Hearing truth in a new way

I like listening to the Bible read aloud. At STAG (St. Andrew the Great in Cambridge UK), W and I looked forward to the weekly scripture readings. The readers practiced the OT and NT readings for each Sunday morning rather than just showing up and fumbling through the passages. Bright, cheerful students articulated words and shaped sentences with those beauuuutiful Cambridge accents... they read entire chapters that informed the morning sermon and our weeks. Much of the scripture memory that drifts through my mind comes from those readings.

Knowing another language makes it easy to find variations in translations and readings. I don't know who was reading the German text, but last night his voice drifted through the hours. I listened to Galatians over and over, one chapter at a time. His clear speech and modern German differs from the readings of the Luther Bible of my childhood churches, bringing fresh focus to Paul's letter to the ancient church in Galatia. Old truths, read in a new way...

Seems like not much has changed. Listening to Paul's exasperation with the Galatian believers, I've thought about the rules and regulations that we force on each other in the Church. My studies of early Pentecostal women proves how we let history and our worldviews impose themselves on God's gifts. Instead of embracing the liberty of the gospel and the life of the Spirit, we press freedom into cultural boxes to impress our neighbors and restrict the behavior of fellow Christians to "acceptable" plainness, trying to prove to God our ardor in following him. When he lived among us, Jesus berated those who added rules and restrictions to God's law.

I love the grin of Prince Harry as his grandmother Queen Elizabeth walked by, reviewing his troop in 2006. Her visit required pomp, procedure, and protocol but Harry couldn't keep from smiling, "I know her! She knows me! Hi Grandma!"

God-beyond-our-understanding is so holy and beautiful that we couldn't survive an unshielded look at his face. Sometimes I can only gasp in wonder during prayer. Haven't we all fallen on our faces when God's presence comes near?

Thankfully, he is not just "mystery." His standards of right living align us with his perfect nature and protect us personally and in society. What good person could argue with respect for God and authority, honesty, faithfulness to marriage and family, and protecting the property of others (the 10 Commandments)?

Yet, if you're like me, you constantly go your own way, trample down side trips along the path to life, and have to come back again and again to ask forgiveness. When my emotions betray a lack of trust, he embraces me and welcomes me back into balance.

My Christmas gift to myself is immersion in scripture. I want to hear and listen as He speaks Word and words. And follow closely after him.

When my life ends and God does his review of the ranks of footsoldiers, I want to hear him say, "Well done, Rosemarie. You've been a good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord." That will surely bring a big smile to my face, too. Are you looking forward to that day?

Read more: (Thanks, Moravians.)
*Psalm 141:1-4 Obadiah 1; Jonah 1,2; Revelation 11:1-14

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them. Ezekiel 37:26

God has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant.
2 Corinthians 3:6

Prayer: Merciful God, your covenant is remembered and renewed in us. Our Lamb
has conquered, let us follow him. Amen.

Praise the everlasting King!

Culture inundates us with sounds, sights, textures, tastes, smells. Western noise floods every sense with diversions that keep us from meditating on God and his ways. I suggested to a young friend that hymns might help soothe him when he has trouble sleeping.

"Don't think so! I hate hymns," he replied. "They drive me crazy, like a busy Bach piece or random jazz. There's too much going on." Many people without a background in traditional Protestant churches or classical music would agree.

When W and I lived in Cambridge, UK, we enjoyed Evensong at the various colleges. On debate trips to the UK, students and I attend Evensong sung by one of the exceptional university choirs of Oxford or Cambridge as a cultural experience. Students and I sit with other tourists near the choir and reader, on hard benches facing the center aisle in cold, dark chapels. The music washes over us. Old and New Testament readings pour into the shadows between songs. Responsive readings from the Book of Common Prayer echo against stone walls. The discomfort of non-religious or world religious adherents is obvious:  the Word, prayers, and music direct attention without apology to the living God and his expectations. I am always astonished at the indifference of the singers as they pour the tones into the air. They pass along Living Water without sipping it or drinking deeply themselves.

The music and lyrics of Evensong, written to glorify God, have been sung for decades or centuries, reminding us of God's faithful provision and constancy. I love the thick growls of the pipe organ that buzz and rumble through soles to scalp. The occasional bleat of an oboe or keening cry of the trumpet accompaniment gives me goose-bumps. The pure voices of young boys soar into the rafters, their innocent clarity and white choir robes denying sneaky shoves in the foyer before the preteens marched into the chapel. 

I hope my young friend engages in worship within his own culture. My prayer is that he seeks out meaningful words, melodies, rhythms, and harmonies written by his peers, opening his heart to be drawn into God's presence. 

Anyone desperate for well-sung, beautifully written hymns can enjoy old and new favorites online. UCB Media plays hymns at 7-9am Sundays (Greenwich time), and streams British and American "inspirational" worship music without commercials the rest of the week. (Another option is saturation in scripture as it's read aloud on UCB's "Bible" station.) 

Whatever else we do today, let's take time to praise the Everlasting King! 

Read more:
*Praise the LORD!
        
         Praise God in His sanctuary;
         Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
        
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
         Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
        
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
         Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
         Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
         Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
        
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
        
         Praise the LORD! (Psalm 150)