September 10, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty in respect to the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself [or herself], then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup [in a worthy manner]. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself [or herself].”  (1 Corinthians 11.27-29)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

One line from an old hymn we sang in the churches I grew up in, not one I have heard in the contemporary non-denominational churches of today, says this: “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing there will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory.” I love the old hymns created out of the faith experiences of writers who were convinced discipleship was a craft of worship. Those writers, both lyricists and musicians, bound the hope of salvation with the belief in community. One of the ways that happened, and think of it if you are from that time, was to blend the voices of everyone into one sound: SATB. That stands for “soprano, alto, tenor and bass.” For those with vocal training, there are variants of that such as second soprano, contralto and baritone. It speaks to the richness of sound much like we can think of a rainbow as one object revealed in seven basic colors: ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). Consider what we have been reflecting upon “at the Table of the Lord” as being of one body, one mind, one heart and one spirit. The charge to “discern the body” has been revealed as caring for one’s spiritual wellness, the spiritual wellness of others, the right relationship of a blended purpose in worshipping and praising God, the joint efforts to take this community into the world to not be of it but rather to witness the invitation for the world (the people who on earth do dwell) to be of it. It seems, to some degree, that this “blending” in the modern Church is more cacophonous than harmonious. The resulting strategy for unity feels more like conformity and less like transformational. Even when we sing in worship now in those non-traditional experiences, there is one voice among the people unless they are musically trained. The thrust to sing one note for each word or syllable by all the people does create a community. But, it feels more like a “one note” community of conformity. We all sing the same thing, the same way. Yes, it gives a sense of power when we all sound like one. My question would be “Where is the discernment in worship?” of the wideness of God’s mercy and the beautiful of the blending of lives into one song.

I have little doubt that in Heaven there will be a blending of sounds and voices into one magnificent sound. We will be exposed to and involved in the pure sound of depth, breadth and height. We will not sing like the angels. The angels will not sing like us. Neither one of us will sing like God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. There is a line from a contemporary worship song (not a hymn) which captures this sentiment for me: “We will sing a song the angels cannot sing.” (Casting Crowns, 2017) Why can’t the angels sing a song like ours? They do not have the same “saving grace” experience through no fault of their own. They have spent their lives in the glory of Heaven. They did witness the insurrection of Lucifer, the former worship leader of Heaven’s choir, but they were not a part of those who exchanged darkness for light. Those who fell under the spell of Lucifer’s song forgot the discernment of the “body of angels in worship of the Lord” as vital. They wanted to sing their own song perhaps even to the point of desiring everyone to sing that song instead of their own song. We see it being played out in today’s world as well with the cries for freedom and liberty for everyone to be allowed and empowered to sing their own song as individuals. It is a cacophonous sound of such diverse presentation that it becomes muddled and puddled like the blending of every color in the coloring box in one place. This is a way of thinking about that “darkness.” It is the absorption of all things. It is a “black hole” in the world like the black holes in space which sucks in the light of life and will not release it. In truth, it has lost all ability to release and give off light and so it consumes it without even thinking. That, mighty ones of God, would be an apt description of Hell. Put aside volcanic fires and pitchforks and pools of burning fire which give no light to signal their presence. Hell is a consumption of light and life until it becomes an existence of one. Who is that one? It is Satan, the fallen and cast out Lucifer. Don’t think for a moment that he had freedom for all followers to do their own thing without restraint. To put it in Star Wars vocabulary, it is a seduction to the dark side. For those who watched Disney’s Little Mermaid and cringed at what Ursula did by taking the souls (which she manipulated into being surrendered to her) of the citizens of the sea in her battle against King Triton, we saw the result of the dark, pitiful creatures left lifeless clinging to the bottom of the ocean. What happened to Ariel in her quest to human? She lost her ability to speak and sing. Scripture often portrays that place where there is “weeping, wailing and the gnashing of teeth.” That my friends is not Hell but hellish. It is grief and sadness and the song of sorrow and regret. In Hell, I fear will be the silence of eternal dying and death feeding the voice of Satan who is left to say “Look at ME!” It will not be to the citizens of Hell that he cries out to. No, he is yelling at God as if to demonstrate a superior power equal and greater than God but falling short, far short. All other voices will be consumed. They will only have his voice being channeled in anger, resentment, failure and the shadows of death. Their only light will be darkness, his ultimate reality. Can you imagine what Lucifer surrendered in order to sing his own song and remove his voice from the heavenly chorus?

I still fight the good fight of worship. I cannot surrender the old for the new. I will listen for the harmony of the music and revel when forms of old hymns are incorporated into worship so that the blending of voices sounds like that new song we are called to sing. That new song is not “our own” song. It is the song of all voices on earth and in Heaven working together for good across the vast expanse and depth of what is as God has created it. Creation is not a “one note” reality. Just as Paul said, which I mentioned previously, we are not one organ or body part bodies. To “discern the body” as we partake of communion and recognize our common union/common unity is to see the power of all parts working together being blended without being lost in the process. True freedom is maintaining one’s “true” identity, having it recognized by the One who gave that identity and then finding its fit in the mix of all who have this in common: Jesus is Lord. To do otherwise and to do less “missing the mark” as Paul defines “sin.” The result of which is not what we would truly want for anyone to experience. Rather, let us rejoice in our remembering “who we are and whose we are” in Jesus’ name. Sadly, we will not all “get to Heaven” and we will all not “sing and shout the victory.” But while on earth it should be the purpose of our song of faith and witness to invite and lead others to that true worship in spirit and in truth so that many more will be able to and less and less “miss the mark.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.