martyrs of the Church. Crowns? The Elders who wear them are worthy – in our eyes, and honored of God – for their service… but are we not told that the least among believers shall be the first? That (conversely, to be sure) that the smallest sin grieves God as much as what we might deem the grossest?

Do we understand that “Elders” earn crowns? Are those the (again) mysterious “treasures” we might store up in Heaven?

I believe the answer is what happens to those crowns at the moment this scene was revealed by Christ to St John. They were thrown down at the feet of God Almighty, the Elders declaring that He is worthy to receive Glory and Honor and Power. In other words, just like our own “robes of righteousness” in which we might cover ourselves, even the treasures and crowns of the most exalted saints are to be cast at the feet of God.

A picture of Heaven? Clearer, to me.

What else will Heaven be like? We have other imagery of shining stones and beauty and mansions and singing and… praising. We will join the angels in forever singing and praising His name. We will not think it boring, even for eternity; for He is worthy. Will we see loved ones? Will our bodies be made whole? Will there be “joy unspeakable and full of glory?”

Yes… but let us remember the “unspeakable” part! Beyond our current ability to understand.

For all the good intentions of believers here, when I hear speculation about how “old” we will be, or being reunited with pets… I find myself wishing that people would be as concerned with getting to Heaven as with what it will be like “over there.”

We can be sure of one thing as we look toward joining that throng of angels – the cherubim and seraphim – before the Throne. The joy we will have cannot be known by them, for they were never graced with life on earth, never able to experience the gifts of repentance and forgiveness, redemption and salvation. Those things are ours!

Holy! Holy! Holy!

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Click: Holy, Holy, Holy

7-26-21

I do love mysteries. Books, stories, movies, real-life events. I think we all do; but there is a difference in our next steps. Some people, and I think humankind in general particularly in the past few centuries, love mysteries because there is a passion – almost an obsession – to solve them.

Is this a good thing, a natural impulse? Not necessarily. Mysteries, the unknown, deep challenges, dare us in many ways; and we accept the challenges. Answering the call, thus have diseases been conquered, new lands discovered, and faraway planets visited. Not bad things, and an aspect of humankind’s DNA that grows when exercised.

I regret some negative aspects that inevitably follow. We have been deluded into thinking that we can solve any mystery, in time; which is of course ridiculous. We lose sight of the fact that life often substitutes new challenges when some mysteries (diseases, plagues, natural disasters) are met; for nature and human nature seem immutable. And we tend to equate the passage of time with real progress. Some mysteries merely deepen: we solve mysterious sicknesses but insist on inventing better ways to kill each other. How’s that for a mystery?

No, I love mysteries because they are mysteries. We cannot know everything, or else we would be as God – and I admit my credentials are lacking. But I do not merely settle for being very human; I embrace the mysteries that place me apart from God; that is, subordinate.

His mysteries are wonderful, just as His ways are inscrutable. That leads me to the basis, the definition, of faith. There are things I don’t have to know, because God knows. There are things I don’t have to worry about, because He cares for me. If things seem out of control… I know He is in control. Martin Luther said that Reason is the enemy of Faith. Hmmm.

I embrace mysteries like birth, and the formed fingers and joyful smiles of babies. Of flowers that return after seeming to die; of seedlings that push through rocks. Forgiveness is a mystery. Salvation is a mystery I don’t understand, but I accept. And when all is said and done, love is a mystery.

If we dissect a butterfly to see how it can fly, we kill it in the process. Therefore, many of the mysteries of life – of God – I simply accept and embrace.

Parts of the Bible we need to understand; but parts of it present the mysteries of God without explaining them. That’s fine. “We will understand it better bye and bye.”

For instance, in the Book of Revelations – surely a book that reveals as many mysteries as matters of clarity – we read of the “24 Elders” who fall down before the Throne of God in Heaven, and cast down their crowns before Him. We read of treasures in Heaven. We read in two passages about this scene, the “glassy sea” before the Throne of God.

Crowns and treasures that some might have? The rest of us will not? Aren’t we all to be equal, once saved? Maybe the Elders represent churches, or dispensations, or saints of the ages…?

It is true that forgiven and blood-bought Believers are no more, and no less, “saved,” or Children of God, which is confirmed many times in Scripture. In the same way as the vilest sinner on earth might gain Heaven by confessing Christ at the end of his or her life. Or the most generous charity worker might go to hell if he or she never believe and confess Christ. These things fight against our own logic, but are not mysteries. They are God’s honest truth.

About those treasures and crowns, I have always thought that in God’s plan there have been saints or martyrs, perhaps, who have a place of distinction, not greater favor, in His sight… but before the Throne of God, nothing else will matter except bowing before Him, praising Him forever, gathering with other saints around the river and the beautiful, calm, glassy sea; and placing at God’s feet whatever honors there might be.

Greater service, greater perseverance, greater love will seem like nothing when we behold Him. In proper perspective, we will lay everything before Him.

Heaven – we try to imagine. Do you want to see loved ones again? You probably will. Children want to see their pets? If that thought pleases them here, it might happen there. But our minds cannot for a moment imagine the riches that await us in glory. The words of a great hymn attempt a picture:

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, Who were and are and evermore shall be.

Does this make sense? No matter; let the mystery be. We will see these things.

Some “emergent” churches claim to embrace mystery, but in my experience they embrace candles and incense instead.

For now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know (I Corinthians 13:12)…

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This hymn of church was a poem by Reginald Heber later set to music by John Bacchus Dykes. The “Holy, Holy, Holy” from Revelation reminds us that the Bible’s frequent use of numbers is significant – three for perfection; seven for completion, etc. Not clues for lotteries, but lessons to learn from. Here, worship with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir:

Click: “Holy, Holy, Holy” sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

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