Receiving March 15, 2008, worship scriptures

Suggestions for how to participate in this exercise are provided in the March 9, 2008, post titled Receiving the Word as spirit and life--a spiritual exercise

Scriptures for March 15 (or 16), 2008:
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 3:5-11
Matthew 27:27-31, 45-54

A prayer for receiving these scriptures as spirit and life
Disappointment stirs up grief, and it casts a shadow of fear across the future. This disappointment can get in the way of my receptivity. It can make me grasp for pain relief in the worship scriptures. Worse, I might escape into these scriptures.
I might fight the disappointment, trying to make it go away somehow by some word from You.
I might avoid or deny the disappointment, trying to think about some word from You instead.
Without your special mercy God, disappointment will rob me of open-hearted receptivity.
With Your mercy, God, open-hearted receptivity will take me through and beyond disappointment.
Please give me the open-hearted receptivity I need in order to receive your Word as spirit and life.

Following are notes I made while doing what the participation notes invite you to do. Let my reflections help you receive the Word as spirit and life.

Isaiah 50:4-9a (Selections and reflections)
"He awakens My ear..." (vs. 4)
"And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away." (vs. 5)
I didn't take the route of fight or flight. I didn't rebel, avoid, or deny.
"For the Lord GOD will help Me...
Therefore I have set My face like a flint..." (vs. 7)
Face like a flint with a heart that doesn't turn away.
"Let him (my adversary) come near Me." (vs. 8)
Imagine being able and willing to invite that.
"Surely the Lord GOD will help Me..." (vs. 9)

Psalm 31:9-16 (Selections and reflections)
"Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble;
My eye wastes away with grief,
Yes, my soul and my body!" (vs. 9)
"For my life is spent with grief..." (vs. 10)
The size and nature of this trouble and grief are beyond comprehension; they threaten hope. The Cross takes me into hope-threatening grief, not around it.

Philippians 2:5-11 (Selections and reflections)
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..." (vs. 5)
The Isaiah 50 mind has an awakened ear, is not rebellious, doesn't turn away, is confident God will help, confronts the adversary, has a face like a flint.
"...obedient to... the death of the cross." (vs. 8)
The mind of Christ includes obedience to the death of the cross, the willingness to suffer.
"Therefore God also has highly exalted Him..." (vs. 9)
God helped, just as Isaiah 5:7, 9 said He would. The promise claimed by faith is fulfilled. The path is through obedience to the cross. This is so full of grief as well as joy. The word of grief and joy is spirit and life. A word of just grief is not spirit and life. A word of just joy is not spirit and life.

Matthew 27:27-31, 45-54 (Selections and reflections)
"...gathered the whole garrison around Him." (vs. 27)
See Isaiah 50:8, Let my adversary come near.
"'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" (vs. 46)
Having the mind and heart of Christ in us includes this.
"Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit." (vs. 50)
Reverently listen for His loud voice as He died. The sound of His dying cry rolled through the earth's atmosphere and into the universe with intensity far beyond the loudest rolling thunder. Pondering the sound of His dying cry takes me to Psalm 29, all of it, and especially verses 3 and 4: "The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The voice of the LORD is powerful..." (Revelation 1:15 and Revelation 19:6 also come to mind). Reverberations from his dying cry are deep and strong enough to set off an earthquake.
"...they feared greatly, saying, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" (vs. 54)
Fear goes with the ability to recognize Jesus as the Son of God. How do we as individuals, and as congregations, foster the fear that goes with encountering Jesus as the Son of God? What does familiarity do to healthy fear? Does holy fear increase or decrease as decibel levels increase, or decrease into silence?