Dec 8
Planting Tabernacle, Take 1
Pam and I arrived at Uptown Baptist promptly at 2:00, over an hour before the holiday version of the Monday Night Meal was to begin. We were warmly greeted by Mattie, Garry, and Mary, who for years have been helping put the meal together every week. We set up quickly in the church parlor, placing a table full of literature in sight of the two doors in the corner of the room. The dilemma of setting up an inviting worship space played out as we constantly adjusted the enormous pocket door that separates the parlor from the gym, where the eating tables were. Too closed, and people who entered the room felt they were interrupting us. Too open, and we became dinner entertainment.
Our preparatory time with song, prayer, and scripture was good, although eventually we were done in by the need to communicate with the others who were bustling about. Toward the end, we prayed for a fellow who walked in from the street. He had just moved in faith back to the neighborhood after three years away and was looking for a job, food, and a place to stay. You never know who will show up at the door at Uptown Baptist!
Once the meal started, it proved tremendously difficult to maintain a worship space. In retrospect, I think we were distracted by the desire to have someone come in to pray. After all, had we done all this simply to worship nearby? Pam ended up inviting people in the hall as they filed out while I gave impromptu guitar lessons to the kids that inevitably gather around me. Two people who had raised their hands for prayer in the sanctuary were guided to the room. The songs I did play were reported to have been received out in the eating area with smiles. I ended by accompanying a very drunken fellow loudly improvising on “Jesus, Lover of My Soul.”
I’m not disappointed by the way the evening turned out. For one thing, I know that I’m developing a model and that this first experience applying it will shape it in invaluable ways. My vision going in was to plant a tabernacle of worship to which whosoever desired could bask in God’s presence and perhaps find salvation/healing. With only one somewhat distracted musician, we were not able to focus on seeking God’s presence. Perhaps the scriptural two or three would have been better, adding in the ministry component of intercessors and requisite administrative support types. This makes for a fairly large undertaking.
Another thing I saw was how much planting tabernacle needs to proceed from established fellowship of believers. I considered the venue akin to home turf, having ministered there many times before, but people and procedures had changed since I had last done so. We were successful in quickly building trust and shared ownership of mission with the others as we met them, but pre-established community is preferable. I could only imagine how much more difficult the project would have been if we had been walking into a totally unfamiliar venue. To tell the truth, I had been totally focused on the prayer and worship aspects of ministry and had not been at the site enough beforehand to establish relations, vision, and avenues of communication. Another example: I realized some of our web-based literature was totally inappropriate in this crowd where some would not even be able to read it. When I prepared it, I had been thinking ahead to ministering in a more technologically sophisticated context.
Finally, there is the question of results. Can I say that the .33% of diners who responded to our offer of prayer was a success? Numbers-wise, certainly not, but who knows the impact we had on those we did not intend to minister to (not to mention those whom we do not know we ministered to)? This is the inherent problem with building a model: one places arbitrary restrictions on ministry, whereas Jesus seemed to minister to whatever need presented itself. I think of the time he was “distracted” in the life-and-death matter of his friend Lazarus. Knowing his Father’s authority over even death, he allowed himself to get roped into other opportunities that arose along the way. In evaluating our efforts, then, perhaps it is enough that everyone mobilized feels called to the effort, whether we ultimately see anticipated results or not.
No commentsNov 15
Chicago Students Gather at Moody
Two to three hundred students from a dozen Chicago college and high school campuses gathered in a basement dining hall at Moody Bible Institute last night. For two and a half hours they sang worship songs, gave thanks, and prayed together for personal and geographic revival. At the end everyone cried out for each campus by name; it was particularly touching in the case where a campus was represented by one or two students. Forty minutes after it was supposed to end, nobody seemed anxious to leave.
Continue to pray for this movement, sponsored by the Chicago chapter of Campus America. Some of the campuses represented were Moody, Judson, UIC, North Park, Wheaton, NEIU, IIT, Roosevelt, Wright, Lane, IADT, and Aspira.
No commentsNov 14
Burn Together
| December 2, 2008 | ||
| 5:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
We will be meeting at the Boocoo Cafe in Evanston for our inaugural coming-together event! Starting at 5:30 p.m., buy yourself a sandwich and a drink and get to know other Burners. At 7:00 p.m., we adjourn to the performance space for some intercessory worship in the round. Bring an instrument!
No commentsNov 14
Uptown MiniBurn
| November 24, 2008 | ||
| 2:00 pm | to | 7:00 pm |
Burn Chicago will partner with Uptown Baptist Church for the Thanksgiving edition of the Monday night meal. We expect up to 600 members of the community come to one of the best holiday meals in Chicago. It is a highlight of my year!
We will meet in the Parlor for a time of intercessory worship with attenders, also offering personal prayer. Please contact me if you would like to help minister either with music or prayer. You’re also welcome to join in the meal and to attend the service in the sanctuary afterward.
Anticipated schedule:
2:00 Room setup
2:15 Preparatory intercessory worship
3:15 Workers’ prayer
3:30 Intercessory worship
6:30 Tear down
No commentsNov 14
Blaze Chicago Worship
| November 23, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm |
As part of Blaze Chicago, Christ for All Nations Church of Northfield is hosting an intercessory worship event with Sean Feucht of Burn 24-7. Phone 630-774-0943.
The following poster may be printed for promotional purposes: http://www.cwclife.com/images/Blaze%20Chicago%20(poster).jpg
No comments
Nov 14
Blaze Chicago Workshops
| November 22, 2008 | ||
| 3:00 pm |
The Christian Worship Center of Downers Grove is hosting Blaze Chicago, starting with a 24-hour Burn starting 9:00 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21.
At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, there will be workshops with Sean Feucht of Burn 24-7 and others.
The following poster may be printed for promotional purposes: http://www.cwclife.com/images/Blaze%20Chicago%20(poster).jpg
No commentsNov 14
Blaze Chicago Burn
| November 21, 2008 | to | November 22, 2008 |
The Christian Worship Center of Downers Grove is hosting Blaze Chicago, starting with a 24-hour Burn starting 9:00 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21.
As of Friday, Nov. 7, we still need teams for Friday night and Saturday afternoon Burn slots. Contact Agnes if interested: 1-630-805-0180
The following poster may be printed for promotional purposes: http://www.cwclife.com/images/Blaze%20Chicago%20(poster).jpg
No commentsAug 17
Spirit Led Worship
In 1992, I traveled out to Langley, British Columbia, for the first ever Vineyard worship conference. Through a divine appointment recounted in my testimony, I met Trevor Macpherson. The church there was learning something they called third level[1] or Spirit-led worship. The idea was fairly simple: to play as the Spirit led. Trevor would say, “If the Spirit is not present in our worship, then what’s the point of it?”
The team, including a band called Blushing Bride, contained non-musicians who could only play their instruments if they were led by the Spirit. Skilled musicians often had to be retrained to forego their abilities and follow the Spirit instead. Needless to say, this often resulted in train wrecks, such happenstance acceptable for the effort. At other times, however, all the various things the musicians and singers were doing would fit together gloriously. There were even times when they would each get pieces of the song when apart that fit together when they came together. Some of this was recorded on tape.
The usual methodology was to have the capable musicians start with a couple known choruses, then attempt to allow the Spirit to take over. Trevor also attempted to apply this approach to his preaching. He continues to track similar efforts in worship.
[1] First level being hymns, second level being choruses, and third level being the spiritual songs (odes pneumaticus) mentioned in Ephesians 5:19.
No commentsAug 17
The Ultimate Test
Of all the tests God blesses us with to, perhaps the most difficult is the one that settles the question, “Do we love God only for his blessings?” Or perhaps that is the greatest test, the others being variations as he removes blessings in different areas and aspects of our lives.
What do we call the person who loves someone only for what he or she receives?
Job answers this question quite succinctly:
His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? [Bless] God and die!
He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
The annotated NIV has an interesting note for “foolish woman.” It says, “The Hebrew word rendered foolish denotes moral deficiency.” The first time I read this, I scratched my head for a moment in puzzlement. Then I realized, “Job basically called his wife a whore!”
Job’s test was what we usually recognize as a baptism of fire: a removal of health, wealth, companionship, contentment, or peace—blessings that most of us expect to enjoy as God’s children. However, the most foundational test is that of a removal of God’s presence.
We see a version of this kind of test in Exodus 33. Even as Moses was receiving detailed instructions for the dwelling in which God would put his presence among his people, they were defeating the plan with a man-conceived, man-made, and man-manageable version: the golden calf. God realized that they rejected him even as he was drawing up the terms of his covenant with them. He was being stood up on his wedding day for public necrophilia with a rotting corpse, and he was understandably disgusted. Bound by promise, God didn’t kill off Israel, but sent her away, saying “Look. Just take everything I swore to your parents I would give you and get the heck out of my sight.”
It was actually quite a generous offer to the Israelites. Supernatural ascendancy over any who would oppose them. Wealth they didn’t have to work for. Only without his presence, which they had already rejected.
I wonder, if this story is, as Paul alleges, written for the instruction of the Church[1], what the comparable application would be. Is it that he is bound by promise to bless us with every material and spiritual blessing even if we replace him with the manageable appearance of worshiping him[2]? And would we be only too glad to receive them even if it cost us his presence? Doesn’t all this suggest that it is possible to worship him and be blessed, all the while foregoing his actual presence?
I wonder sometimes if there remains that lonely tent of meeting outside the Encampment, hidden by rocky escarpments, accessible only across the burning sands. There definitely remain a dissatisfied few that say, with Moses, “Lord, I could care less about my ease in the comfort and blessing of the Encampment. I’d sooner die in the fiery desert looking for you.” They venture out, and some never return. I wonder if they’ve found their way and remain, with Joshua, worshiping the object of their desire by the flap of the tent, content to have found all that they left and everything else besides. Or perhaps they even sit inside, face-to-face with God, receiving with joy his intimate loving words.
[2] See my essay, Idolizing God’s Presence.
No commentsAug 12
God’s Ever-Expanding Dwelling
Suppose the writers of the New Testament were correct in their assertion that God has abandoned a material dwelling for a spiritual one that forms with every gathering of those that depend on the work of Christ Jesus[1]. His dwelling shows an enduring pattern first demonstrated by the Tabernacle built through Moses, recapitulated in the temples at Jerusalem, and described by the prophets who saw heaven. In that case, we must consider how this pattern exists as a spiritual construct present now, in this world.
For the transition was quite a demonstration. No sooner had the Church been established than the former Temple was demolished, just as Jesus had predicted[2]. Then the question became, does God still dwell in this world? Those who reject the notion of the Body of Christ having replaced the Temple of Jerusalem have to conclude that God has been absent the last two thousand years. If, on the other hand, God simply did an extreme makeover of his house, what does it look like in all its transformed elements?
In general, God’s dwelling seems to have expanded greatly. For if God’s dwelling on Earth is now formed by the believers gathering in ad-hoc fashion throughout the world, it can no longer be defined by a simple geographical boundary. So we see that, in literally bursting out of the Temple, God was not escaping a prison but rather inviting the whole world into his now greatly expanded front yard. Such a development would be, in fact, the natural next step in the progression from the innovation of the Court of the Gentiles of the Temple.
In fact, the pattern of God’s dwelling can be given a historic interpretation, tracing out the fulfillment of God’s desire to formally reestablish the intimate relationship he had with people in the Garden of Eden. All the nations had gone their own way. From them, God selected one particular pagan, Abraham, to establish from scratch an anointed nation. “Anointed for what?” I think it is appropriate to ask. Answer: to work in his coming dwelling in the world.
By Moses’ time, select descendents of Abraham had grown into the planned divine nation. Now, in their midst, God set up his dwelling, a Tabernacle that was mobile like them. All the steps to God’s presence were now evident: the nations, the nation created by God set off by its encampment, the outer court for baptisms and sacrifice, an inner court limited to sanctified priests set off by another wall, and finally a second half of that court set off by a curtain behind which God’s very presence dwelt. Only a token mortal presence was allowed in the holiest place in the yearly visit by the high priest—a symbolic presence at best.
Jesus’ coming shifted everything inward, in a way. The symbolic high priest is now fulfilled by the intended permanent one, now revealed, Christ himself[3]. A reinvented priesthood taken from all Nations now cycle in and out of the Place of Meeting, where God gives them his Word in Moses’ stead[4]. And everyone else has joined the Chosen in the encampment, separated from God’s courtyard but by the easy hurdle that is placing one’s trust in Christ.
If anything, this means that the encampment has become even more raucous than the Court of the Gentiles in Jesus’ time—at least the buyers and sellers back then kept some pretense of reverence toward God. Now the grace won by Jesus allows even the unbelievers near the King’s feast, near enough to invite[5]. Just inside rocks the water of the baptismal laver in which the priests prepare the sacrifices, and next to it burns the flame that comes next[6]. For, in association with the transformation of God’s dwelling, the sacrifices are no longer symbolic animals but living selves placed there for destruction and purification by the priests[7]. And as in initial incarnations of God’s dwelling, the priests form the work force, bearing God’s Word from the Inner Court to the encampment[8], serving the newest disciples in the Outer Court[9], bearing sacrificial burdens[10].
I have to admit that I rarely entertain a priestly view of myself. Normally, I see myself with the passive throng outside, distracted by the goings-on behind me, unwilling to sacrifice, waiting to be served by Designated Servers, when all the while I should be serving.
It’s kind of like the time I was hired for a minor staff position for the first (and I think only) Promise Keepers event at Soldier Field. Arriving late the day before the Big Day, I found all my responsibilities had been taken up by eager volunteers. So I retreated from the hubbub to experience stadium seats I could normally not afford. Rita, the office manager, was incensed when she spotted me. “I’ll not have staff lounging in the sun when we’re all working so hard to put this together,” she fumed. So I was assigned to manage stage right, where I had a good view of the backside of a Hammond rotating speaker!
In the same way, anyone that calls himself or herself a child of God in Christ has become part of the extended Family that staffs the Dwelling. In my family, when I see my two-year-old attempt to contribute by swinging a broom three times her height around the floor, I smile with pleasure. So I imagine God is pleased as we grow to serve in the capacity intended around his Dwelling.
A final observation is that the outer wall that once veiled the present incarnation of God’s dwelling correlates strongly with Jesus’ first coming. Before him, only a people chosen out of the world and sanctified under anticipation of grace could enter God’s dwelling. After him, the whole world is invited to enter and sanctified by trust in the fulfillment of grace. Which leads us to consider, what could be the second wall, the one around the Inner Court?
By extension, it would be Jesus’ second coming. Just as his first coming brought the whole world into the encampment, so his second will bring it into the very courts of God’s presence. Scripture records that, unlike the encampment, the courts are deadly to the unsanctified. So it is that the Bible predicts unprecedented devastation in the Last Days[11]. And just as the Inner Court is divided by the curtain, so there will remain one last event before God’s plan to restore people to himself is completed and all who love him enter the Holiest place[12].
Hence we see that the Tabernacle is not just a heavenly pattern, but a spiritual, historical, and eschatological one as well.
©2008 M Richter
[1] See my article, Idolizing God’s Presence.
[7] Matthew 16:24, Romans 12:1.
[9] Luke 22:26, John 21:15-17.
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