The Silence of Worship

With thankful hearts
We enter into the courts of the Lord in praise;
As we draw closer to the Holy of Holies
Our praise turns to worship;
Bowed before the Holy One
Our worship becomes... silence.

A Life That Worships

All we do and all we are, our whole lives are to be expressions of worship. Bowed at the altar, helping someone in need, or even weeding a garden, can be acts of worship when offered to God with a heart of gratitude. When our hearts and lives are right before God, every breath we take is worship.

Discontent in the Outer Court

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful to him, and bless his name." - Psalm 100:4

The picture here is of the tabernacle. There is at least a sense of awareness that people are gathering in the Name of Yahweh. I imagine busyness, the noise of people, the noise and smell of animals being brought for sacrifice, commotion, much activity and, perhaps an atmosphere of celebration as people draw near with thanksgiving and praise. This was good. This was necessary.

This was the outer court.

There was and is another place, a holy place, the Holiest of Places, where none of those outer court practices will be tolerated. The Overwhelming Presence demands, requires, compels: silence, reverence, a breathtaking sense of awe as we approach with holy fear... the very throne of God. There... the Almighty speaks to us and we are... broken so we can be made whole, humbled so we can be raised up, made to see our sinfulness so we can fully appreciate and experience His forgiveness. In that Place and only in that Place we are truly... changed.

The veil of separation has been torn asunder; access has been granted; the Father, with outstretched hands, beckons us to "Come."

May we and our churches never be content with mere "outer court" worship.

A Revelation "revelation"

The Book of Revelation, the Revelation of St. John the Divine, the Apocalypse, call it by which ever name you prefer, (but never in the plural - "Revelations" - also, please don't refer to a single Psalm as in the plural , for example, "Turn with me to Psalms 23." Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.) the Book of Revelation has been read, discussed, argued, interpreted, misinterpreted, dissected and analyzed since the day it left the island of Patmos late in the first century.

Usually the Book of Revelation is seen as a prophetic book that foretells what will happen in the final days of the Last Days or at the End of the Age. The number of interpretations of the details of Revelation nearly numbers the number of angelic beings seen in the Book ("ten thousand time ten thousand and thousands of thousands." Of course, I speak hyperbolically.) Yes, I agree, Revelation tells us what will happen with, to, on and in earth and heaven in the future - perhaps near future for us.

But notice something else in the Book. We see a glimpse of Heaven. We get a taste of worship in Heaven and around the Throne of God. Observe the sights and sounds and smells. See the angels bowing in unison; hear them worshiping in unison; smell the incense; note the altar, the lampstands and other sacred articles that are also seen in Jewish Temple-worship. We see structured, ordered and unified worship. We see....... (drum roll please) ........... LITURGY!

This is just an interesting observation that causes me to ponder.

Te Deum or not Te Deum...

Well, yesterday was "Black Friday," which tells us we've now entered the official Christmas shopping season. Retailers across our land are hoping consumers will thumb their noses at the economy and drive themselves deeper into debt. Children are busy compiling voluminous tomes they simply refer to as their "Christmas wish lists." The lists usually consist of "just-have-to-haves" that will become outdated, boring and "old-school" before the rubbish man has picked up its packaging and wrapping paper from the trash.

If we are not careful, our prayers can sometimes resemble a wish list or shopping list. "God, I want this. God, I want that. God, give me, give me, give me............ And, oh, yeah, in-Jesus'-name-amen!" I think you know what I mean. Although there is a place for bringing our needs (not our selfish desires) and holy petitions before God, the greatest focus of prayer should be worship, with the object of prayer being God, Himself. After all, it is all about Him, not all about us.

Below is a fourth century prayer or hymn known as the Te Deum laudamus, which simply means, We Praise You, O God. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest non-biblical hymns of the Christian church. By the way, non-biblical doesn't always mean unscriptural. (I thought I'd throw that in for free) Though you will notice certain requests are made of God toward the end of the prayer, the requests are made on the basis of God's greatness and mercy and not on the basis of our need (or whim.) What follows is my paraphrase of the version found in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. I tried to remain true to the text while smoothing out some of the awkwardness of the archaic spellings and wordings.

Prayers like this are never outdated, boring or "old-school." They are continually fresh and rich because their goal is simply to worship Him who alone is worthy.

Te Deum laudamus

We praise You, O God; we acknowledge You to be the Lord.
All the earth worships You, the Father Everlasting.
To You all angels, the powers of heavens, cry aloud with the
cherubim and seraphim who continually cry,
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and
earth are full of the majesty of Your glory."
The glorious company of the apostles praise You.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise You.
The noble army of martyrs praise You.
The holy church throughout all the world acknowledges You:
the Father of infinite majesty;
Your honorable, true and only Son;
and the Holy Ghost, who is also our Comforter.
You are the King of Glory, O Christ
You are the everlasting Son of the Father.
When You took upon Yourself to deliver mankind, You did not despise the Virgin's womb.
When You overcame the sting of death, You opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
You sit at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that You will come to be our Judge.
Therefore, we pray that You would help Your servants, whom You have redeemed with Your precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Your saints, in everlasting glory.
O Lord, save Your people and bless Your heritage.
Govern them and lift them up forever.
Every day we will be mindful to magnify You.
And we will worship Your name forever in a world without end.
In Your gracious favor, keep us from sin today.
O Lord, have mercy on us; have mercy on us.
O Lord, let Your mercy rest upon us, because our trust is in You.

O Lord, I have trusted in You. Let me never be confounded.