Tag: worship

Posted in Advent devotions

Doing good things and God things

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Ryno Marais on Unsplash

In Matthew’s account of Jesus’s birth, Joseph believes he is doing the right thing. When Mary was found to be with child, he didn’t want to shame her, so he resolved to divorce her quietly (Matthew 1:19). While it was the right thing to do according to the law of Moses, it wasn’t God had in mind for Joseph.

Like another Joseph from long ago, this Joseph has a dream in which an angel of the Lord tells him to take Mary as his wife. Her son was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and he would save his people from their sins, just as the prophet Isaiah had said.

Joseph’s life turned out completely different than anything he could have imagined. The family would have to take a trip to Egypt to save Jesus’s life when Herod slaughtered the children in Bethlehem. He would raise God’s son in Nazareth as his own.

Joseph taught carpentry to the one who laid the foundations of the earth. Joseph worshiped alongside the one who would be worshiped by every nation, tribe, peoples, and language.

What a privilege to work and worship alongside the Lord. Since he is Immanuel – God with us – we get to do that too. This truth adds perspective to every task and prayer we offer up!

Of course Joseph gets an ornament on the Jesse Tree. He’s “of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4) and served as a faithful father to Jesus.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

The walls came down

Posted on by William Douthwaite

People are screaming, “Why didn’t you write about Jericho?” Relax. Here’s a “through the bible” devotion from Jericho 6.

There are lots of walls in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As we drove from the airport to our guest house, every home that could be lived in was enclosed in an eight-foot tall wall topped by shards of broken glass. Heavy iron doors were the only way in and out, and you had to call ahead of time so someone on the inside would open them.

Safe? Secure? Not really. All it took was a moment, a 7.0 earthquake, and many of those walls, gates, and homes fell into piles of rubble.

Jericho looked secure from the inside and the outside (Joshua 6:1). Safe? Secure? Not really. Not after seven laps around the city, when the priests blew the trumpets, the armed men shouted, and “the wall fell down flat” (6:20). A well-timed earthquake? A sonic-wave of destructive proportions? Who knows? The earth shook at Mount Sinai and at Jesus’s temporary tomb. The sound of many waters and loud thunder accompanies God’s presence. If the Lord can raise the dead with a cry of command and the sound of a trumpet (1 Thessalonians 4:16), then a few city walls are a cinch.

The fall of Jericho is Israel’s first victory in the promised land. They marched. They blew ram’s horn trumpets. They shouted. But God did the heavy lifting. He brought down the walls. Is there a lesson there for us? We go (to all nations), we lift up our voices and play our instruments in worship, and God “gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Who’s side are you on, anyway?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Joshua 5.

I listen with interest as people try to get Jesus to take sides. Some of the faithful will slot Jesus as a liberal. Others label him conservative. Partisan politics plays tug-of-war with Jesus, trying to pull him over to their side. Capitalist or socialist? It depends on who you talk to. Protestant or Catholic? Since he was Jewish, I guess that doesn’t work.

It’s easy to take the words of Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?” to assume that God is on my side. That is, he’s behind me and supports my cause.

When Joshua encounters a man with a sword in Joshua 5:13, he naturally asks, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” Friend or foe? A threat or an ally? Are we fighting each other or fighting side-by-side?

The man answers, “No.” He goes on to explain, “I am the commander of the army of the Lord” (5:14). Suddenly, Joshua’s question is irrelevant. Falling to the ground, he worships. The commander says, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy” (v15). This is Joshua’s burning bush moment. He’s in the presence of the Lord.

The question becomes, “Who’s side are you on, Joshua?” Not long before this, in Deuteronomy, Moses laid outlined blessings and curses, encouraging the people to choose life, to love the Lord your God, obey his voice, and hold fast to him (Deuteronomy 30:19,20).

Jesus doesn’t take sides. He calls us to be on his side.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

The pulse of a Spirit-filled life

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Rachel Loughman on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Numbers 28 and 29.

Upon learning that I was a pastor, folks would either comment, “It must be nice to only have to work one day a week” or, “You’re on duty 24/7, aren’t you?”

The truth lies somewhere in between. A lot of preparation goes into the weekly message to the gathered congregation. Shepherding a flock may be a daily commitment, but even shepherds clock in and out each day.

The priests and Levites were busy. Here’s a list of all the occasions on which were responsible for the offerings of God’s people:

  • Daily offerings, morning and evening, including a lamb, flour, and wine)
  • Sabbath day offering (weekly)
  • First of the month offering (monthly)
  • Passover offerings (14th day of first month, eight days total)
  • Feast of Weeks offerings (Pentecost; firstfruits of the harvest)
  • Feast of Trumpets offerings (Rosh Hashanah; 1st day of 7th month)
  • Day of Atonement offerings (Yom Kippus; 10th day of 7th month)
  • Feast of Booths offerings (15th day of 7th month; eight days total)

All that is in addition to vow offerings, freewill offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings (Numbers 28,29).

When I’m distracted by other things in life, whether it be myself or my things, I don’t fix my eyes on Jesus. But it sounds like the psalmist had it down, from waking till sleep:

“My voice you shall hear in the morning” (Psalm 5:3).

“When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches” (Psalm 63:6).

I like to think of all these instructions as a metronome that establishes a rhythm of worship. Rather than an interruption, worship occasions are the pulse of a Spirit-filled life.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

What’s your backup plan?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Changbok Ko on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Exodus 32.

The room was filled with random conversations as students continued to shuffle into the lecture hall and find a seat. Most were looking at their phones, a few unfolded laptops, and others pulled lunch sandwiches from takeout boxes. Some were laughing. One had his hood-covered head down on the desk, eyes closed. Many scrolled through emails and social media.

After about ten minutes, when no professor or teaching assistant had arrived, each student packed up their stuff and left. No one was upset or concerned as they wandered off to do something else.

Not long into the exodus from Egypt, the question on everyone’s mind is, “Where’s Moses?” He went up the mountain to talk to God in the cloud, but “we don’t know what has become of him” (Exodus 32:1). The people quickly assume, “I guess we’re going to need some new gods.” Everyone pitches in some jewelry, Aaron makes a calf of gold, similar to a Canaanite god, and they create their own religious ritual and festivities.

It’s hard to believe the nation of Israel so quickly goes off the rails. But not if you ask yourself, “What’s my backup plan” when God takes too long to answer prayer? Or when I lose confidence in his presence, provision, or protection? What cultural gods take his place?

Everyone’s got a golden calf of some kind. We all hedge our bets. Work harder. Get a second opinion. Eat comfort food. Go shopping. Ask for a prescription. Quit.

And that’s after about forty minutes. Moses was up on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

None of those things are necessarily bad. But why not, as Air1 Radio puts it, “Worship through it?”

After Aaron makes the golden calf, the people “got up early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings;” and the people “sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to engage in lewd behavior” (Exodus 32:6).

Why not enter his gates with thanksgiving, offer up a sacrifice of praise, and wait to see what God’s going to do next? Why not approach his throne of grace, where we find grace? Why not keep our eyes on Jesus?

Having a rough day? Bored? Stressed? Restless? Sounds like an opportunity for worship.

Posted in church, Devotions, Through the Bible Devotions, worship

Why does someone have to get hurt?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Tom Jur on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Genesis 4.

As soon as people began to worship God, worship began to separate people. Cain and Able both brought an offering to God in Genesis 4. But their style of worship was different. Cain brought produce from the farm; Abel brought something from his flock. Because God had regard for Abel’s offering but not for Cain’s, there is post-worship anger, gloom, assault, and murder (Genesis 4:8).

Not much has changed. Worship styles vary from church to church. There is gloom, despair, and agony when some congregations grow and others shrink. Worshipers openly criticize, discredit, and attack each other. And along the way, someone usually gets hurt. That’s what happens when “people [begin] to call upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26).

Jesus himself got caught up in a worship system that had plenty of room for laws, sacrifices, rituals, and priests, but little room for God. He was the one who ended up getting hurt and ultimately killed.

But that changes everything. The Lamb who was slain is on the throne in Revelation where everyone is on the same page, giving him “blessing, honor, and glory” (Rev. 5:13).

I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned here. Rather than focusing on what someone else is doing for worship, put the blinders on and let the Lord be in the spotlight. Listen to his word, receive his gifts of grace, and respond as someone who has been abundantly loved by loving others.

Posted in Life, worship

Extravagance: Jesus anointed in Bethany

Posted on by William Douthwaite

In the men’s bible class I attended last night, we worked through Mark 14 and in to part of chapter 15. I know, that’s way too much ground to cover in a night, so we couldn’t spend too much time on any one scene of Mark’s account of the passion of Christ.

We did spend a few minutes discussing the woman who anointed Jesus’ head with expensive perfume (Mark 14:3-9). This scene appears in all the gospels but with enough variation to say that Jesus was anointed three different times. Matthew’s account is almost the same as Mark’s. In Luke’s account (Luke 7:36-50), the woman pours perfume on Jesus’s feet and Jesus includes a parable about love and forgiveness. In John’s gospel (John 12:1-8), Jesus is at Lazarus’s house, the woman who pours the perfume on Jesus’s feet is Lazarus’s sister Mary.

Whether or not we harmonize the accounts, the reactions are the same. Jesus loves it and calls it a beautiful expression of faith. The disciples think it’s a waste of a precious resource. For us, it begs the question, “What place, if any, does extravagance have in our worship?”

The heading for these verses is “Jesus anointed…” This moment is not just a random act of kindness but a proclamation of who Jesus is. The label Messiah means “anointed one.” Who is anointed in the Old Testament? Kings, priests, and prophets. This jar of fragrant perfume is properly applied to Jesus, the king of kings, our great high priest, and the Word made flesh.

Jesus is also the promised anointed servant of God (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18). This servant comes to suffer for his people, to die, and then be raised on the third day. The aroma filling the room proclaims that truth.

We Christians use a variety of labels to describe ourselves: followers, disciples, ambassadors, witnesses. No matter which one you choose, you know that it will cost you something. The time and resources we spend in worship, prayer, devotion, witness, and service is worth it, right?

But what if it becomes extravagant?

  • Jesus made a point of making sure his disciples noticed the woman who only put two small coins in the offering gave more than everyone else. She gave everything she had. Isn’t that extravagant?
  • A widow in Zarephath used everything she had, a handful of flour and a bit of oil, to make one last small cake for the prophet, herself, and her son. In that time of severe famine, isn’t that extravagant?
  • When a man assured Jesus he had kept every commandment necessary for life, Jesus told him to sell everything he had, give to the poor, and follow him. Isn’t that extravagant?
  • When the ark of the covenant returned to Israel, David danced with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14). He held nothing back that day, much to the dismay of his wife.
  • And if Jesus empties himself of his divinity, takes the form of a servant, and goes to the cross, couldn’t you say that he spent everything, his very life, on us? I would call that extravagant.

When Jesus’s disciples objected to the woman’s, it was because it could have been sold and the proceeds used to feed the poor. That’s a good point, but that’s not what the disciples did with their money. They had some money before Jesus fed the five thousand. They had a money bag that Judas stole from. They didn’t give it all away to help the poor or anyone else. Nice try, guys.

When you think about it, a lot of money has been spent feeding the hungry. And yet there are still hungry people. A lot of resources have been poured into the homeless, and there are still homeless. We’ve invested a lot of money into church buildings, and there are more unbelievers than ever. The economics of God’s kingdom aren’t simple, are they?

So I’m not going to pretend to have this all figured out. It’s one of those things we all have to figure out along the way. Extravagance looks a little different for each person, on any given day, in any number of circumstances. Plus, whatever looks extravagant to us is minuscule compared to what God gives.

Extravagance that feeds our own passions makes it hard to follow God. No one can serve two masters. Extravagance that expresses faith and love preaches a powerful message about Jesus. Extravagance can make us feel guilty, lull us into complacency, or tempt us to feel self-sufficient. It can also be worship, witness, and sacrificial love.

In a sense, the notion of extravagance goes away if your eyes are on Jesus. Whatever you do in word or deed won’t be too much or too little, but an expression of gratitude for his inexpressible (and extravagant) love for us.

Posted in Life

Learning how to worship…again

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by MART PRODUCTION on pexels

“I had to learn how to worship again.”

Those were the words of a retired pastor friend of mine who began attending our church after about fifty years of ministry. I appreciate his candor, but I really didn’t understand what he meant.

Until now.

Now I am retired from full time pastoral ministry, and for the first time in thirty-six years, my wife and I have had to pick a church to attend. We did not move after my retirement. We have a lot of family in the area, plus we already live in a place where many retire to (Florida). My denomination asked that we not attend the church I retired from, to let the next pastor and congregation get used to each other.

So for the first time in forever, we got to pick where we worshiped on Sunday morning.

Here is the challenging part of this whole experience. I have found it hard to not critique the preacher, music, facility, and experience in the places where we have gone to worship. I have always wanted God to be the focus of worship. But when I walk into a church, he’s the last person on my mind.

Were the people friendly? Was the preacher engaging? Was the sermon biblical and applicable? Was the music well done? Did I know the songs so I could sing along? What would people say if they knew I worshiped at this church? What did this church believe, teach, and confess?

I had so many questions. And you’ll notice, none of them had anything to do with the one I was there to worship.

Did I encounter the one true God? Was my mind renewed? Did I offer up a sacrifice of praise? Was I assured of God’s grace? Did Christ’s love compel me to love, serve, and witness to others people? How was I encouraged? How was I challenged?

When I was the preacher, I was occupied with the logistics, the message, and connecting with those who came to worship. Now, as the worshiper, none of those things were on my plate. Now my job was to listen, confess, repent, and live a new life.

In hindsight, I now realize that I should have taken more time off to be a worshiper in the congregation. I should have taken time to remember what it was like to listen, to question, to take God’s word to heart, and set out to live a new life. I believe a sabbatical would have been an asset to my ministry.

So I am learning how to worship again. I am forgetting what is behind – a career of pastoral ministry – and pressing on into retirement as a listener, a worshiper, and a member.

Posted in Moments of grace

We went back to church today.

Posted on by William Douthwaite

It felt familiar. It felt strange. It felt like home. It felt uncomfortable. It felt warm. It felt cold. It was a morning filled with contrasting sensations.

After seven weeks of “sheltering-in-place” virtual worship, we opened the doors of our church last Sunday morning. For an hour, the distance between members of the congregation shrank from miles to six feet. A thoughtful set of precautions reminded us of the pandemic. Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs reminded us of God’s powerful healing grace.

My mind vividly recalls these sounds and images of our first week back together:

  • For many, getting ready for church includes putting on a mask. Wearing gloves to church? The resurrection of an old tradition! Ushers and elders wore them for certain tasks. I wore them to distribute communion.
  • We did not pass the offering plates. Tithes and offerings were left at the door. Many were given electronically. Some were given by text.
  • We removed all the hymnals, bibles and visitor cards from the pews. Their absence made the church look even emptier. Until the worshipers began to gather…
  • …but the back rows were not filled! We sat on the aisles in every other pew, so many got to experience Sunday morning more “up close and personal” than ever before.
  • The little ones did not race to the chancel for a children’s sermon. I brought it back to them, to the place where they sat with their families.
  • The communion rail remained vacant. One person at a time came forward to stand at the altar and receive the sacrament.
  • My iPhone was perched on a tripod off to the side, live-streaming the service to many who were not yet ready to join us in person. Who knows how many actually worshiped with us on this day?
  • The sanctuary was filled with sound! It wasn’t just me speaking and singing and praying in an empty room. It was dozens of voices together, thanking and praising and praying. It was wonderful.
  • We had first time visitors in worship. The Spirit still gathers His people together.
  • Vigilant volunteers wiped down pews, door handles and chancel surfaces after everyone else left. (The filthy rags revealed we should have been doing this a long time ago.)

I can’t help but wonder if this is the new normal. Will we ever revert completely to how we gathered before? Will handshakes and hugs, kisses and high fives ever return to our assembly? Will we ever feel comfortable sharing books again? Or will we now always be hyper-conscious of the unseen germs all around us?

It’s only been one week. We’re learning as we go. I doubt we will soon forget how something so small can keep us apart. I just hope we never forget that someone so small – “to us a child is born” – can bring us together, too.