Price

This week we begin worship with:

Isaiah 55:1

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

I may have told this story before, but it deserves re-telling and this verse deserves rereading . . .

While camping, my mother was befriended by an older couple who invited my mother and I to lunch.  As we arrived at lunch I felt increasingly out of place, a young boy out to lunch with three adults at a very fancy restaurant.  

There was a brief quiet word between the man and the waiter, and the waiter soon returned with the menus.  Special menus.  We were given menus without prices.  After often being told by my mother to choose something cheaper, this was incredible.  

I stammered the question, "I can order anything?".  Our hosts reassured us, "Yes, anything".

Praise God, that He has befriended us and we sit at His table.  My advice, order the lobster.

Gather

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 147:2

The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

After the stoning of Steven, as Paul persecuted the church, the church was scattered.  James, in fact, wrote to those “scattered among the nations“ (diaspora).  But God will to do the reverse.  He will gather( kānas).

Many carry the ideal of being away, being separate, being alone.  Many want the “Hundred Acre Wood” of Winnie the Pooh all to themselves.  But this is not God’s ideal.  God’s ideal is the city.  The scattered coals of a fire die out, but only when gathered together they burn bright.

Psalm 147:12-14
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
    Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
    he blesses your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders;
    he fills you with the finest of the wheat.

It is to this ideal we are being called in the last chapters of Revelation, to a city designed by God.

Joy

 This week we begin worship with:

Isaiah 65:17-18

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 

But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.

When one sees the beauty of this earth, one wishes to preserve it.  Hiking one leaves the campsite better than one finds it.  At home you wish to build and preserve a legacy.  This desire to preserve brings with it the fear of loss from the truth of its temporal nature.  

But we are soon to be relieved of this burden, when all these former things will be replaced and instead of fear there will be joy, for God is our sustainer:

Hebrews 1:3
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,