Aroma

A few weeks ago I was able to take part in a worship service that was intended to be a funeral for Christ. The room was almost completely dark, except a few candles, there was a cross in the center of the room, and places to sit around the cross. Upon entering the room you noticed a few things: it was dark, cold, and smelled of some kind of incense. The smell wasn't like the familiar smells of scented candles that smell like flowers, fruits, or freshly washed linens...this smell almost stung your throat every time you inhaled. The worship was somber, quiet, and simple: a few readings from Psalms, and a few dramatic readings by various characters of the last hours of Christ's life: Peter, Judas, Pilate, and others. After the readings were finished, the cross was carried out like a casket while a recording of Amazing Grace was played on the bagpipes...it really sent chills up my spine and down my arms. All sat in the darkness for a few moments of silence after the cross had been removed from the room.
After the worship was over, I noticed that my clothes smelled like the incense...we weren't in the room for very long, but it was long enough for the fumes to work into my clothing...I carried the scent with me.
Have you ever been to a restaurant and someone near you orders fajitas and the server brings it out sizzling, smoking, and smelling. You know when that happens that you're going to smell like fajita meat until you change your clothes...the smell stays with you. And anyone that smells you will have a pretty good idea of where you've been and what you've been doing.
There are numerous stories in the Old Testament of people making burnt offerings to God to help cleanse them from their sins. The smell of burning flesh is a smell like no other....it really does choke you. I can imagine that anyone that made a burnt offering in the temple smelled for the rest of the day...maybe even the next few days. And everyone they came near knew where they had been- in the presence of God.
So, how do you smell? Not literally...but can people tell when you've been to church on a Sunday afternoon/evening? Do you get angry with the server that's taking too long or gets your order wrong? Do you yell or honk at someone that cuts you off in the car? What about how you conduct yourself on Monday, Tuesday...and so on? Can people tell that you're a Christian by how you act? Sometimes, people cannot easily tell that we're Christians when we don't carry the Spirit with us when we leave. We are a people called to be different, called to love. Incense isn't used often in many of today's churches, so how can we make it clear where we've been and what we've been doing?
"Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other." 1 Thessalonians 4:9

In the Shadow

"Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." Psalm 63:7-8

       It's now officially spring. Not because the calendar says so, but because the flowers and trees say so. One of my favorite trees is the Flowering Dogwood (or Cornus florida.) I guess I like it because my parents like it. It is a beautiful flowering tree, but it has its limitations. It doesn't do well in places where it gets too much sunlight... so it tends to thrive in shady areas. You can find some dogwoods that can survive in open spaces, but these often lose the delicate, beautiful look that I enjoy about the trees. The Dogwoods here have just started blooming, and I'm enjoying seeing the flowering trees show their beauty. The kind of dogwoods I love to see in bloom have very few limbs, and are spread out like an old fashioned hand-fan. You'll often see Dogwoods grow like this when they're nearby a larger tree that provides shade from the sun.

    The Dogwood is not one of the larger trees, and it may not be able to stand on its own, but it is more beautiful than any tree I know of during the time it is in bloom. Other times of the year, it's easy to miss the Dogwood, as it's size is so small compared to the larger oaks, pines, hickory trees... While it's not the big beautiful shade tree, the dogwood may be one of the "smarter trees." It allows bigger trees to take on the majority of the hot sunlight during the summer, the ice and freezing precipitation during the winter, and the wind during storms. 

    As Christians, especially young Christians, we should strive to be like the Dogwood. Use God, and other Christians (especially older, mentor-type Christians), to be a refuge from the harshness of life. Life can be hard and confusing... when it is, it's nice to have something to help you through the struggles. I find a lot of comfort in the song "This is Our God" as performed by Chris Tomlin.

Don't spoil your dinner.

This is the second part of a series on preparing yourself for worship. Part 1, "Wash Up" was posted on March 10th.
Many of us have heard it over and over from our parents, teachers, or any other adult in our lives... "If you eat now, you're going to spoil your dinner." The phrase can be confusing to young people...it's not like your dinner is actually going to spoil because you snack before the official meal, it's just that you're going to fill up before dinner and not be able to eat the meal that hopefully has some nutritional value to it. So, we would pout...maybe even beg....or claim that, "I'll still be hungry." But more often than not, we're already full of some snack food that is merely filler and it gets in the way getting what we really need.
Sometimes we do this as we approach church or worship. We bring things into worship that keep us from getting what we really need. Maybe it's guilt from the things we've done wrong....maybe we're still mad at someone and "can't believe they call themselves a Christian..." or maybe we're just pouting about the way things are at church....we don't like it, it's not our style, or the more popular "I don't get anything out of it..."
Lots of things get in the way. But these all have one thing in common - us. We sometimes get so caught up in what we're feeling, that we forget to open ourselves up to what God might have in store for us. We've essentially filled up on feelings of guilt, irritation, hate....and there's no room for God to move us to feeling the way we should when we're in the presence of the Lord Almighty. Last week I talked about preparing for worship by getting in a worship-ful state of being before entering the worship place. This week, I challenge you to not "spoil your dinner" by bringing feelings into worship...be open to what God might have to say to you through those leading worship. If we ask God to do amazing things, we need to come expecting miracles. Go. Serve. And remember to Love always.