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So much going on this week!! I have 3 main things to cover in my opener today. First of all, something I didn't quite realize last week, my blog has been online for a year now!! Officially, it was February 4th, so Happy Belated Birthday to Inspirations by Iris!! May God continue to bless and grow my outreach! Secondly, Happy Valentine's Day to friends, family, and followers near and far. I don't know all of you, but I've gotten notifications from places as far away as China, a bit closer in Ireland, as well as here in the US, so thank you all. Please continue following and as always, pm me about cards, bookmarks, or jewelry. Finally, to the personal life stuff. Generally quieter overall. My neighbor across the hall seems to be getting more help coming in, so that works for me. I mean, I understand that she needs a lot of help, and increasingly so of late; it's just hard when there's only me and one other neighbor that she was basically always asking it from. Rob and I are still seeking balance in friendship. It was his birthday on the 8th, and I had him over for dinner, along with my parents. Prayers appreciated as he continues the process of emotional healing. Some may wonder about my own healing, but it's just different for me. I mean, obviously, the future isn't going to look the same as I was somewhat thinking for a while; but sometimes life is just trial and error. If you eventually realize something just isn't going to work for the long run, you make adjustments. It's just that simple for me...
A couple of thoughts occurred to me when deciding on my message intro today. One directly from Pastor Matt's Sermon, and the other from my own musings since I got home from Church earlier. I'll start with his.
How many of you remember the 1989 (wow!!) movie, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!!"?? And of course, the sequel, "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves!!".* We'll see in the body of the message how these relate. My own thought was toward the relatability of having shrunk a sweater or other sensitive item in the wash. Either way, we'll all see how the concept of shrinking applies here. (Incredible Shrinking Woman just came to mind as I type this) LOL
So we're looking at The Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase for those of you who may just be joining us this week. Today's phrase is, "Holy is your Name". Of course, if you've grown up in Church(es) like I did, you're probably more used to hearing, "hallowed be Thy Name". But sometimes people like updated language better*. Let's review our passage and dig in --
Matthew 6:9-13
New International Version
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation,[a] but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’ *
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To begin today's message, Pastor Matt shared briefly about an elderly member of our Church who is homebound. She's a real "prayer warrior" by nature, and in conversation when Matt was visiting she said, "I'm sure if I could get out, I'd be really busy!!" Matt replied assuredly and she continued with a statement amazingly full of gratitude in her mid 90's, feeble, and nearly blind condition -- "God just loves me so much that he gave me more time to spend in prayer." :) In her view, she "gets to" pray more!! How different would our lives be if we all shared that idea!?
The fact is for most of us is that life is busy. It can be hard to just take a few minutes to pray each day. Even if you do it before going to sleep at night, your mind can easily be distracted by thoughts of the day just passed or plans for the following day, health concerns, relationships, etc... We all know how it is. The problem here, and this is where the intro comes in, all of this "busyness" shrinks our view of God. This is where Pastor Matt made reference to the movie and proceeded to say, "Honey, I Shrunk the Diety!" Yeah, it's a funny analogy, but the truth of it is sad. I pray that through this series, we would find ways to shrink ourselves, and grow with God.
"Holy is Your Name" -- as we read these words and think about them, and ultimately pray them, or even have an awareness of their truth; God grows in our view. The idea recalibrates our thoughts. Not just away from the World and it's problems or our own daily "stuff", but it takes God out of the box we sometimes put Him in. How many of us have a tendency or have had it in the past*, to say something like, "My God would never..."?? We pattern God after ourselves and our opinions rather than on the truth of Who He is.
In order to gain a deeper perspective on this phrase, we actually have a second passage to focus on today. Turn with me to Isaiah 6 --
Isaiah 6:1-7
New International Version
Isaiah’s Commission 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
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The major theme of this passage aside from Isaiah's commission, is the beautiful image of God's glory and holiness it gives us. And the fact that Isaiah noted it by placing it in time according to the tradition of those days, and citing the death of the king tells us that it's true and not just a vision someone thought up because it sounded cool.
Holiness has several definitions. A few of them are "exalted", "pure", "without any fault"*, and "worthy of praise". God is Holy by nature. It isn't because Isaiah said it, or a Pastor says it, or because any one of us gives Him "permission". Therefore, it isn't something that can be removed or changed. Nothing can defile it.
There are 2 contrasts brought out in this passage --
A King's power vs God's power -- Kings were the "all-powerful" rulers of their realms. No one generally disputed this unless they thought they were the rightful heir or someone invading to take over the region. To their loyal subjects, they were the leaders and protectors. They were in charge. This is human power in action. Most places have a more equitable government these days where Presidents are elected rather than born into leadership, but the quest for power remains the same. Conversely, God's power is ultimately indisputable and unrivaled. God literally created everything, and that automatically puts Him in charge of it*. He is Eternal and therefore, cannot die. The passage is placed in history by the death of King Uzziah, but there will never be anything dated according to the death of God. It's inherently impossible!! The fact of God's power outshines all arguments, that's the bottom line here.
Human weakness vs God's perfection -- Isaiah is given this amazing vision of Heaven and responds in humble unworthiness. God's beauty, righteousness, and perfection are so evident that Isaiah becomes aware of his own human failings as well as those of humanity at large.
In verse one, we are given the image of God's robe filling the Temple. There are several places in The Bible where we are shown that the Temple was the place where Heaven and Earth meet. The design God gave Moses for the Temple can be compared to that of Creation*. The passage reveals further down that, "the whole Earth was filled with His Glory". It was uncontainable in one small area!! The Creation Story tells us that God spent 6 days creating and the 7th day, He what?? Went on vacation??* No, He rested. To put it more plainly, He "settled in". Think about what happens when you move into a new place. You put stuff in place, you organize, and then you rest, right?? You settle into the new environment. This is what God did. This is why His Glory was seen as covering all the Earth!! That being said, the true or ultimate display of glory lies in His renewal of all things through Jesus. But His presence remains.
Verses 5-7 show Isaiah's response and the angel's activity following. Isaiah is completely "blown away" by the vision God has given him!! "Woe is me!!" He says. My unclean lips* are not worthy to praise You. No human lips are worthy!! We are all too busy idolizing things that are not of You rather than focusing our praise and reserving it for You. (my paraphrase)
And we all do that, don't we?? We praise money, status, relationships*, even anger because it makes us feel powerful. Ultimately, these things weigh us down. We are held captive by them.
But then we see what the angel does. It goes to the Altar, takes a burning coal off with tongs, and touches it to Isaiah's lips in the vision!! In this action, and the words that accompany it, we see God's healing and redemption at work. His purification of Isaiah to holiness in Him as Isaiah is sent out to prophesy on God's behalf. This is Who God is. It is what He does. His entire mission is that of restoring us all, and eventually the Earth itself, back to Him.
As I mentioned above, even just the awareness of God's holiness is enough to reorient our hearts and minds toward Him. The greatest revelation of God is not an angel with tongs and a coal, but the ultimate sacrificing of Jesus to touch all of humanity with the "burning coal" of holiness, purification, and redemption by His death and resurrection. As we worship and pray, God grows and the World shrinks in our views. He is near and present as we pray, and His train fills our Temple.
May we all strive to pray more often and more effectively so that, like Isaiah, we can fill God's purpose of sharing His Word to the World and say, "Here am I, send me."
-- God Bless!!
Footnotes --
The second movie is my addition, as it relates to the other side of the equation.
The idea of "updated language" is difficult for some. To me, as long as the full, contextual meaning is retained, it's all good. Different times, different learning styles, different translations or updates. Also new information as research is improved... Just don't deny the Deity of Jesus or edit to fit a new agenda. (I can't even tell you how many times the latter has happened!!) (Does anyone out there know??)
I know, the end of the prayer is missing. It wasn't always there to begin with...
I have had the urge in the past to say, "My God would never...". I don't do that anymore, as my perspectives have changed over time.
"Without any fault" -- How does that change your perspective on God?? Do you blame Him for things going wrong in your life?? This definition would beg to differ with you, as would any number of Bible verses I could list. God gave us Free Will because without it, our love for Him would be coerced and therefore, not genuine. Nothing bad is God's fault, it's not even the Devil's fault. All the Devil does is present temptation because God allows it. We are the one's who make our choices. Sickness, disease or accidents are not His fault either, but if we believe, we can bring glory to Him through the troubles. We can even be healed if our faith is strong!! (I don't have room here to list healing verses, but you can look them up and meditate on them) That being said, I officially agree with you in prayer!!
God created everything -- Granted, there are always those who believe in Evolution, but they'll find out later how wrong they were. I like the Creationist analogy that says, "Believing in Evolution is equal to believing that there was an explosion at Joe's Print Shop and it resulted in a perfect book." LOL (I know that there is research that indicates a Big Bang, but even if that's true, God still controlled the results into our perfectly-spaced universe)
Temple compared with Creation. I've mentioned this before, but you can Google it yourself. (one of these days, I may get around to hyper-links) ;p
The idea that God "went on vacation" is how the Deists viewed it, but all valid evidence is to the contrary.
"Unclean lips" -- my following paraphrase accurately describes this phrase. It's not about swearing as some would like to think. It's really about the human idolatry of "life" vs God. Speaking of swearing, it's actually proven that people who engage in a bit of "foul language" on occasion are more honest and trustworthy. I mean, seriously, if you hit your thumb with a hammer, you can hardly be expected to say, "Praise God", now can you?? lol Again, it's not so much about our behaviors as it is about our hearts. Remember, "Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart." 1 Sam. 16:7.
Idolizing relationships -- I've done this too often in my life. Continued wisdom is needed...
I was going to say something about the Altar being made of coal, but a brief search indicates that it was just the incense from the altar in the vision. The purification was real although the experience was not physical.
Music -- long list today, but never do the rights belong to me -- parts of the first song remind me of a song my Christian School Principal wrote back in the late 70's. :)
Those songs above were part of worship this morning, the following are from a Special Guest artist we had at one of my former Churches. There's also a "regular" older worship song in here. They just all fit the theme so well, I felt compelled to include them --
And another from the Special Guest -- this one is for Valentine's Day...
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