"Who asked you to bring me all this when you come to worship me? Who asked you to do all this tramping around in my Temple?" Isaiah 1:12 [Good News Translation]
Paul's final greeting to, and prayer for the Corinthian Church [2 Corinthians 13:14] has been dubbed 'The Grace' in today’s church lingua, and tweaked in certain climes to insert 'sweet' before 'fellowship of the Holy Spirit'.
Jesus instructed His disciples to wait in Jerusalem (not to disperse) till the Father sends His Promise [Luke 24:49, Acts 2:1], and the Writer to the Hebrews advised them not to neglect their meeting together [Hebrews 10:25]. The keyword is Fellowship. They were having sweet fellowship, as was their custom, on the day the Holy Spirit descended like tongues of fire upon their heads.
The fellowship of saints is meant to be delightful, enriching, and inspiring; so much so, the early Christians risked persecution to share such moments together [Acts 9:13-14]. They gave attention to Prayer and to the ministry of the Word. It was all about God for them; they spoke to Him and LISTENED as He spoke right back. Every other thing was secondary. [Acts 6:2-4].
Sadly now, more than we have sweet fellowship, we seem to have more tramping around His Temple; bustling about making sacrifices He neither requires nor approves [Isaiah 1:10-14]. There's definitely a lot of activity going on, but very little fellowship. Prayers are mostly loud dramatic incantations, praise sessions display raucous flesh-based ecstasies. Even the once sacred time of worship (the ‘slow-singing’ of heavenly music) is a conundrum of lyrical deception. We do not really mean what we sing, prophesy, pray, confess or teach. Our offerings are motivated by anticipations of harvest-time which must indeed follow seed-time; not ideally because we genuinely want to express our love and gratitude to our Maker and Saviour. 'Offering-time' equals 'Blessing-time', not for God (which is the true essence), but for us.
Are you truly in God’s presence or are you tramping around His House of Prayer? Are you a part of the din in the outer court? When will you finally approach the Holy Place? When will you embrace the nudge of the Divine, leaving behind the roller-coaster of discontentment and selfishness that marks our service agenda, where it's all about what God can do and should do and must do for you and not about what God requires of you to do for Him? From the Opening Prayer to the Benediction is a string of noisome activity - noisy prayers, noisy singing, noisy preaching. The wind, fire and earthquake are great but what about the still, small voice? [1Kings 19:11-13] What about the heart of worship?
How did we get here? Who demanded this approach to the Holy One? How did we switch from ‘Sweet Fellowship’ to Babel? In Nigerian parlance, “Who do us this thing?” Whose template are we following? Whose idea was it, to yell at God and yell at the people who come to worship? Who told us we had to dance in a crazy frenzy ‘like David danced’ (and maybe there is a time and place for that) in order to get God's attention? Who permitted us to baptize worldly tunes in holy water, in a desperate bid to convert and reuse them in church?
No one says you have to lose your excitement to serve God acceptably but where have you drawn the line? There used to be a clear thick line but it is getting thinner by the day. Are you experiencing sweet fellowship or are you raving praises and ranting prayers, even harboring unkind thoughts towards the people you ought to be sharing ‘The Grace’ with?
I know you brag about not being religious, but analyze this...you may just be a victim of absorbed habits and/or imposing tradition. You are either serving God or serving your ego [Matthew 6:19-24].
Remember Cain [Genesis 4:3-5], remember Martha [Luke 10:38-42], remember Cornelius [Acts 10]; they all thought they were worshipping the right way… but were wrong, even though they meant well.
Like Mary, may you choose the 'good part', the one thing that is needful - Him [Luke 10:41-42], and may you not settle for the noise, may you linger in sweet fellowship till you can decipher his gentle whisper. [Selah]
So help us God. Amen
Sista Mercie
Amen. 🙏🏽😞