(MWEEKEND LITURGY
Practice Lament
Daniel Snoke and Pastor Nameun Cho created a resource for the CCO (campus ministry) to help ministries and groups practice lament. If you are part of a group that regularly meets, or have friends you can invite over, consider working through this material together and practice lament.
Word
Read Psalm 66 and Psalm 67
(Psalm 66:1,4) “Shout for joy to God, all the earth; … all the earth worships you and sings praise to you…”
These two, short Psalms have several references to God being praised by all peoples. (See 66:1-4) While this is somewhat unusual it is not entirely unexpected. Most of the OT focuses on God’s work through his covenant people, Israel, but there was always a sense that he intended to reveal himself to all groups of people For example, when God first chose Abraham and promised to make his family into a great nation, he also promised that in Abraham’s decedents “all of the nations on the earth would be blessed (Gen 12:3.)”
Interestingly, Psalm 66 also includes several references that are specific to Israel. Verses 5-6 seem to refer to the Exodus, while verse 10-12 refer to discipline that Israel faced (how God tested and refined them through various trials), and verses 13-15 refer to sacrifices made in the temple (God’s “house”), which were specific to Israel. So, there is a curious juxtaposition of a world wide focus, and things specific to God’s covenant people.
Psalm 67:1-2 shows a connection between the two ideas.
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us–
so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.”
The first line asks for God to bless his people. The second line shows that there is a greater purpose for this blessing. It is “so that” God’s “way” and “salvation” may be known among all nations. God intends to make his salvation known among all people. But he intends to work through his people – the church – to accomplish that purpose. This is both a humbling and sobering reality. God intends to use us to reveal himself to all people.
My friend Pastor Bill Glaze at Bethany Baptist has a special interest in world missions. He has repeated a phrase so often that the entire church knows how to respond to a mission riddle. When talking about God’s purpose to use the church for world missions, he will call it “Plan A.” At which point, he will ask his church a familiar question…
If using the church for world missions is “Plan A”, what is “Plan B”?
What which point, the entire congregation will say in unison, “There is no plan B.”
There is no plan B for world missions. This calls us into pray and calls us into action. God intends to make his salvation known among all peoples, and he intends to use his church to make disciples from every nation (Matthew 28:18-20.) We need to seek help from God’s Spirit to be faithful in this task, because the challenge is real and there is no “Plan B.” (Matt Koerber)