Worship As A Full-Bodied Allegiance

In one of the groups I lead, we were talking about worship as a full-bodied allegiance to God and what that meant.  We went through Romans 12:1-2 as it exhorts us to worship God by giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.  We touched on the old Anglican wedding vows, where we vow to our spouse, “With my body, I thee worship”.  We went through some of the laws in the Old Testament and noted how they not only touch on every area of life, but how the entire law codes were always sandwiched between laws of worship (see Exodus 20:22-26 and 23:14-19 as well as Deuteronomy chapters 12 and 26), especially what we do with our bodies.  

For some strange reason, we tend to see ourselves as somehow detached from our bodies, as though the real “me” is not somehow enmeshed with my physical being.  That is how we justify all kinds of things done in the body, while we think our soul is untouched by sin.  

Given our focus on the Song of Songs these past four weeks and the issue of bodily sexual intimacy in line with God’s will and design, I suggest that we re-consider what it means to worship God with our very bodies—what the act of a physical touch can mean (whether sexual or platonic) and what the significance of Jesus being God in bodily form among humanity means to our obedience to God.  

My reminder to us all is that worship is everything we do with these bodies God has crafted and given to us.

The Story of God

What do the Song of Songs and the movie “Man of Steel” have in common?  

On the surface, not much.  The Song of Songs is a love poem and “Man of Steel” is a movie about Superman (which my son Josiah and I went to go see last Friday).  It was good one-on-one time for Josiah and me, but as I always tell him, all great hero stories tell the story of Jesus (I won’t ruin the movie for you, but my theory was right again).  

But, the truth be told, all of our stories fit into the greater story of God.  The Song of Songs is part of the story of redemption - the redemption of intimacy within the future coming of God’s kingdom.  And in a little scene that has caught some attention, “Man of Steel” pictures how the larger redemption was bought for us - Superman is told by his Kryptonian father (his “heavenly” father) that he can save all humanity.  At that point, Superman floats out into the sky, his arms extended in the shape of a cross before he flies back to earth to save humans.  The story of God is written in all corners of life.  The questions for us are - Are we reading it?  Are we living it?

Be Considerate

C.J. Mahaney, a pastor and teacher, wrote a wonderful thought about intimacy in his little book, Sex, Romance and the Glory of God.  His line was simply this: 

“Before you touch her body, touch her heart and mind.”  

As we continue in this series on the Song of Songs, what a great sentiment about our marriages—we should care about others, not use them.  We should place others first, not second to ourselves.  So whether it is your spouse, a friend, a relative, another member of the Body of Christ, or an acquaintance, the principle is the same: to be Christ-like is to be considerate.  

Or as Paul puts it, “in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

Learning To Pray

I am reminded again, now that summer is almost upon us (and the weather is getting warmer and walk-friendlier) of the necessity of prayer.  I pray best while walking in the woods (and warmer weather certainly makes that more conducive).  But prayer is more than simply finding opportune times.  It is about learning the mind of God.  Indeed, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his little book on the Psalms:

“The phrase ‘learning to pray’ sounds strange to us.  If the heart does not overflow and begin to pray by itself, we say, it will never ‘learn’ to pray.  But it is a dangerous error, surely widespread among Christians to think that the heart can pray by itself.  For then we confuse wishes, hopes, sighs, laments, rejoicings - all of which the heart can do by itself - with prayer.  And we confuse earth and heaven, man and God.  Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one’s heart.  It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with Him, whether the heart is full or empty.  No man can do that by himself.  For that he needs Jesus Christ.”

Let us remind ourselves of this discipline beyond feelings or opportunities and learn the language of true prayer.