I remember in college, performing in the musical Godspell. In the opening scene we came out onto the stage as the great philosophers and theologians of the day. I was Martin Luther if memory serves me correct. As each person was brought into the light, we gave a little speech on our philosophy and continued to do so as each actor gave his or her speech. Soon the stage was a full of people became loud with conflicting philosophies. Then the actors break into a song all about their babbling called the “Tower of Babble.” The philosophers are then scattered at the coming of John the Baptist and his song Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord.
These philosophers had become so caught up in their own image of God and of their interpretation of Him. Their message became a gaggle of noise, until the message finally had to push its way in.
This week in our scriptures we are asked, So what is it all about? From the scriptures in Hosea we see God’s promise to the illegitimate children of Gomer, all the way to Paul warning of false teachers in the Colossian community. Lastly with the disciples asking Jesus to teach them pray. So what is it all about?
We see one constant theme in all of these situations, God and His promises. God reaffirmed his promise to Abraham in Hosea, with these words of hope, Hosea verses 1:10-11.
But the Israelites will become as numerous as the sands of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. In the very place where they were told, "You are not my people, they will be told they are "Children of the living God". The Judaeans and Israelites will be reunited and will choose themselves a single head, and will spread far beyond their country,
for great will be the Day of Jezreel!
It is in these words that we see the revelation that not only will the Israelites be restored and multiply, but those of the Gentile nations will be enfolded into the family of the Living God.
The family of Hosea represents the very image of God and his relationship with his people. Hosea spends most of his life living cleaning up the messes and indiscretions of his wife Gomer. She would prostitute herself out to other men. Hosea even had to buy her back on one or two occasion.
Of the three children mentioned of Gomer, only one is believed to have been fathered by Hosea, that being Jezreel. The other two, because of their odd names especially Lo-Ammi which means; you are not my people and I do not exist for you, makes many suspicious of who their father may have been.
In the same way as LoRuhamah and Lo-Ammi, we too cannot track our ancestry back too far. We know that some point we are related to everyone else in the world. In fact, we are a 52nd cousin to at least one person going all the way back to the sons of Noah.
However the point that God is making is that no matter where we have come from, we are all of His creation. He is calling us all back into His Kingdom. So that all His children may be reunited under one Father in Heaven, under his rule, completing the circle from the day of Great Dispersion at the Tower of Babel.
We see already in the time of Paul, which is only 10 to 30 years after Jesus, His teachings and the ideas about Him were being modified by others. In fact, Paul reminds the people of Colossae to:
Make sure that no one captivates you with the empty lure of a "philosophy" of the kind that human beings hand on, based on the principles of this world and not on Christ. (Colossians 2:8 NJB)
The Colossians had lost focus on who they were worshipping. They had become too focused on ceremonies, celebrations, and the philosophies of men to truly devote themselves to the worship of God. They had lost the message of the Gospel in all the ritual.
Paul reminds them that it isn’t ritual that saves them. That the true faith lays in the belief that Jesus Christ died for our sins. More over our worship should be one of thanksgiving, not tied down to a particular way to do it.
In other words, as one of my fellow pastors says, keep the message of the Gospel simple. Do not dwell on all the subtleties. Always remember at the heart of God’s Message and the message of the Gospels are these words;
For this is how God loved the world: He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved...(John 3:16-17 NJB)
For God so loved the world…this is what it is really all about. God has already shown us how much He loves us through His sacrifice, and our worship should reflect our thankfulness for that.
This is exactly the point that Jesus was trying to make with the teaching of the Lord’s Prayer. I am not going to get into the specifics by breaking the prayer down. However there have been some wonderful sermons and Bible Studies done on that various matter.
My wife was not always a Methodist. She first attended the Church of Christ, then became a Southern Baptist and after our marriage, she became a United Methodist.
In each of these three different denominations, there were different traditions and ways of worship. For example, in the Church of Christ, they sang without music. Every song they sang was done acapella. This is the way they worshipped God in song. They did not feel the need to use any other instrument, other than their voices. They also took communion every Sunday. This was done to show reverence to the Lord and to acknowledge their belief in what Christ did for us all on the cross. In the Southern Baptist denomination, things were different still. They sang with the accompaniment of the piano and the organ. In fact, there were times Luann said that the spirit would move within their church and they would get so caught up in singing praises to God that the pastor would not even have time to deliver his sermon. They took communion as well, but not every Sunday, not even once a month. Instead, they took communion once every three months, or once a quarter. It was still very reverent and very acknowledging of Christ, but it was done once every three months. Then, she became a United Methodist and the traditions or ways of worship changed yet again for her. But in all the ways of different worship that she has experienced, she said that she finds one thing in common, they are all worshipping God.
You see, it did not matter whether or not they sang scapula or with beautiful music, such as what we have been so richly blessed with in this church.
It did not matter if they took communion every Sunday, once every three months or once a month, it was still very reverent and very respectful toward God.
Even though the ways of worshipped differed, the intent of the worship, which was to praise God, did not.
But, how easy do you think it would have been to have told one of those churches that they should change their traditions and start doing things in another way? It would not have been easy and most likely, would not have gone over well at all. This is because we can sometimes get so caught up in the traditions that we overlook the point that it is not for our glory that we are here today, but for God’s glory.
Still, I know what it means to find your place within a church whose traditions and methods make you feel like you are truly worshipping God from your heart. That is a wonderful experience.
I know my wife and I are happy with the traditions of the United Methodist church, although there are some things that she misses from the other denominations.
I was in a church once and there was a man there who was a very influential person in that church. He served on different committees and was always willing to help out where ever it was needed. His wife and children were members of the United Methodist Church, however, this man was not.
He had been raised as a devout Catholic by very devout Catholic parents. His parents had taught him growing up that being Catholic for him, was the only way to go. Well after he married and started attending the Methodist church with his wife, he found that he felt more at ease with these traditions. There was nothing wrong with the Catholic traditions, but he just felt more comfortable and worshipful in the Methodist church. He told his parents that he wanted to join the church. They basically told him that they would all but disown him if he did. You see, in there eyes there was only one way to worship God and that was the Catholic way. So this man is still not a member of the church he loves. He says that after his parents have passed away, then he will join the church.
While I can admire his love of his parents and not wanting to hurt them, I still feel that this story has a lot of sadness to it.
His parents were missing the point that he was still worshiping God. They had become too wrapped up in the rituals and beliefs of man, to see where their son had found his love and service for God.
The truth is no matter what kind of worship we lean to; traditional, old time gospel, lots of liturgy, no liturgy, contemporary, or revival, the focus should always be on God. Our thoughts, our prayers, and our songs should always be directed to Him.
So my prayer to you for the coming weeks is as we pray and sing here, we remember that we are actually singing and offering thanks to the Lord Our God. So let us show our thanks to Him for what He has done for us. Let us sing out joyfully, and be able to come before each other share how God has blessed our lives.
And always remember the words of Joel and Peter..
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke…
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’(Acts 17-19,21 NIV) Amen.
