Happenings 25 June 2020

I recently read this great piece from another NZ Baptist church about Psalm 122:3-4. Look at what the psalm says about Jerusalem. “A well-built city, built as a place of worship! The city to which the tribes ascend, all God’s tribes go up to worship.” In this psalm, as throughout much of the Hebrew bible, Jerusalem is first and foremost the place of worship for God’s people. All the great festivals were held in the city, the Temple was there. Jerusalem was where you went to be reminded of who you were and who God was; to be reminded of the story of God and his people and of your place in that story, and to witness that story being re-enacted in the rituals and actions of worship. In Jerusalem, everything comes together into a single unified whole – including the people. Everything fits together here. Nothing is left out, there are no loose ends. That’s what worship does. It provides the framework, the solid structure and rhythm that tell us who we are and where we stand. That framework of worship and the rhythm of worship it engenders are crucial if we are to be able to be God’s people in the world. To piece our lives together, to bring them together into a unified whole – both our individual lives and our corporate identity – requires a framework of worship in order to be effective, not just for our sake and for the sake of offering genuine worship to a worthy God, but also for the sake of a broken, unordered, split, hurting world in need of repair. What does it mean to be God’s “chosen people”? What are we chosen for? How does worshipping structure your life and being? Let’s pray: “Holy God, thank you that you call me your special possession, your precious child. Help me live in a way that reflects your great mercy and love, that others may see all you have done in my life. Amen.” (www.swbc.org.nz/blog/2020/06/21/psalm-122/)

In Him,
Murray