The Joy of Glory

Psalm 133
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

Reflection
Your feet hurt.

It seems like you’ve been walking forever. How much further could it possibly be? Sure, there is a feast at the end, but the trip itself seems longer than you remember.

Then… all around you… your relatives and neighbors began to sing. You have all been journeying together and now, as their voices begin to rise, you feel the call to join in the song and sing together as you go up to the holy city… to Jerusalem. And so, you sing…

“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”

Psalm 133 is a song of ascent. It’s one of many songs that would be sung as pilgrims traveled “up” or “ascended” to Jerusalem for one of their annual feasts. And, this particular song not only encourages travelers toward solidarity in their journey, but points to one of the essential purposes of their gathering.

These feasts unified the people! Unity is an amazing blessing in community! Like the oil poured on Aaron’s head so long ago when he was ordained as the first high priest of Israel. That oil symbolized the blessing of the Lord being poured out! Or, we might say it is like the due poured out upon the side of the great Mount Hermon… dew which brings and sustains life where it otherwise would not grow. The dew is a life-giving blessing!

This is what unity is to community! It is a life-giving blessing! It is good and pleasant when it is poured out upon a people… but it goes even further than that!

The oil poured upon Aaron’s head ran down his beard to his robes. The dew from Mount Hermon runs down to water the mountains of Zion… and unity in community overflows as a blessing to the watching world!

As the people of God gathered together in Jerusalem, united in their worship, their unity was to serve as a witness to the world of the one true God! They did not seek unity just for themselves, but for the blessing of all!

The communities of our world know very little of what true unity looks like… so when the people of God gather in unity, they become a light that shines bright into the darkness of the world.

As the church, we are united to one another in Christ… and oh how good and pleasant it is when we sacrifice ourselves for one another that we might dwell in unity as a cruciform community! Such unified love overflows and runs down to the world like the blood of Christ from the cross. The world gets a glimpse at what the love of Jesus looks like.

This is my prayer for us today… it was and is the prayer of Jesus himself for us his people… John 17:20-21, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, SO THAT the world may believe that you have sent me.”
 

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Psalm 82 (click here)
God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:1-4)

Reflection
A community lament… a communal cry to the Lord…

…that is what is at the heart of Psalm 82.

God has taken up his place in the midst of human rulers (“gods”) who are oppressing the people, being partial to the wicked, and neglecting the needy.  The Lord calls out to them for repentance and true justice. When the community sings this Psalm, their voices unite with the voice of God and they are reminded that the Lord is with them and for them… and that he is also gracious… even to unjust rulers.

Of course we can’t relate to this at all today. We have no corrupt leaders who seek their own gain at the expense of the people they are supposed to be serving. Our globe is now blessed with completely just and fair rulers.

Pardon my immense sarcasm.

The real question is does the church take up the communal cry of Psalm 82 on behalf of our world… or do we seek to align ourselves with those in power so that we might be beneficiaries of their partiality?

All too often, Christian community is tempted to ingratiate itself to corrupt powers instead of prophetically calling them out for their oppression. It’s true that it is costly to speak out against corruption… but sacrificing ourselves for the sake of those who cannot help themselves is exactly what it means to be a cruciform community.

Will we be silent as long as the “powers that be” are “for” us… or will we cry out as a community and bear witness to the heart of God no matter what it costs us? Will we be a cruciform community?

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Psalm 78:1-8 (click here)
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done. (Psalm 78:1-4)

Reflection
Every community has a narrative.

Our country, our state, our city, our neighborhood… they all have a narrative… a story that explains what has happened in the past to lead up to the present, and that likely foreshadows where the community will head in the future.

And communities innately understand that part of their responsibility is to teach this narrative to the next generation. I’ve began learning American history the moment I set foot in a public-school classroom. Growing up in Georgia, we had an entire segment of our social studies dedicated to Georgia history. On and on the retelling of history goes.

We all understand ourselves as part of a larger story.

Why?

Perhaps it is because we were created as part of a larger story… a grand narrative written by the creator himself. Perhaps we are a part of God’s story.

This is precisely what Scripture unfolds… the grand story of God through creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. And we are a part of this story! Apart from this story, we cannot understand the world, our current place in history, or where we are headed! If we lose this story, we will lose ourselves and the very meaning of our lives.

This is why the Psalmist calls for the story of God’s glorious deeds to be told to the coming generation! They must not forget who there God is, what he has done, and what he will do! The coming generation must not forget who they are and what their purpose is as a part of God’s people!

This is why we, the church, gather week after week to re-hear and rehearse the story of God’s great Gospel! It is this story that shapes how we view God, the world, ourselves, and the goal of all things!

Will we, as a community, tell this story to the coming generation? Are you being a part of God’s story by sharing it as it was shared with you? Part of belonging to a cruciform community is sharing the story that makes us cruciform with the coming generation. Who can you share the Gospel with today? What younger Christian can you come alongside and help them to be shaped by the story of God’s glory in the Gospel?

“…tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done…”

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.