Until 1996 the Cleveland browns football team had some of the most loyal fans in all of sports. For them Sunday was the main even of the week. Early on Sunday morning they came to Cleveland Stadium to enjoy tailgate parties and talk about their beloved Browns, and then in the afternoon they filed to the stadium to cheer and holler.
But all that changed in 1996. Owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore and changed its name to the Ravens, crushing the hearts of Cleveland fans.
Surprisingly, that didn't stop these fans from doing what they had done for years. On opening day, September 1, 1996, some fans shoed up at Cleveland Stadium just as they had done for the last fortysix years and held tailgate parties. They wore Browns jerseys, waved Browns flags, and chanted "Let's go, Brownies." Then shortly before 1 pm they refilled their cups and marched to the stadium gates. But the stadium was quiet and empty.
Traditions die hard, especially religious ones. An empty tradition is an end in itself, a habit without meaning. It is cheering fans without a team or a game, for God is gone.
Further Reading: Atheism, Habits, Religion , Ritual, Rules, Secularism - Ezek. 10; Mark 7 : 1 - 13; Col 2 : 16 - 23
Ireland's first missionary bishop
Late 4th Century - Patrick was growing up in North East England. His first language was Latin and his family Christian. Legend has it that a band of Celtic pirates from Ireland invaded the region, captured him, sailed to Ireland and sold him to slavery at the age of 16.
He came to faith - saving faith - while in Ireland and in a dream was called home to England.
25 years - another dream - call to come back to Ireland.
"We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us."
He was ordained a bishop and appointed to Ireland as history's first missionary bishop (432AD).
His mission - thought to be impossible - barbarians. But not so because Patrick understood their language, issues, ways.
Key Issues/Basics:
- love for stories, heroes - Christianity fuelled this.
- love for God's creation and closeness of God
- love for learning - oral tradition and memorising scripture
- openness, not secrets
Christianity - blanketed the whole island. The Celtic way of doing and being church emerged uniquely - Rome was too far away! It was a Movement, not and Institution, Body Ministry - laity not clergy. Creative and imaginative worship and closer to nature and the new church became a monastic community.
Right in the middle of settlements - near pagans - so Christians were part of the community. Some lived ascetic lives, teachers, scholars, craftsmen, artists, farmers, families, children.
Divided the day into three parts:-
- Worship
- Study
- Work (animals, crops, church, sick cared for)
Form of worship
They worshipped together in community at least twice each day. They learned much of the scriptures together by heart. Place of Psalms - often sung 30 times per day. Life of contemplative prayer - pray without ceasing, ongoing, frequent opening of heart to God while going on with every day.
Worship and Work:
One word, two meanings. Or is there really just one? The dual use of the word suggests that faithful service to God is rendered no more in a church service than it is in a "work service" - if the work is done for God. In the Bible there is an indissoluble unity between worship and work, since both are forms of service to God. There is the service we render to God in our worship, and there is the service we render to him in our work. The former is the liturgy of the sanctuary; the latter in the liturgy of the world.
Both of the two forms of work - or worship, if you will - it is only the liturgy of the sanctuary that is eternal. Whatever you happen to be doing from nine to five will one day pass away. The time will come when there will be no more need for homemakers, certified public accountants, fry cooks, attorneys, bus drivers, engineers, beauticians, bankers, carpenters, politicians, plumbers, tailors, teachers, mechanics or sales reps. Even the work we do for the kingdom of God will outlive its usefulness. Evangelism will one day no longer be needed. Christian education will come to an end, as will prophecy and social services.
But the work of worship will go on forever!
The best and the brightest in the eternal realms already know this. The Apostle John's vision of heaven in the book of Revelation is filled with scenes of worship. In chapter 4, for instance, there are four terrifying magnificent and wise creatures singing day and night, without ceasing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!" (Rev 4 : 8). All they do is worship God, forever and ever. Each time you turn a page in the book of Revelation, you are looking at yet another scene of worship in heaven. Here it is the twenty-four elders, there it is ten thousand time ten thousand angels, here it is the martyred saints, and on and on.
Praise to God:
In the 'Pentecostal Evangel', J K Gressett writes about a man named Samuel S Scull who settled on a farm in the Arizona desert with his wife and children.
'One night a fierce desert storm struck with rain, hail and high wind. At daybreak, feeling sick and fearing what he might find, Samuel went to survey their loss. The hail had beaten the garden and truck patch into the ground; the house was partially unroofed; the henhouse had blown away, and dead chickens were scattered about. Destruction and devastation were everywhere. While standing dazed, evaluating the mess and wondering about the future, he heard a stirring in the lumber pile that was the remains of the henhouse. A rooster was climbing up through the debris, and he didn't stop climbing until he had mounted the highest board in the pile. That old rooster was dripping wet, and mot of his feathers were blown away. But as the sun came over the eastern horizon, he flapped his bony wings and proudly crowed'
That old, wet, bare rooster could still crow when he saw the morning sun. And like that rooster, our world may be falling apart, we may have lost everything, but if we trust in God, we'll be able to see the light of God's goodness, pick ourselves out of the rubble, and sing the Lord's praise. Further reading: Crisis, Perseverance, Thanksgiving, Trials - Acts 16 : 22 - 25; 1 Thess 5 : 16 - 18
Two ways - unusual approach to living out of Christianity. Community supported each other, prayed for each other worked out their salvation together. |
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History of Worship
New Testament Worship
Tabernacle Worship
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