In my hometown of Ankeny, a new band shell has been built to allow us to display our talents to each other. Garage bands will be playing there for our summer festival, the local theatre group will have some performances there and I've even heard that a local community band may be formed. Our town is too large not to have one, so I'm a bit surprised that this is just now coming up. I have a trombone in the closet where it's rested for a few years, but I may get it out and join the local band. But that's not what I'm getting at here.
We went to a movie there Friday night. It was a free show, and several hundred residents brought lawn chairs and blankets to see an Eddie Murphy flick, I think it was "Haunted Mansion" or something like that. We got there about 15 minutes into the showing and stayed a half hour until approaching storm clouds caused us to leave with a promise to come back and do this again. I understand movies will play there at no charge throughout the summer, so this should be a nice diversion for the family. It's also a nice change of pace for a community with teenagers and young adults that have nothing better to do than complain that there's nothing to do.
People came and went, keeping their voices down for the most part. Families sat together in their matching lawn chairs and laying on their picnic blankets, kids mostly in their pajamas. An outdoor event for families and the community as a whole is a great idea! But a weekly movie is not what I'm getting at here.
Iowa summers are hot and humid, so for many people, an outside event of any length is best done in the evening. People are drawn out to be with other people, often just to see what's going on. In this case, they came to see what it was like to watch a movie in the grass. What if they came out to see what a church service was like? Sunday morning may not be the best time for this, as the elderly may not want to bear the heat and the unsaved may not want to get out of bed for an outdoor service any more than they would for a more formal indoor one. But what about an evening service?
What if a church were to have a 5:00-6:00 p.m. service at the town square/ park/ band shell/ churchyard in their locale? Maybe not each week, but occasionally? The sound of the people singing a cappella or with a guitar would carry to the public much better than it would from the sanctuary. Neighbors may recognize others there, which is the whole point of this thought. If an unsaved neighbor were to visit your church for an outdoor visit on casual terms, with public rejoicing and a sermon that is evangelical in nature, would this not be a worthwhile thought? If they didn't visit, but could hear from their backyard over the hamburgers on the BBQ, wouldn't this be worth a bug bite or three?
We are called to be a light in the darkness, the salt of the earth. Shouldn't our worship, then, reflect that commandment? To someone seeking God, the imposing look of a church full of people they don't really know can delay the event of their first visit to "next week," but when they see people worshiping together in joy and with a real sense of family, they may be drawn to join, even a half hour into the service.
I'm not trying to describe revival tents here. Rather, this would be more of an open air event, meant to draw people to a church setting that is not as frightening to the curious as is the traditional setting. Am I off base here? Does any of this sound worthwhile? Am I missing something? Or am I, perhaps, on the right track for something that should be done a few times each summer?
Who is the most famous figure of the Old Testament? You have David, Noah, Moses, Abraham and many others. One notable figure is Elijah also. He was, perhaps, the greatest prophet of all time. We'll see why for the next few days. To start with, he trusted God. He was told to seek a widow and she would nourish him. To thank her, God caused her oil and flour to remain during the drought. This woman was ready to die, but God gave her a task to do and He looks out for His own! Later, her son died and Elijah's prayers caused God to return his life. Of course, nobody can do anything that causes God to do anything, but every miracle begins with a showing of true faith.
Elijah then proceeded to humiliate the priests of false gods with the burnt offering challenge. He even stacked the deck against the Lord by soaking his alter before asking God to burn the sacrifice. The fact that he killed so many prophets of Baal afterwards is secondary. His faith in God to light the sacrifice won the challenge. Of course, this did anger Jezebel and Elijah ran away to lay low for a bit. Of course, he wouldn't stay there as long as God had a plan for him.
God certainly had a plan for Ahab in that plains battle. That plan was to destroy the opposing army without mercy. Mercy was shown, though, and he was to take the punishment that God had in mind for Ben-Hadad. Ahab was also a man who allowed his wife to murder a man for his vineyard. I honestly don't understand the logic behind letting a man's son take the punishment for his deeds, but that was done.
The king of Israel did not like Micaiah, for he gave only bad news and prophesied disaster for him. However, he did remind the king that he could only repeat what God had told him. He even told the king that the other prophets had been mislead and the king would be killed after hiding in an inner room during the coming battle. Dude, don't kill the messenger!
This was a warning as well as a prophecy. I imagine that once the pieces were in motion, they couldn't be stopped without the king losing face, but it would be crazy to continue, knowing the result beforehand. Of course, Ahab shows us that God doesn't need our help to make things come to pass and there's nothing we could do to avoid his wishes, so I guess I'll lay off this idiot of a king.
This reading is all about transition, except for the miracles of Elijah and Elisha. Elijah was a prophet of God and as such, kings needed to tread lightly around them, for they were the spokesmen of God. What I'm getting at is that people wouldn't speak directly to God; the prophets were the voices of God to the people. So when the groups of fifty soldiers went to demand that Elijah come with them, they were bringing the fiery wrath upon themselves. Only by requesting humbly did Elijah follow them. Of course, the message remained the same, but at least he went.
The matter of Elisha telling the army how to provide water in the middle of the desert is another matter. The army was on the verge of being decimated before they could do battle, but beating impossible odds is God's specialty. If He can provide water for an army in the desert, he can sustain your needs as well.
Elijah left our world without dying. I believe he was the second man to do so. Let me see here... Yes! Enoch was the first. The story of his non-death is listed in day two of week one in our reading. At first, I thought Elisha was being a bit greedy by asking a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Looking back at it, though, it's not so bad. Miracles require faith. Elisha was then asking that his faith be stronger than Elijah's, which was pretty strong to begin with. Asking for a strong bond with God is not a bad thing at all.
And Elisha used this bond quite a bit! Saving a widow from losing her sons to pay a debt, giving an old woman a son, and then saving him from death, feeding a hundred men, he kept busy. Of course, Elisha didn't have the authority to do any of this, but his faith and God's mercy went very well together.
Naaman was an army commander for Aram, one of Israel's enemies. He went to Elisha and was cured of leprosy for no charge. The fact that one of Elisha's servants chased after him for payment shows that you don't always match the company you keep. It also shows that using God's works for purposes of greed are a great way to end up with problems of your own. Naaman did talk to Elisha about his duties for his master, including some that involved idolatry. I suppose that since he was honoring his master and not the idol, that was reason enough for Elisha to tell him to continue in good conscience.
Later in this reading, Elisha captures a company of Aram soldiers, always with God's intervention. The mercy of God is apparent here when the men are fed and returned. Many people think that the God of the Old Testament with the fire and brimstone can't be the same as the loving, forgiving God of the New Testament, but here's just one example that argues their theory.
This was certainly a bloody period of time for Israel and her enemies. We see here several deaths that were foretold before by Elijah and more unrest in Israel. The people had demanded a king, which gave them roughly 2 generations of calm, followed by chaos. God was to be the king of Israel from the start. If this had been done, they would have prospered by now and been a major world power, probably the preeminent power of all. The result of their request, though, gives us chaos. That's why I'm a firm believer in the "Thy will be done" line of the Lord's Prayer. That's the heart of the matter. Of course, when you add "On Earth as it is in Heaven" to that line, that means we are to do the Lord's will joyfully and without question. That's another day's topic, though.
Weekly LinkFrom the site: Mindswarfare began in June of 2001, at a senior retreat at Christian High School. Seniors Nathanael Breeden and Bryce Arii were talking and discovered that they shared a similar struggle. The preaching that night had driven both to conviction that they needed to get this particular sin out of their lives. They began to research ways to remove this sin, and it was then they discovered that it was very difficult to find a ministry to help with this struggle. Eventually, Bryce stumbled onto pureintimacy.org, and that began the healing process. They began talking more and more about ways to begin their own ministry to aid people in the healing process associated with pornography. Then it came to them: if someone would have educated them on this subject or allowed them to talk about their struggle, they may not have struggled for as long, leaving fewer scars to be healed. So Bryce began speaking at Christian High Schools to the seniors, encouraging them to take a stand as men of integrity. For two years he taught high school seniors, and held parent conferences. At age 18, when he began speaking, he had little knowledge of how to speak or what to speak about. After intense research, he began to have a better knowledge of how pornography affects our lives, bodies, relationships, and ultimately our most important relationship: with God. |
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