After silence, let the prophets speak:
Isaiah.
Amos.
Jeremiah.
Micah.
Then Psalm 15.
Who shall gather in the Presence of God?
What should worship do to our hearts?
In the 8th Century, B.C., before society collapsed, Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied. Isaiah was from the inner circles of Jerusalem. But he preached from God’s own lips against the inner circles of Jerusalem, and the sinful nation of Israel, why? Because maybe…they would come to church, and hear Isaiah’s sermon, and change their ways, and return to God. The leaders of the city and God’s people had rejected a key aspect of God’s covenant: that God blessed them through Abraham to be a blessing to all nations. Blessed to be a blessing. To watch out for the weak, to take care of the most vulnerable in society, the widows and orphans and aliens. Instead, the leaders were corrupt. Injustice was rampant. The poor got poorer and the weak, weaker. Don’t get me wrong, these hypocrites would come to worship, they would offer the right sacrifices according to the scriptures, they loved a good festival, but it was lip service, it was a sham, worship wasn’t transforming their hearts and making them serve others better. Worship was just for their own gain. Like the person who visits a church today wondering, “Will I be fed?” “I hope I like the music” “Will the Pastor tell another funny story about his cute little girls?” “I just like, need to feel like I’m forgiven”…
Meanwhile, society is crumbling, injustice is rampant, racism is on the rise, as are the sea levels, forest fires and floods, and in the face of a pandemic, many are worried about their own individual privileges. These people come to church to hear a sermon.
So Isaiah preaches:
11What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
12When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample on my courts no more;
13bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
What’s the problem here? People are greedy and selfish and violent (they have blood on their hands) and they pray, but their prayers are about themselves, and they make offerings, but their offerings are about themselves. More blessing and favor for me, please. And so worship isn’t shaping society into a more just society, worship isn’t changing iniquity. So Isaiah preaches:
17cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
The prophet Isaiah preaches. Worship should be centered on God, yes, but to encounter the radiating light, the burning presence of God, should change us and help us become the kind of blessed people who bless the nations. Instead of dropping bombs, we should give aid. Worship should motivate you to help oppressed people, to defend our weakest children, to plead the cause of our poorest women in the world.
Who shall gather in the Presence of God?
What should worship do to our hearts?
In the 8th Century, B.C., before society collapsed, God raised up a shepherd from Tekoa, south of Bethlehem, who was also a sycamore tree trimmer. A man named Amos who at one point wrote a kind of funeral sermon, a dirge, a lamentation, about the rampant sin across society, about the problem of injustice, the lies, the greed, the power, the oppression, the corruption…
In this time, God hated worship, because it was lipservice. It existed to maintain the status quo, to keep the power in power, not to overturn, not change hearts, not to declare justice and inspire righteousness. Like folks today, who come to church and don’t want to hear anything too political or too disruptive, they think Rage Against the Machine is of the devil, and church music should be a sweet sounding thing that makes them feel good. Positive. Encouraging. Bug.
Amos (ch 5) preaches:
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will break out against the house
of Joesph like fire,
and it will devour Bethel, with no one
to quench it.
7Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood,
and bring righteousness to the ground!
21I hate, I despise your festivalsand I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
23Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
God hates sweet church music in worship, unless it’s the sweet sounds of the poor being lifted up, the sweet sounds of slaves being set free, the sweet sounds of justice rolling down like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. That would be a worship service. Whoa.
Who shall gather in the Presence of God?
What should worship do to our hearts?
Oh, here’s a story, about a man named Jeremiah (ch. 7) who had to stand in the gate of God’s house.
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. 4Do not trust these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.”5For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly with one with another, 6if you do not oppress the illegal immigrants, the orphans, and the widows, or shed innocent blood in the place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt (Gods like money, sex, power), 7then I will dwell with you in this place…
Worship, at its best, if we change our hearts, and seek a different song, could be place of presence with the divine. Or we could come to church like hypocrites, and not talk about racial injustice or war or poverty or oppression.
Who shall gather in the Presence of God?
What should worship do to our hearts?
Micah (ch. 6), the prophet, who was especially sensitive to the social ills of his day, in his small town and in the little village where he lived, preaches:
6With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with valves a year old?
7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression
(no please don’t sacrifice your child)
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
4 prophets.
Isaiah.
Amos.
Jeremiah.
Micah.
4 prophets suffering the same problem:
People think church, worship, burnt offerings and festivals are about getting God’s favor for themselves, to further themselves, to feel good, to maintain their status.
4 prophets who declare the truth about worship:
It should bend your heart towards justice,
the presence of God should shape you into one who cares about all your neighbors.
Now, we turn to Psalm 15. Because its The Summer of Psalms.
All week long, when I read and reread Psalm 15, it sounded like a version of the 10 Commandments. Like Who Is Invited to Dinner at God’s house? Who may abide in God’s tent? Good people, honest people, righteous people, who follow the rules, which leaves out all the bad people, the dishonest and corrupt people. My protestant heart was offended by this, because I know Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Jesus undeniably had a particular heart for sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes. Jesus did much of his ministry on the margins of society. Wouldn’t Jesus, friend of sinners, invite the rule-breakers to dinner?
Then I realized Psalm 15 isn’t a version of the 10 Commandments. It’s not law, it’s liturgy. It’s not a psalm about the exclusion of some. It’s prophetic, which means it’s about changing hearts so that more goodness would spread and more peace and more justice. Psalm 15 isn’t about excluding people by rulebook. It’s prophetic liturgy.
You see, laws are written by those in power, often to maintain order which benefits those in power. But litergy is written by artists, and prophecy is performed to evoke a response: feelings, then actions that match feelings. Psalm 15 is liturgy in line with the prophets Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah, and Micah, who long for the Presence of God to shape us into a people of justice and compassion. Read it with me again:
Psalm 15
1O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2Those who walk blamelessly,
and do what is right,
and speak the truth from their heart;
3who do not slander with their tongue, (because that would hurt others)
and do no evil to their friends (because that would hurt others)
nor take up reproach against their neighbors (because that would hurt others)
4in whose eyes the wicked are despised (because the wicked hurt others for their own gain)
but who honor those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt (because others matter more than your own gain)
5who do not lend money at interest
(well this is a dinosaur…imagine no banks…the intention here, is that interest benefits the powerful and hurts the poor, because the poor pay the interest…imagine if God’s People everywhere wanted to develop a massive system of free money without interest for the poorest people…that would be neat)
and who do not take a bribe against the innocent (because that would hurt others).
Those who do these things
shall never be moved.
Why shall they never be moved?
Because society would more stable,
the earth would be healthier,
the gaps and fractures in our economy would be resolved,
the gaps and fractures between neighbors would be healed,
the gaps and fractures between us and God would be no more.
Psalm 15 asks the same question the prophets ask:
Why go to be in God’s presence? And How? And Who Shall We Be After Church?
Do you go to church to be blessed,
to seek God’s favor,
to get answers to your own self,
or do you go for the sake of the world,
for the sake of others,
that justice might flow down like the waters,
and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.
Psalm 15 isn’t about rules. It isn’t law.
Psalm 15 is a call to worship,
it is liturgy, it transcends any one of our lives,
it is the “rehearsal of a purpose, and a possibility” (Interpretation: Psalms)
that you might care for others,
that you might see yourself connected to those around you, even those who have wronged you,
that you might see your ancestors in today’s immigrants,
that you might see the greed in our system and call it out and change it,
that you might see the racism and work to become an anti-racist,
that you might do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with our God.
Psalm 15 transcends our lives, and asks if we hope for this kind of life, if we want this kind of life, if we might be willing to try.
May you try and when you fail, when society fails again,
May you come to know that by the grace of God,
Christ has overcome the sufferings of this world,
and faith in this grace may regenerate you, regenerate you
to try again tomorrow,
not because it is required of you,
but because experiencing the Presence of God changes you to love others. Amen.
