Receiving October 4, 2008, worship scriptures

Scriptures for October 4, 2008
Exodus 20:1-20
Psalm 19
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46

Part I - Receiving the Word as spirit and life for yourself
In art class one year we drew a plant. It took several days to finish. I sat in the same place each class period, and the plant did too. But, the plant didn't remain the same. I was so focused on my drawing that it came as a kind of puzzle or even surprise when my carefully lined-up drawing didn't stay lined up. The plant didn't stay the same each session. Right in front of my eyes the plant was moving! I guess I thought it took longer for a living plant to move. Perhaps I thought it'd "stay put" like a good model so I could finish my drawing! But the plant kept growing all the time I was trying to draw it. It was alive. And my drawing wasn't alive, however good my drawing was. That experience occurs to me as I consider again today that the Word of God is life and spirit. We interact differently with living things than we do with objects that are not alive.
This blog encourages you to receive the Word as spirit and life for yourself, and also to compare notes with others who are doing the same. If you are fortunate enough to worship weekly where the scriptures are an integrated part of the service, you will be all the more prepared for worship because you have first received the Word as spirit and life for yourself.
At http://charistis.blogspot.com/2008/03/receiving-word-as-spirit-and-life.html there are some simple suggestions to help you receive the Word as spirit and life for yourself.

Part II - Reflections on this week's scriptures (one place for you to compare notes)
Prayer for Receptivity
I pray for receptivity.
The kind you, God, want me to have.
Receptivity in my heart of hearts and from there in my whole being.
Enable me to receive your Word into a heart that is open, soft and strong--vibrantly alive in You.

Exodus 20:1-20
"God spoke all these words..." (vs. 1)
This morning my husband showed me some splendid NASA photos of space. I'm so feeble at "taking in" what I'm looking at in those fabulous displays of light, color, shapes--breathtaking cosmic art. It's overwhelming grandeur to love and also to stand back from in awe.
It occurs to me that these words from God in Exodus 20 are like that. They are overwhelming glimpses into incomprehensible space also--the space where the light and color and shapes and dynamics of love are born to be splashed in glory through the whole universe. These are words to love and also to stand back from in wonder, reverence and awe.
These words are simple enough to accept and walk in--like I accept and walk in the sunlight. But I can't comprehend or exhaust their beauty and significance and affect any more than I can comprehend and exhaust the beauty of those NASA space pictures I was looking at this morning.

"Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off." (vs. 18)
"And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.'" (vs. 20)
Actual encounter with the fear-inspiring size and power of the Words combines with the fact that they are measured, compassionate and available Words.
"...that His fear may be before you" reminds me again that I need to let go of fear that is negative, fear that is born of a divided and distant heart, and receive in its place a holy, life-giving fear of God. Doing this puts me in touch with life and Love like nothing else can.

Psalm 19
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork." (vs. 1)
See how the Psalmist sets the perfect law of the LORD in the context of the heavens, the firmament! I have never seen the connection between verses 1-6 and 7-11 like I do today. Those NASA pictures were timed just right this morning! To love the Law is huge, like taking in the wonders of the heavens and firmament, and the law and the love of it are to us like the daily, life-giving path of the sun (vss. 5-6).

converting the soul
making wise the simple
rejoicing the heart
enlightening the eyes (vss. 7-8)
When this is happening, we can know we're receiving the Law as the grace and power of divine Love that it is.

Philippians 3:4b-14
"...that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith."
(vs. 9)
To gain or "take in" Christ. Is Christ small enough for me to take in? Space is beyond my comprehension; I can't take in space. The Law is beyond my comprehension; I can't take in the Law. Can I take in Jesus Christ? In Christ is God finally small enough for me to manage? Actually, in Christ God is humble and holy beyond my imagination, farther even beyond my comprehension than space or the Law. In Christ God is available, yet never, never less grand or less of a cause for holy fear than are space and Sinai. Christ is a telescope into glory not a tradeoff for it.

Matthew 21:33-46
"Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir, Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him." (vss. 37-39)
He is cast out and dies to me unless He is both the compassionate available One AND ALSO the infinitely incomprehensible One who surpasses the glory revealed in space and at Sinai.