A comedian I like recently complained about the fact that after he’d had a room in his house redecorated, he was faced with the real state of the stuff that was in it. The day before, all had seemed normal. The curtains and blinds were fine. The furniture was fine. And then a fresh coat of paint was applied. Suddenly, all of the dirt and grime that accumulates over years was seen in stark contrast to the new paint job.
Nothing shows up a stain like seeing it next to an unstained garment.
As we continue to work our way through our liturgy, we come to confession. In revelation and adoration, we behold and praise our great God. This causes a real problem for us, however, because the moment you consider that God is three-times-holy, it becomes very clear that we are not. This was Isaiah’s own experience. Faced with the site of God’s glory, he had a breakdown.
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Isaiah 6:4-5
At this point in our worship gathering, we move from singing to prayer. We pray because it is right to lament and confess our sin to the Lord. We don’t confess to an earthly priest because we can go directly to our Great High Priest who even now is praying and interceding for his people.
We confess that we have sinned but we also confess that Christ has saved. So while solemn, it is an event which is filled with hope. But we’ll consider that in more detail next week.
Sincerely,
Pastor Dan
Notices
On Saturday, we celebrated the commissioning of Pastor Dan. If you missed the commissioning service, you can view the recording of it at the church YouTube channel.
Please join us for our Tuesday Night Prayer meeting on Zoom at 7:30pm. We’ve been working our way through the Lord’s Prayer and it’s been so helpful for us in learning to shape our prayers according to the way Jesus taught us.
We’re so grateful to say that we had nine people in attendance at the first gathering of The Journey. Please join us if you’re in your 20s or 30s as we seek to find our joy in Jesus and community together. The Journey meets on Thursdays at 7pm in the Side Hall.
