Real Presence (Or, Haunted)

"I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice...." Ps. 116:1a

"...ye have known God, or rather are know of God...." Gal. 4:9a

We do not worship God because He is a spirit. There is nothing praise-worthy about being a spirit: the Devil is a spirit. Nor do we worship Him because He is powerful, for mere power is grounds only for fear rather than worship. Nor even do we worship Him because of His goodness, for mere goodness is static goodness, and inconsequential to us and anything else. The reason that we worship God, praising Him in word and song and deed, the reason that we have given our hearts to Him alone, is because He is not inconsequential; "He hath heard" our voice.
All the goods of men are but silent stone and dumb wood, made from men's hands, mindless mirrors of their own emptiness (Ps. 115:2-8). Any spiritual peace available to us must be sought out by our own effort: we work and we search and we struggle; we grope about in the dark, uncertain if what we have grasped hold of is in fact what we have been looking for. We are, in such scenarioes, indeed the blind men with the elephant: destined and doomed to never know.
The Christian, however, is in love with and enraptured by God already, because this God has come to them: He dwelt with them once (John 1:14) and dwells with them still (I Cor. 6:19; II Cor. 6:16). Christianity is not another religion of maxims and moral living; it is a religion of presence, the presence of the living God who is there. Even our holy book (whereas others are mere codes of conduct) is full of the same presence (God-breather: II Tim. 3:16; God's dynamic life: Heb. 4:12). True Christians are different from every other religionists and spiritualists, every other holy man and guru, because they are (in a word) haunted, continually in the presence of another, i.e., the God who goes with them; with them (see Josh.1:9)! That is the great difference-maker, the great deal-breaker. Leave all the other religions of man to their fumbling about in the dark; give us instead the Light that walks amongst us, with us, and in us.

-Jon Vowell

The Loss of the Sacred: Holy Places, Dark Places

"And Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.' And he was afraid, and said, 'How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.'" Gen. 28:16-17

For the Hebrews, "house of God" was not a mere term; it was a truth about reality. It was no mere sign divorced from concept; it was the concrete declaration of a meta-physical actuality. For them, the "house of God" (the tabernacle/temple) was the intersection of Heaven and earth. There, the presence of God literally dwelt in the Holy of holies, meeting every year with the High Priest to atone for the sins of the people. It was a sacred place, and thus still dreadful and awesome.
Now, however, the house of God is merely a building for social gatherings, buildings that litter our countryside with all the frequency (and presence) of fast food joints or coffee shops, or any other trapping of American consumerism. Going to church is like going to a rally (or the mall, or a concert, or a press conference, or work), and picking a church is like picking shoes: whatever fits me best. The dread, the mystery, the wonder, the sacred, is gone. We go to church to meet and make friends (or a spouse), increase in head knowledge, receive encouragement, maintain our social status; anything except to meet with God, a thought that probably never even crosses our minds. A "den of thieves" indeed (Matt. 21:13).
In the old days of Christendom, churches were not littered everywhere, and thus they were still considered special and sacred things. Worship was a set and established affair, the same in almost every church, because its purpose was to praise God and prepare you to meet with Him, not to please your emotional needs and aesthetic preferences. The Eucharist was (and is) about meeting with God, face to face, and (from a Roman Catholic view) in the flesh. Views on salvic purposes aside, the common idea was that the whole of believers, by the right of the atonement, could now step into the Holy of holies and stand in the presence of God. Think of that! Even the Hebrews did not have such a privilege, but now we do by the blood of Christ. Yet now even the "Lord's Supper" is reduced to a mere event, one of many, of the social gathering. Who knows what varied reasons we have for partaking of the bread and wine; I doubt they have anything to do with stepping before the presence of the Living and Holy God Almighty.
It used to be that holy places were "dark places" (as Mr. Lewis put it), places of mystery and wonder, of holiness and dread, where God met with man face to face as friend does to friend. Now it is not so: we have thrown open the windows and aired out the rooms, cleaned up the blood and put out the fires, and have consequently suffered a loss of the sacred. We sing songs to our emotional gratification, eat the crackers and grape juice without flinching, have sorry feelings for our sins, and head back into the light of day as though we had done no more than taken a trip to the grocers rather than having just left alive, by the blood of Christ alone, the dreadful place, the gate of heaven, the house of God.

Lord, have mercy on us.

-Jon Vowell

Alone Amongst Other gods

"...the people which are to come shall praise the Lord; for He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from Heaven did the Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner [and] to loose those that are appointed to death...." Ps. 102:18b-20

Christianity does not worship God because He is a supernatural being, viz., a spirit. As Mr. Lewis put it, there's nothing special about being a spirit; the Devil is a spirit after all. So God is not worshipped simply because He is a spirit.
Neither is He worshipped (or found worthy of worship) because He is powerful, even more so than all the other gods of men. Power per se is nothing; it is the action that stems from the power that matters. A powerful God is not as important as whether or not He is good.
God, however, isn't even worshipped for His goodness. Like power, goodness per se is meaningless without action. Goodness that is static and still is useless; admirable and noble, perhaps, but still useless.
The God of Christianity is worshipped because of incarnation, i.e., His power and goodness, and all that he is (i.e., His holiness), has lead to practical, benevolent consequences in the woop and warf of space and time. Along amongst other gods, the God of the Christian is Immanuel--God with us. Not created by us, projected by us, realized by us or in us; not anything by us. He is "God with us." Our God has come down to us and has brought salvation with Him (Is. 59:15-16), for salvation is the goal of incarnation (I John 3:8b). We had fallen into a deep and miry pit, but He did not leave us there. He reached down to us; or rather, He jumped down to us and lifted us up. He came to us and saved us; and for that we worship Him.
Of course, God can be worshipped for His power and goodness and other things for what they are. However, the foundation of all worship towards God begins and ends with Jesus Christ, who is the demonstration and revelation of God and His holy character. Without Christ, God's goodness and power (and other things) is meaningless to us, without purpose or plan. God without Christ is just another deity; more powerful and benevolent than most, but still just one more in the mix. Christ, however, reveals the reality of the God who is there, a God beyond the invention and intention of man, a God actually "mindful" of man (Ps. 8:4), a God that comes and saves man. Only such a God is worthy of worship and obedience.

-Jon Vowell

Worship as Obedience

"O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.... Harden not your heart...as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tried me, proved me, and saw my work." Ps. 95:6-9

Worship is most certainly about music and singing (vs. 1-2), but it is also about obedience as well (vs. 7b-11). We called to not only "worship" but also to "bow down," to show forth praises and give submission. In truth, they are a package deal: praise without obedience is hypocrisy, while obedience without praise is dead formalism and legalism. Praise and obedience are like "spirit" and "truth": both are necessary for proper worship (John 4:24).
If God is "our maker" (vs. 6) and "our God" (vs. 7), and we are His "people" and "sheep" (vs. 7), then worshipping Him for who He is and what He does is not only a matter of praise (for His goodness and greatness) but also obedience (for His leadership and headship). The people of the wilderness wanderings are the prime example of this (vs. 8-11): somehow they managed to give praises at the tabernacle and refuse to enter the promised land (and stay out of it) when they were told to.
God does not need a legion of yes-men and cheerleaders anymore than He needs dour-faced servants catering to His every whim. What He calls for are a people who delight in Him so much that they not only willfully and gladly offer up praises but also themselves.

-Jon Vowell

The Proper and Necessary Desire

"Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth. Unite my heart to fear Thy name." Ps. 86:11

Herein lies two things that are proper and necessary for us to desire: the truth of God and the fear of God, i.e., the realities that God reveals and the reverence towards God for who He is. It is for these two things the psalmist request, and it is these two things that are sorely lacking today.
"A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself" (Pro. 18:2). We care very little for the truth that only God can reveal. The only truth that we desire is the "truth" that we invent for ourselves so that we can shape our identity and world as we see fit. If a certain truth is inconvenient, it can be dropped. Reality is unnecessary, and even lies can become "truth" if they make us feel better about ourselves and confirm our congenial preferences. In short, we would much rather shape our subjectivity by our subjectivity rather than the objectivity of God.
"An oracle in my heart says, 'The Transgression of the wicked is that there is no fear of God before their eyes'" (Ps. 36:1, Rev. marg.). We reverence God very little, but reverence ourselves very much, especially our preferences for God. Like truth, we would much rather shape God by our own subjectivity rather than accept the objective reality of Himself that he has revealed to us. Thus, today's modern "worship" is little more than idolatry, a ceremony of self-worship.
Herein, therefore, is the proper and necessary desire: to desire, not the God we want, but rather the God who is.

-Jon Vowell

The Fundamentality of Grace

"Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him, and all nations shall serve Him; for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth. The poor also, and he that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight." Ps. 72:11-14

That which will cause every knee to bow in the end will be the understanding and acknowledgment of God's goodness and grace. Christ's humiliation was and is the grounds for His exaltation (Phil. 2:8-9), and that humiliation was to become a man and die on the Cross. We do not draw men unto God by lifting up clever arguments and sound speeches. Those things are useful, but they are not the needful thing (I. Cor. 2:1-5). The needful thing is the elevation of Christ as the demonstration of God's love towards us (John 12:32 & Rom. 5:8).
Any old god can garner worship out of fear and terror, and our God is a God of wrath and judgment. It is grace, however, that serves as the grounds for worship, His goodness as the foundation of praise. Of course, His grace and goodness is complex; from our limited and fallen perspective, His love towards us can often look like hate. We will see the goodness of it all in the end, however; we will see the hidden workings of grace, and we will know that in all things the Divine was and is not indifferent towards us and has directly involved Himself in our salvation; and with all the nations of men left on the earth, we will cry, "Holy, holy, holy."

-Jon Vowell

The Object of Worship

"Will I [i.e., God] eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the most High; and call unto Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. [...] Whose offereth praise glorifieth me...." Ps. 50:13-15, 23

Worship is to be centered around the actions and character of God and not our own actions and character. This is elementary, but the present state of worship makes such truth sound positively foreign. Modern worship is a self-centered affair, centered around our tastes, our feelings, our performance. Worship has become a kind-of self-actualization or self-aggrandizement, with "God" being a mere empty connotation word that serves to make us feel good about ourselves. God says that true worship is a glorifying of Him as a response to who He is and what He has done (and will do). It is not the great and fancy sacrifice(s) brought to the temple that mattered (vs. 8-12); what mattered was a spirit that recognized and focused on God and God alone. That fact has not changed, and any "worship" that takes your eyes off of God is idolatry, no matter how pious it presents itself.
In older churches (e.g., Medieval churches), the choir loft was often hidden from view so that you could not see the singers. Today, however, it is assumed that the singer (or performer, or whatever) is to be center stage, complete with a state-of-the-art sound system and lighting show. The spatial location of choir lofts is not the issue here. What is the issue is the apparent difference in spirit between these two methods: the former removes all distracts that it possibly can, while the former seems content with piling them on. How often we make worship about us! We raise our subjectivity above God's objectivity, making our subjectivity the central aspect, and thus make our praise idolatrous self-worship. Our subjectivity must be bound to His objectivity, not vice versa; let our glorying be in response to God and God alone, who He is and the great works He has done.

-Jon Vowell

The Objectivity of Worship

"God is the king of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding." Ps. 47:7

"...they that worship [God] must worship Him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24

Worship is for the whole man, not just a part of him. It is no mere emotional experience any more than it is a mere intellectual exercise, though it seems that the intellectual side of things needs to be re-stressed today. We treat worship like a wholly subjective experience, which it is not. It is subjective, in that it is highly personal; but it is also equally objective, in that it is directed towards a definite object with definite realities. Our subjective praise of God must be bound to the objective truths of God that He has revealed to us. Binding your subjective experiences to objective realities is an essential paradox for many things, and worship is one of them.
We have very few who "praise with understanding" these days. Most worship is bound to utter subjectivity, which can cause one to wonder who it is exactly that everyone is worshipping. In order to avoid deceptive self-worship (which most modern worship is) or "God" becoming an empty connotative word with no definite substance, our spirits must be bound to the truth. We must not forget the individual man (for then or worship becomes mechanistic), but we must also not forget the God who is (for then our worship becomes a lie). Only when we account for both can we worship subjectively and objectively; only then can we have "praises with understanding."

-Jon Vowell

True Worship

"If thou turn away...from doing thy pleasure on my holy day...and shalt honor me, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord..." Isaiah 58:13, 14

Israel thought that they were practitioners of true worship (vs. 1-3), but God revealed it as merely self-worship (vs. 4, 5). True worship is a complete loss (or "denial") of self for the sake of another (vs. 6, 7). Only in when worship means that you are blissfully unaware of yourself, only in that is God pleased (vs. 8-14). All worship (whether they be of joy or sorrow) that has as its centerpiece the self is idolatry, and an abomination to the Lord.

Much of the noise that passes for 'worship' these days is this idolatry, mere self-exaltation. Whether it be obnoxious self-display or obnoxious self-depreciation, it is all self, and is thus idolatrous. In the constant debate (some would say war) over worship these days, we have heard such dumb-founded polemics as: "It's what I like." "It's my worship; I'll do it my way." "I want music that speaks to me." "It's not my thing, but whatever floats your boat." Not one person who has ever argued thusly has ever stopped to consider that all of their reasoning ultimately comes back to a centering on the self: what I want. Worship is never about the worshipper; it is about the one who is worshipped. Worship is to take us out of ourselves, out of our petty problems, preferences, and contexts, and get our minds solely and squarely focused on God and God alone. Any 'worship' that does not do that is merely idolatry in disguise.

"That singer was so good!" "The performance was awesome!" "I felt truly inspired!" "The music was what really captured me!" What chance has God through all of that? Exactly who or whom are we worshipping when we talk thus? While it is true that personalities, temperaments, and tastes will indeed vary amongst individual worshippers, it is equally true that the foundation of worship is a denial of self for the sake of adoring God, and that does not change no matter what "floats your boat."

"True worship,

True religion,

True life,

Is not in me,

It's in You..."

-Jon Vowell

In Defense of Liturgy

This is probably the best defense of liturgical worship I have ever heard (so far). It almost persuades me to become a Presbyterian. Almost.

Ever New

"Sing unto the Lord a new song..." Isaiah 42:10a

It is interesting that it is always a "new" song that we are asked to sing. How many possible songs are there to sing to God? Apparently, they can be new every morning.
It is wondrous to consider that there never really is a dull moment with God. True, there are moments of silence and stillness, full of the drudgery of this monotonous world. Even more true, however, is that the child of God is so penetrated by the joy of the Lord, so saturated by His Spirit in every inch of their being, that the darkness shines as the noon-day, and everything (even the drudgery) is still, so to speak, magical. No thunderclouds, no lightning, no shining crowns of glory; perhaps just a fried penny on the sidewalk, or a smile from a stranger, or a random act of kindness (or thoughtfulness) to you or from you. Anywhere, everywhere, everyday, in every way, there is always something new to sing about, always some facet of God's presence bursting through the very seams of this world, some part of His character coming through our circumstances that deserves a song, and a new one to boot.
Do not misunderstand. Let us not get hung up on the "good" things, however (most Christians park there and never leave). Days can be good or dull, but they can also be bad, and thank God that a lament is just as much a song as a psalm is (most of the Psalms are laments). The point is that we should always remembers that whether we praise or petition, there is always a reason to sing, and sing a new song.
It is to be exciting news that every song is a "new" song, wonderful to know that our life is poetry in motion and not gibberish in neutral. Our lives are bound to God, a singular being with three persons and infinite facets. There is no end to understanding the full depth of even one element of His character, i.e., there will always be a new song to sing. Old songs are sweet memories, and will not be forgotten; but there will always be new songs, new reasons and occasions to sing, fresh moments when nothing will do for us except to sing forth what we mean, even if no one else understands it except you and God.
Again, do not misunderstand (how often we do on issues like this). This "freshness" is not a care-free fluffiness. Too often we mistake genuine knuckleheaded naiveté for overabundant joy. This "freshness" is not naiveté. If anything, it is the exact opposite: it is a deep, hardy grasping of the reality of God in your life. Deadness does not come because you took a moment to stop acting "so gosh-darn happy because everything is so gosh-darn great!" Deadness occurs when you lose your grasp in the reality of God; everything in life then becomes merely "material," random, nonsensical. The penny, the smile, the kindness--it was all just coincidence; our tragedies--just bad luck. It all signifies nothing and means nothing without God. This "freshness" is not naiveté, but a vigorous existence of clear-headedness, the life of faith, a life full of life (i.e., God's life), and life more abundant. Indeed, this "freshness," this perspective of "all things new," is a hallmark of Christian character, and therefore another facet of the character of God. Deadness is not to have any part in the life of a child of God; not because you (by some willful exercise) keep yourself from deadness, but because you, as a child of God, are not dead. It is a matter of inner disposition, not desperate effort, and your inner disposition is that of the Spirit of God. He who has that Spirit is not dead, nor is deadness in him (for deadness is not in Him). The "freshness" of the child of God is produced solely by the presence of God within them; and what God has "worked in," we can "work out" into practical experience. Get into the habit of finding reasons to sing a new song.

"Forever are all things new:
Winter into Spring, no two the same.
Every sunrise and sunset
Is a new reason to sing..."
-Jon Vowell

"He is Lord..."

"I am the Lord; that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Isaiah 42:8

It is perhaps safe to say that the vast majority of people (if they believe in a God at all) are quite ready and willing to accept Him as the Creator; they may even be open to accepting Him as a miracle-worker (there is nothing cooler than God going out of His way to fix your problems, right?). Very few, however, (even amongst the Church) are will to accept Him as Lord, the penetrating, overruling, passionate motive, focus, and ideal of our lives. We are more often offend at the idea: "God made me, and is involved in my life, but I will decide where and when and how I shall be used and shall serve." In Acts 17, I'm pretty sure that Paul's audience at Mar's Hill was right with him when he said that God "made the world and all things therein," but got he lost them when he said God was "Lord of heaven and earth." In the end, while some believed, others mocked (vs. 32, 34).
We must not be fooled into thinking that any ideal or focus other than God will be "bad." Some of the greatest wrong ideas in the world were really wonderful ideas. Many false gospels all ring of beauty and wonderfulness: feeding and educating the poor and hungry is noble; making more money is logical; being freed from oppressors is beautiful. They are all good things in and of themselves. However, they cannot become the thing; God alone is to be the thing in our lives. Anything that becomes our focus, no matter how noble, logical, or beautiful it is, no matter how good (from our perspective) it is, if it is not God (not merely of Him, but Him Himself), then it is a graven image, and will lead us to perdition. God will have absolutely no competition; even that which is good must fall before He who is the Good.
That, of course, is the key to responding to those who claim that God is selfish and egocentric for demanding some much attention. First of all, God cannot be "selfish" because He lacks nothing (including glory or self-esteem). Second of all, God's very nature (i.e., the Trinity) is not one of egocentrism, but of love, a continual giving over of the self to and for another. Finally, God is the Good in the universe, the one and only thing we need in order to be happy, healthy, and whole. God smacking us on the head so that we look unto Him is anything but selfish or egocentric; it is a great act of love, for instead of leaving us to flounder about in a million side eddys, He draws us unto Himself for the good of our souls (because He is the Good of our souls).
God is not lord and master in the way we commonly associate the word, i.e., a tyrannical, self-consuming egocentrist, who benefits by every person that subjects to him. God (being all-sufficient), cannot be "benefited" by anything; therefore, our (willful) subjection to Him is wholly beneficial to us. That is the difference between God and tyrants, between the lords of earth and the Lord of heaven and earth.

"Take my life and let it be,
Only, ever lost in Thee.
Let Thy Glory, and Thy Goodness,
And Thy Love lead me only to You..."
-Jon Vowell

True Worship

"Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering." Isaiah 40:16

In Isaiah's day, Lebanon was the par excellence for trees. Its cedars were legendary. In addition, it was a land full of beasts fit for an offering. Yet even if all of Lebanon was consumed as a holy pyre in sacrifice to God, it would not even scratch the surface of the worship that is due Him. Please remember, however (as I have said before), to let no one fool you with the nonsense that God needs worship. He is worthy of worship, but He does not need it; He needs nothing, and it is good that He does not. Even our mightiest endeavor at sacrifice is a weak excuse for an offering when stacked up next to the worship God deserves.
Though God instructed the Jews in the sacrifice of bulls and rams, there was (and is) one sacrifice God said that without it all our blood letting means nothing: ourselves. This is not only a New Testament truth (Romans 12:1), but also an Old Testament truth (Isaiah 1:11-18). The Bible makes one thing clear: your sacrifices mean nothing if you are not His, and you are not His unless your sins have been forgiven. This is were Christ comes in. His death took the punishment for Sin and His blood continually washes us from all sin (I John 1:7). This puts us back with God, and all that we are is now acceptable to Him, because through Christ all that God is, we are. Simply put, we are worthy because Christ makes us worthy.
Perhaps it is a paradox, but the only thing that God truly deserves, the only thing that can truly be worthy of Him, is Himself. The highest can only be matched with the highest, and seeing as how God is the highest, the only thing that God can accept is Himself. However, rather than leave us "out of the loop" (and consequently damned), God made a way (through Christ) for us to receive Him and become like Him, therefore being worthy and acceptable in His sight. Our praise and our service, every part or our lives that constitutes worship, is acceptable unto God, not because of us, but because of Him. We are fools if we think we are doing God a favor by worshiping Him. That we can worship Him, and that our worship is accepted by Him, speaks to a favor He did for us. The fact that the weak and insufficient worship of broken, messed up people is accepted by God is a testament to His mercy and grace, not our talent or skill. Indeed, the very fact of worship is another reason to worship; we could not even begin to do it unless God had done something wonderfully drastic in our lives.
Little is much only when God is in it. Neither Lebanon nor ourselves are worthy sacrifices unless God is in it and us. He has made us a channel whereby all that He is flows forth and shines back to Himself. We are the mirror that catches the beam of His brightness and reflect it back to Him. The whole of the universe, from the mightiest angel to the smallest speck of dust, is bound up into this great dance, this continuous circuit of worship. There is no way out of it except into the nothingness of outer darkness, where, sadly, many have chosen and will chose to embrace meaningless chaos and empty silence, shut out from the land of worship, from the land of the living, forever.

"We are made a channel
Where His Self is poured.
By the Blood of Jesus,
For the glory of the Lord..."
-Jon Vowell

The Great God

"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and measured out heaven with the span of His hand, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" Isaiah 40:12

All the greatness that we can comprehend is but a shadow of the greatness of God.
We compare Him to the sea, its strength and wildness, its adventure and mystery. Its presence is felt across the world, and there is no land where its effects are not seen. It refreshes the world, and is the source of life. Yet the mighty seas do not even rise to the dignity of a puddle before our great God.
We compare Him to the heavens, its vastness and glory, its tapestry used as both shield and covering. We are captured by the awe of the lights of the dark night, or consumed by the mountainous simplicity of the burning blue sky. Yet the glorious heavens cannot outstretch even the palm of our great God.
We compare Him to the earth, deep and strong, sturdy and immovable. A place of shelter and security, as well as exploration and discovery, providing both security and adventure. Its foundations are as strong as iron, and the whole of it is a mighty matter of legend. Yet the strong earth is but dust in a cup before our great God.
We compare Him to the mountains and the hills, their very size and shape seemingly transubstantiates them with greatness. They are equally beautiful and dangerous, filled to the brim with perils and wonders innumerable. Yet the numinous mountains and hills are but small rocks in the eyes of our great God.
This same great God is your Father in Heaven. The God to Whom the seas are but a drop stands ready to save and strengthen you. The God to Whom the heavens are but a little thing stands close to hold you. The God to Whom the earth is but rubble draws near to guide you. The God to Whom the mountains and hills are but pebbles counts you as precious and lovely in His sight. This same great God is yours, and you are His. Who can comprehend our great God? His greatness is forever beyond all knowing, and His love forever beyond His greatness. Amen.

"Eternal God, unchanging
Mysterious and unknown
Your boundless love unfailing
In grace and mercy shown.
Bright seraphim in ceaseless flight
Around your glorious throne,
They raise their voices day and night
In praise of You alone.

Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!

Lord, we are weak and frail
Helpless in the storm.
Surround us with Your angels,
Hold us in Your arms.
Our cold and ruthless enemy,
His pleasure is our harm.
Rise up, oh Lord, and he will flee
Before our sovereign God!

Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!

Let every creature in the sea
And every flying bird.
Let every mountain, every field
And valley of the earth.
Let all the moons and all the stars
In all the universe,
Sing praises to the living God
Who rules them by His word.

Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!"
-"Our Great God" (by Fernando Ortega and Mac Powell)

"May all the greatness that we see
Lead us ever unto You..."
-Jon Vowell

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

"At that time [the king of Babylon] sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things...Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah...'Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house...shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.'" Isaiah 39:1-8

This was not a punishment; this was a reality check. Hezekiah's flaunting did not cause the Babylonian exile; the exile was an inevitable consequence from things before Hezekiah's time. What God did here was demonstrate to him how the impending exile rendering all his flaunting foolishness, i.e., shatter his supposed reality with His true Reality. "Why do you treat like friends those who are not your friends? Why are you obsessing with that which does not matter?" Good question.
One of the biggest caveats to being a Christian in the modern world (both of the East and West) is the danger of being swept up into a corporate consumeristic materialism. This is not merely "mega church" syndrome. This is "the American Dream" syndrome. If you want to do or be anything or something around these parts (or so we are told), you need money, status, and power. To get that, you must throw yourself, body and soul, into the world corporate machine, or into a business endeavor. You have to "know people," you have to "schmooze," play politics, jump through hoops, dance, play ball, etc., etc. The tragic irony of it all is that once you have finally got the money, status, and power, your life is now consumed with the pursuit of them, and all spiritual applications of your life are left to the back burner. In trying to be useful to God, we become absolutely useless. In trying to serve Him, we serve ourselves. In trying to love Him, we become friends of this world. If one could just stand back and take in the whole horrific scope of our "busy-ness," our frittering and fluttering about, one would be led to ask, "What are we doing?"
God does not need money, either yours or others. He does not need your talents and abilities. He does not need your usefulness. He does not need your wit or wisdom. He does not need your pluck or personality. He does not need your humor. He does not need your sense of fashion or style. He does not need your creativity or "new" ideas. He does not need your strength or determination. He does not need your political candidate. He does not need your political party. He does not need your country. He does not need your denomination. He does not need your translation of the Bible. He does not need you to save souls. He does not need your service. He does not need your praise. He does not need your sermons and your lessons. He does not need what you "know." He does not need what you are. He does not need anything. What He wants, what His will is for you is (please pardon the cliche) for you to "let go and let God," i.e., stop trying to tell God what kind of person He gets to use and start letting Him make you into the person that He wants to use, i.e., a spitting image of Himself, a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).
Jesus Christ is not a cookie cutter. God is not monotony, sterility, and generality. All the unique elements of your person that He created will be brought to bear in a life of Christ-likeness. However, all those elements too often become distractions and hindrances to God's will for us when we get wrapped up in them and not in Him. "Oh God! I am so beautiful! So witty! So talented! So smart! So useful!" No you are not. You are nothing without Him (John 15:5). You can offer Him nothing (Philippians 3:4-11). All you can offer (pardon another cliche) is yourself (Romans 12:1), the real you, the one unhindered by fleeting wishes, wants, desires, and ambitions. God wants to take our fading dreams and gives us His own eternal ones, to make His desire our own. That can only happen when we stop dictating to Him how things are going to work and start being swept up into Him.
We so easily take our eye off of the ball. God does not need anything from us, nor does He even need us. The wonder is that (despite His lack of need) He still wants to use us, to take us into Himself and make us one with Him; but to do it as He says, not as we say. We do not know ourselves as well as He does. What we see as a talent could actually be a hindrance that must be removed, and what we see as a triviality (or even a weakness) could actually be what God plans to use (What good are the skills of a shepherd on the field of battle? And yet the giant was not slain by a warrior). The key here is that we do not get wrapped up in ourselves, in what we "can" and "cannot" do or be; but get wrapped up in God, Who He is, what He does, and what He is doing and being through us. To put it simply: keep your eye on the ball, i.e., God. That was king Hezekiah's foul--He thought he knew what was up, what he was doing. God demonstrated that he did not: "You think you know what's up? Here's the reality. All 'your' greatness, I will give to Babylon."
Do we keep our eye on the ball? Do we live in the reality of God? Do we walk in that light? Do we realize that life is found, not in doing things or being something for Him, but by being swept up into Him (John 17:3)? Do we realize (as Lewis put it) that our lives are "a perpetual Evangel, a story written by the finger of God," and not written by our own finger? Are we ready and willing to stop distracting ourselves with our own stories, our own plans and our own knowledge, and let God take us "further up and further in" to the adventure that is Himself? Are we finally ready to stop flaunting our feathers before Babylonian kings and start letting all become shadows as we stand in the light of His presence? That is true Christianity; that is what it means to be "Christ-like"; that is eternal life. The burning question is, "Are you ready?"

"Let Your Presence, like a fire
Burn all dross and tin away.
Lead me ever away from me,
And take me further up and further in
To You..."
-Jon Vowell

A Small Bit on Worship

"Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?" Isaiah 38:22

We never see calamities as a reason to praise because we never factor God into the equation. God brings us the calamities as well as the blessings, and it never crosses our minds that problems are an opportunity to watch God work. God saving you out of your troubles is not for its own sake. It is so you have occasion to glorify God, to know the reality of His presence, to know the reality of His communion with us. Hezekiah's healing was not for its own sake or for his, it was not a mere quick-fix or God paying homage to a great king. It was so he could have opportunity to "go up to the house of the Lord" and worship. The calamities and troubles of life are moments to ask, "What is the sign that I shall worship my God." We do not think of them in such a sense, and therefore suffer greatly in spirit and mind.
Perhaps it seems a bit harsh that God sends calamity in order to garner worship. Is He that desperate for praise? Of course not; God is in need of nothing. God does not send circumstances our way to force praise out of us for His sake. He sends circumstances our way so that we may have opportunity to praise (we may ignore Him if we choose) for our own sake. God enjoys our praise, but He does not need it, He is not benefited by it. There are only two persons involved in the praise dynamic: us and God; and if praise is abeneficial to God, then it must be beneficial to us. Our articulation of our appreciation for being created to be able to comprehend His glory in the moment (my definition of worship and praise) is beneficial to us in that, for one, it is a joy in and of itself; and secondly, that comprehension of His glory draws us closer into intimate communion and knowledge with and of Him.

"Draw me close to You.
Through the fire and the rain,
Come hell or high water,
Lead me into Your Presence..."
-Jon Vowell

Two Crowns

"The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet..."
"In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His people..." Isaiah 28:3, 5

The glory of Ephraim was itself. It was its own height and depth, it was its own greatness, it was its own glory. What did it have to show for it? What was their crown? Behold its pride and glory: its drunkards, full of their own pleasure, full of their own works, full of themselves; they were full of themselves to the point of drunkenness. In the end, they were their sole focus, they were drunk on their own glory. Such a crown will be taken from their heads and be put under other men's feet: their world will be turned upside-down.
The glory of the children of God is Himself. What else have we to glory in? Have we saved ourselves? Have we tasted of the grave? Drank death like wine? Walked amongst the dead shades of Hades only to rise victorious? Have we laid the world's foundations or set the limits of the oceans? Have we danced in perfect triune communion and brought many sons to the same glory? What have we to boast in but our great God? What riches or power, or gifts or wisdom can we claim that He did not give and that He cannot take away? What glory have we other than God, His Incarnation, His death and resurrection? The crown of pride will be taken from men's heads to be trampled under men's feet. The crown of glory was trampled under men's feet and is now ascended as a diadem of beauty upon the heads of them that believe. Amen.

"What can I claim as my Glory?
This Christ and His Work accomplished.
Grant me, O God, my One Desire,
To Magnify Thy Name..."
-Jon Vowell

The Presence of God

"Then said [Isaiah], Woe is me! For I am undone...for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isaiah 6:5

Contemporary Christendom has utterly destroyed this truth about the presence of God (perhaps absent-mindedly, like paving another brick in the road to hell). Coming into God's presence today means being flooded over by the feeling of some abstract "ooey gooey goodness." Such sentiments are shallow nonsense that rob us of the true nature and full awe-inspiring view of the presence of God.

Do not get ahead of me. I am not saying that the belief that God's presence is full of joy and pleasure is untrue. Of course His presence is full of joy and pleasure (see esp. Psalm 16:11). I am not saying that they are not there, but that they are not all that is there. That is the lie that Contemporary Christendom has beaten to death over our own heads.

Coming into God's presence (whether at church during official worship, or at home, or driving the car, or anywhere else God finds you) is not coming into the presence of joy and pleasure; it is coming into the presence of the Truth, i.e., all things true, all things real, Source, Perfection, Wholeness; the presence of unclouded, illuminating REALITY. Coming into God's presence means stepping into the sphere where you see all as God sees: no illusions, no darkness, just what is real.

Oh, and in case you're wondering: yes, I am a Platonic Christian (but not a Christian Platonist).

"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving," says Psalm 95:2. Why should we? Because after verse two are verses three through eleven, which are a resounding list of who God is, who we are, and what He has done for us, i..e, nine verses of comprehensive and comprehended reality.

But the comprehension of what is real is why God's presence is not merely joyous. "The Truth hurts," so it has been said, and the presence of God brings sorrow as well as joy. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," (Hebrews 10:31) i.e., into the hands of Living Reality. Look at Isaiah again: he sees God "high and lifted up," and cries "Woe is me!" In the presence of Reality (in the presence of all things true/real), Isaiah sees himself (and his people) as they really, truly are, and it shatters his heart.

The truth lost today about God's presence is that it is the presence of all things true/real. Contemporary Christendom has lost this by stripping God's presence down to one aspect of God: joy, or love, or mercy, or whatever. What is produced is the wussy "grandfather" God, and subsequently a wussy Christianity, made up of wussy Christians who would fade like chaff in the fire if they every set foot into the presence of the Living God. How absurd it is that we sing with a happy-go-lucky feeling, "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord! I want to see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory!" When we sing such things, do we really know what it is we are asking for? I daresay if we did, we would take this whole business of worship, and Christianity in general, more seriously.

Of course, that is my point. I am not saying "take the fun out of it," but "take the frivolousness out of it." Nothing in Christianity (or anywhere else, for that matter) is done or taken seriously; or better yet, nothing is taken or done with a sense of the sacred, and that is what I am calling foul over: the loss of the sacred. God's presence is whittled down to coming into the presence of Dr. Feelgood instead of coming into the presence of the One who the woman at the well testified, "He told me all that ever I did." (John 4:39)

The loss of the sacred has turned Christianity into a massive self-help organization, Christian worship into a pep rally, and God into one of many helps for your life. (God, by the way, is not a "help" in your life; He is an overhauling of your life with His).

There is joy in God's presence, and their is sorrow. There is pleasure, and there is pain. Laughter, and tears. Desolation, and Glory. There is everything that Reality will bring, everything that you can comprehend when you are where all things are clear and unshadowed, everything that you can see in the presence of One who "is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (I John 1:5)

It is good that we ask to "see God" (that was the blessing Job received for all his trials; Job 42:5). When we do, however, may we know and take seriously and sacredly what we are asking for: pure, illuminating Reality, and all the pleasure and pain that goes with it.