Thursday 26 November 2009

Background

There are lots of things we can learn about worship from readingthe Book of Revelation. It is clear from the book that the faithfulpeople of God are those who worship the sovereign God: theenthroned king and the victorious lamb who is Christ.

It is important and significant to affirm this because the truthsabout God's kingly rule and Christ's victory over evil are notaccepted by everyone in our society and world. Many people view Godas an irrelevance, as impotent and unnecessary. Many people tooreject the idea of self-sacrifice and think that looking afterourselves should always come first.

But it is not just disinterest and disbelief that Christians aresurrounded by and need to engage with. There are also the vestedinterests which lie in maintaining the worship of society's falsegods; and they tell powerfully insidious lies. The lies are aboutself-interest being good and the need to protect ourselves and ourown interests. The lies are that we can go on spending anddeveloping and the world won't suffer.

To counter such lies we need to worship truthfully, acknowledgethat God is king and Lord, whose greatness is displayed not inmight or power but in sacrificial love. God's strength is revealedin weakness, in a small baby born in a dirty stable to a youngmother far from home. God rules over the world with armsoutstretched on a cross.

One way to acknowledge God's rule over us would be to ensure thatwe are willing to be still and wait before God, and submit to God'spresence in our lives and our world. Stillness and waiting arecounter-cultural: we live in a world where the rich do not wait andstillness is not something valued by those who must get or guardpower and wealth.

To Ponder

What does it mean to you for God to be king?

What does it mean for God to be bothking and our friend and father?

When were you last still - really still?