A couple of weeks ago I began the journey of reading through the entire Bible in 90 days. Here's a link with the
schedule if you're interested.
While reading through the books of Exodus and Numbers, I was struck by the sheer amount of rituals and sacrifices and holy days and feasts and . . . well all of the myriad things that God called the Israelites to follow. Some of it sounds confusing, even bizarre, to our modern ears, but it must have had a purpose. What possibly could be the reason behind such an all-encompassing list of rituals and regulations?
As I prayed and asked God to help me understand, slowly I began to see what a radically tranformative way of life this must have been. God's purpose in calling and creating the Israelites as His people was to demonstrate to the world how best to live in relationship to God and with others. They were to be the nation through whom all nations would be blessed. And so, as they participated in the worship patterns laid out for them by God through Moses, their entire way of thinking, believing, and being was transformed.
Like a mountaineer alone in the vast wilderness of Alaska taking a GPS reading to locate her precise position, each time the Israelites gathered for worship, each time they kept the feasts and performed the sacrifices, they reoriented themselves according to God's loving direction.
The insight gained into Israel's worship also gave me insight into our worship and this question:
What lies behind our modern-day rituals, liturgies, and celebrations? Is it not the desire to reorient ourselves to the Kingdom of God, to the Way of the Cross, to life in the Holy Spirit?
Lord, let it be so.
Recently, while on vacation, I witnessed an abomination to our collective intelligence. Actually, I didn't even see the whole thing, but I saw enough of "Happy Feet" to secure it's place as one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen.
