Feeds:
Posts
Comments

A Shared Participation

February 26, 2011 by Fritz

For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. ” – 1st Corinthians 10:17

This weeks’ Church offertory lead to an epiphany – making that 15″ journey from head to heart!

Our choir director gave the men and women in the sanctuary different words to sing, like a round. The men sang their part then the women sang theirs then both sang their different parts together and it was wonderful!

It wasn’t a show I watched but an event – and I was part of it, reminded Church is not a show to watch but a participation to share!

The realization went further!

Why the liturgy with its printed prayers, times of sitting, rising, kneeling, eating, singing songs we can actually sing? – not for a love of ritual but because Church is not a show to watch but a participation to share. We may detour throughout the service, each having our own part as the Holy Spirit leads, but then we return and continue together.

I participate in a shared fellowship – I sing, I pray, I kneel, I eat, I make the sign of the cross – participating with my body as well as my soul and spirit. There is a place for the “I” in the voluntarily participation with the “We”! I belong.

There is a reason the Eucharist is also called “Communion” – we commune with Jesus and his body, a shared participation.

– fritz

Posted in Eucharist, Fellowship | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

2 Birds, 1 Stick, Red Thread, and a Branch

February 25, 2011 by Fritz

“Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:

And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. ” – Leviticus 14:4-7

What’s this with the birds (not just one but two), the thread (it must be red), a stick (it must be Cedar), and a branch (it must be hyssop)?! It all seems arbitrary until we see Jesus!

THE PLAYERS:
Two Birds – Jesus and us. Christ set aside his glory to become one of us – completely human.1

Ceder Wood – The cross – Christ’s and ours.2

Scarlet Thread – Thread representing what keeps us bound, Scarlet representing, sin3. It is our sin that binds us, breaks our relationships, and keeps us from living free.

Hyssop – Used for sprinkling sacrificial blood, water, or whatever on the people and things around the altar4 – God’s blessings, His word, and His will are to be applied to our daily living, not just kept as theory.

Earthen Bowl – The real, tangible, physical world in which we live.5

Running Water – Life, activity, constant motion.

THE ACTION:
One bird killed, his blood gathered in an earthen bowl over running water – Jesus sacrificed on the cross at a point in time and a real place while life moved on and many never noticed.

Second bird, stick, thread, and branch dipped in the sacrificed bird’s blood – Our lives, our daily trials,7 our many sins, are to be touched by Christ’s sacrifice.8 His “blood” is to be applied to us and all we are or hope to be and do.

Second bird release – When touched by Christ’s work on the cross we are set free from sin’s bondage, released to live a full, abundant life!9

See, those laws are not arbitrary at all – the whole Bible is a book about one man – Jesus the Christ.10

– fritz@langgang.com
1 – Hebrews 2:14
2 – Luke 9:23
3 – Isaiah 1:8
4 – Numbers 19:18
5 – 2nd Corinthians 4:7
7 – Luke 9:23
8 – Hebrews 9:11-12
9 – John 8:36
10 – Hebrews 8:1-6, Hebrews 9:9

Posted in Forgiveness | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

God is At Work

February 24, 2011 by Fritz

“The trees …the birds … the wild goats … the conies …. all the beasts of the forest do creep forth ….The young lions roar … and seek their meat from God …

Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all” – Psalm 104:16-24

Its not difficult to see the miraculous hand of God in nature – it is marvelous! But the Bible says our daily work routine is just as inspired by God.

God is at work at work!

Faithfully doing an honest day’s work at an honest job is spiritual, don’t let the routineness make you loose site of that!

“Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance – Colossians 3:24 (Message)

-fritz

Posted in Work | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »