Daily Reading: 29 May

(from www.christianaid.org.uk)

What is God worth?

Something to read

The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me.

- Exodus 25:1-2 from full passage Exodus 25.

Something to think about

When I first started to read the Bible everything went well until I hit those passages like Exodus 25-31.

Here I encountered long boring descriptions of what exactly – and I mean exactly – went into the construction of the Tabernacle and its contents.

Where was all the exciting stuff about Noah, one man and his family battling the scepticism of his neighbours and the rising water of the flood? Or elderly Abraham setting out like an intrepid explorer towards the promised land on nothing but a prayer and a promise? Or the wonderful stories of his descendants Isaac, Jacob and Joseph followed by the escape from Egypt under Moses?

I love a great story and the Bible is full of them. But as well as the stories there are the ‘boring’ bits, like Exodus 25 – 31.

Here there are no stories as such, just instructions about how curtains were to be made using goat’s hair. And the importance of constructing the Ark of the Covenant out of acacia wood. Why not cedar or oak? And all this talk of cubits and ephods. And what on earth is a calyx?

But reading it a second (and a third and fourth time), different things begin to emerge, especially in relation to what constitutes real worship.

Real worship

First, God asks the Israelites to take an offering of the materials needed for putting together the tabernacle where they will worship him. True worship is always a joint enterprise. We don’t worship God on our own. God is present in our worship as we are caught up in the worship of the Holy Trinity.

As the psalmist puts it: ‘God inhabits the praises of his people’ (Psalm 22:3). As we praise God, the Lord is with us and the Holy Spirit helps us worship.

Second, the condition for the Israelites’ giving was that it should come ONLY from ‘all whose hearts prompt them to give’ (Exodus 25:2b). In other words, the materials had to be freely given, not out of fear or coercion.

‘Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver,’ says Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7. True worship is from the heart. Not reluctantly or under compulsion.

Lastly, God is in the detail. Like a master artist or architect, God has carefully planned every detail of everything he wants made. Right down to what it is made from, what wood, what material and what colour.

‘If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing well,’ is an adage we would do well to take to heart as God teaches us that worship is indeed worth-ship. Something worth doing and worth doing well.

Something to do

Are you offering God what he is worth? Is your singing – whether in or out of tune – from the heart? When you give – whether to the work of the Church or to Christian Aid – does it represent the best of your giving?

And before you worship do you take time to ‘practise the presence of God’ and gain a sense that you are in it together?

Something to pray

Heavenly Father help me in my worship
to submit all my nature to you.

Quicken my conscience by your holiness,

Nourish my mind by your truth,

Purify my imagination by your beauty,

Open my heart to your love,

And accept the submission of my will to your purpose.

And may all this be gathered up in adoration of you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

After William Temple

Today's reading is by Rev Mark Williams, minister in St James’ Church, Uplands, Swansea, Diocese of Brecon and Swansea.