Dearest Rachel –
With the multi-front war going on in the Middle East, it was determined the other Sunday to make the weekly communal moment of prayer about the situation. The thing is, given the fog of war, it’s hard to know what, exactly, to ask God for; aside from the question of the good guys and bad guys, there are doubts about the objectives and tactics – and is any of this in line with anything in the sovereign will of God? After all, how dare we ask for something that might well be diametrically opposed to what He actually wants for the region (at least for now)?
Ultimately, the pastor decided to eschew the usual slide listing several possible topics to ask God for regarding the situation. Instead, he asked the worship team to repeat the chorus of the last song sung of the day’s set – “All Hail King Jesus” – and requested that the congregation sing along as a prayer of sorts. The idea was that, whatever happens there, we need to acknowledge that God is in control, that everything that happens is according to His plan – or, at the very least, none of it comes as a surprise to Him, and He can make it work out for the best, as He defines that – and that He will; and we need to praise Him for that.
One thing that went unsaid (and indeed, it’s possible that it didn’t necessarily occur to our pastor when he suggested this as our ‘prayer’) was that this chorus will be the thing we will all say to Him at the end of days, no matter what. “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess,” we are told, “that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Now, the idea that this would happen in the Middle East, where most of the population is either Jew or Muslim (and the adherents of those faiths are the ones at each other’s throats, for reasons both absurdly simple and obvious, while at the same time, historical and complicated), strikes one as utterly ridiculous. One denies that He is the Messiah they’ve been looking for for millennia, while the other acknowledges him as a prophet, but nothing more – indeed, their sacred text allegedly quotes Him explicitly denying the claims to Deity He made in the New Testament (which, oddly enough, they also claim as canon, albeit subservient to their new and improved book of holy writ). With that being said, it seems unlikely that the current belligerents will now their heads or bend their knee, and make this statement. As British diplomat Sir John Troutbeck observed during the initial chaos of Israel’s initial establishment in the late 1940s, “Why can’t [the Arabs and the Jews] behave like good Christians?” Not sure if that was spoken out of profound ignorance or it was just another example of understated British wit, but it does underline the fact that our song-as-prayer would not be offered by many over there in the midst of it all.
And yet – since God is all-powerful – we are assured it will happen. Maybe not on this side of eternity, but (assuming our faith is correct) on the other side of it. It would certainly be better for all concerned – including God Himself, who tells us He takes no pleasure in meting out punishment (especially eternal punishment), but wishes that all would come to salvation – if that takes place in the here and now, but for those who refuse that opportunity in this life, well… there’s always the next, although at that point, if they sing His praises, they will be singing them through clenched teeth, as they will likely be gnashing them in pain.
But then, that’s what they asked for. I’ve seen, once or twice in my newsfeed, some irritated commentor claiming to be irked by the news site’s obvious bent towards Christianity hand-in-glove with its conservatism – the newly minted term “Christo-fascist” has been bandied about a bit. It seems that the commentor does not fancy being restricted to the God of the Old and New Testament in terms of his chosen object of faith, and that he should be allowed to worship (or not) as he pleases, and the idea of a God demanding universal praise from humanity appears to offend him. How dare, it would seem, that some being claiming to be God (or rather, some group of people claiming to worship a “One True God” – but then, who would worship a god that wasn’t?) insist that everyone on earth agree in lockstep as to who He is and that He deserves everyone’s worship?
To be fair, this being America, such an objection is his right; after all, since God Himself doesn’t prevent him from doing so, far be it from anyone else (especially the government) to stand in his way. In fact, I’ve been going through Ezekiel again in my daily read-through at the moment, and even God, in rather fed-up tones, tells the stubborn Israelites to go and fulfill their vows to Astarte, the Queen Mother Goddess as they intend to, but with a heavy undertone of ‘don’t come crawling to Me if you should need anything.’
I have no idea how time runs on your side of the veil, honey. I don’t know if your consciousness has you already at the foot of His throne (after all, Jesus told the penitent thief that “this day” he would be with Him in paradise), or if you’re, as Paul put it, asleep until the sounding of the trumpet on the Last Day. In either event, I tend to assume that, once there, should you choose to look down upon creation as it was or is, you can, since you are, like your Brother the Son, no longer constrained by the flow of time as perceived by humanity in this universe. In effect, heaven has become the TARDIS you always dreamed of flying in. What do you see, where (and when) do you go? And while I can imagine points of history you would want to visit, have you been to that moment where every knee bows, and every tongue confesses? And what is that moment (assuming it is a single moment) like?
Moreover, how is it stated? Surely, while there will be multitudes praising Him with the words, is it even really ‘praise’ to make a statement of fact? I’ve always wondered the same thing about that first line in the Lord’s Prayer – “Hallowed be Your Name,” or “may Your Name be holy” or “Your Name is holy” – that last interpretation is true, if what we believe (and what Jesus said) is; where’s the praise in making a statement such as this, if that’s so? The demons, as James puts it, could say the same thing (although for once, they wouldn’t be lying), but they certainly wouldn’t intend it as praise.
Which brings us back to the folks, like that one commentor on my news feed, who do not wish to praise a God they do not believe in now, but will be ‘forced’ to at some point in the future – much like one who refuses to accept that the law of gravity applies to him and steps off of the edge of the Sears Tower downtown, only to eventually become deeply embedded in the surface of Wacker Drive. Will they be offering God and Jesus praise when they acknowledge His Lordship? Or will it be done through clenched teeth, parched and cracking lips, and a throat seared dry by the heat of every particle around them, no longer held together by a God they didn’t want near them, coming apart and flying around in the ultimate eternal chaos?
It would be best to praise and acknowledge Him now, as opposed to later (although whether it’s later from your perspective is hard to say; you were such a grammar maven in life, but I wonder if you have trouble with your tenses these days); wouldn’t you agree, honey?
Letters to Rachel 