Devotional 2-4-11

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Isaiah 58:6-7

Churches expend a great deal of energy trying to figure out how to worship. Should it be traditional or contemporary? Pipe organ or praise band? Chairs or pews? Ordered or spontaneous? Well-meaning people make passionate arguments that one form or another is somehow superior, whether superior is defined as more rooted in scripture and tradition or more likely to draw in more people.

I’m not pointing fingers—this is confession time for me. I’ve been in a lot of those discussions for several years, and have made some of those impassioned pleas. I want a worship style that is pleasing to me, that makes feel happy and good. I want to come to church, enjoy my time there, and leave feeling better.

I am convicted by this week’s lectionary passages, and particularly the reading from Isaiah 58, a portion of which is printed above. True worship, according to the prophet, is about more than ritual to make me feel better. True worship requires us to get involved, not only during the 11:00 a.m. hour, but the rest of the week. Piety, singing hymns, and praying, in and of themselves, will not bring about God’s kingdom of justice and righteousness. God expects us to act to make the kingdom a reality. Who will feed the hungry if not us?

Here are some startling statistics from Bread for the World, the non-profit hunger-fighting organization led by David Beckmann:

• 925 million people are hungry.
• Almost 16,000 children die each day from hunger-related causes. (That's one child every five seconds).
• In 2008, nearly 9 million children died before they reached their fifth birthday. One third of these deaths are due directly or indirectly to hunger and malnutrition.

Am I looking for a worship experience that will move me to participate in ending hunger? Or do I want worship to lull me into continued complacency?

If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. Isaiah 58:10-12

As worshiping Christians, we should be about the business of ending hunger. We’d better get busy.

Amen.

Jeff Taylor