An ear worm they call it. That tune you can’t stop whistling, that incessantly annoying refrain that has colonised your mind. This week it was Matt Redman in my ear.
“when the music fades and all is stripped away”
It has been that kind of season. All the scaffolding that supports our souls has been stripped back.
“And I simply come.”
Jesus unplugged. Without the paraphernalia of church life do I trust him, without the assistance of a great worship team and a congregation of passionate worshippers do I still seek him? O how easily I become fixated on the stuff of God, not God himself. I am reminded of St Augustine who warned us of how easy it was to become hooked on Gods good gifts that we miss the Giver himself.
Seems like the lord just answered the song we have been singing.
Could it be that this is a time for the Lord to turn to each one of us and the question he asked Simon Peter by that lakeside campfire: “do you love me more than these?”
Jeremiah’s letter dropped on the doorstep of a people stripped of home and income, status, and security. The temple they worshipped in – gone, the homes they lived in – gone, the means of drawing near to God – gone. Their reason for being in the world – gone.
However! Their dead end was God’s new beginning and 70 years of exile reset and revived the people of God to prepare them for the coming of king Jesus.
When all is stripped away what do we bring?
When the clutter of Christian culture has gone what are we left with, what do we go after. I guess that is a both daunting and exciting thought.
I am going to try and answer that on Sunday, with Jeremiah’s help! –
You might like to have a think about that too.
What does my relationship with God consist in?
What is my heart set on? When all is stripped back what’s there?
The exiles discovered the heart of worship, what about us?