Friday, February 23, 2007

Day 3, February 23rd 2007

Ezra 3:1-13

This text could be a sermon. I encourage you to read through it once or twice, aloud, and slowly. Try to smell the burnt offerings on the altar. Try to feel the fear, the elation, the mourning, that are all intermingled in these words. And notice:

  1. The people are afraid. What of the land’s occupants? They might not look kindly on the return of the Jews, and the rebuilding of the temple. In their fear, they pray. And in our fear, we pray too. We can try to settle in to a comfortable Christianity that asks nothing of us, and in so doing, be released from all the fears that come from seeking to do something meaningful. But what do we have then? To quote elsewhere in the Bible, we’re the ones who show Jesus our one little coin, in tact, because we did nothing with the time, and wealth, and talents, and freedoms we were given. When we do anything worthwhile, there will be risk involved (like the risk of 7 million dollars, for example). But risk leads to prayer and dependency, which is the posture of all who God has used down through the ages. Are you in challenged in your faith, challenged in your undertakings? Give thanks, for that is where we all need to be.
  1. The offerings aren’t perfunctory when there’s a sense of vital dependency on God for a real project. 3:3 says, ‘they offered burnt offerings to the Lord morning and evening.’ Worship is alive, giving is genuine, sacrifice is most wholesome, and it is when we have a vision and passion to belong to the great story of redemption that God is writing, that we realize this truth: ONLY God can sustain the work that is worthy of His name. This has easy application. When we ponder the possibilities of people ‘coming home’ to Christ, being healed of addictions and fears, being set free to live meaningful lives, and being liberated to participate in God’s great work, how can we not get excited and worship? Knowing the forces intent on subverting His work, how can we not pray?
  1. When the new foundation was laid, there was both praise and mourning. There was praise because God has promised a hope and future to His people. There was mourning because the ushering in of the new was a reminder of glory of the old. We too, will both praise and mourn as we move into God’s future, for the future will be different than the past and the past is, for so many of us, filled with warmth and beauty. Both are important. If I’m only looking to the future, I become filled with an arrogance that dishonors what God has done previously. If I’m bitter towards the future because I’m holding too tightly to the past, I’ll miss the glories of His presence in chapters of God’s story that He’ll be writing tomorrow.

Oh God of all yesterdays and tomorrows, as we move into Your future, we’re mindful of the forces at work that would hinder us; complacency, greed, divisions, fear, an arrogance regarding tomorrow, or a bitterness over the loss of yesterday. Grant that we might we might bring these things before you with honesty, and allow you to most and shape us. Knowing the challenges that are yet ahead, we offer ourselves to you and ask your protection over us. As you’ve shepherded us in the past, so may you continue to shepherd us into the future. As we’ve offered ourselves wholly to you in the past, so may continue to be wholly yours tomorrow. Give us the grace to both rejoice and mourn, to hold the past and future in our hands even as we hold Your hand. And thank you for the adventure that awaits us as we follow you together. In Your name, Amen.

posted by Richard Dahlstrom @ 4:03 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home