Thought for Today
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
Psalm 40:4 Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;
Romans 3:28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
My theological dictionary defines the Shema as, ‘The central theological and liturgical affirmation of Judaism. It is recited in home and synagogue worship and affirms a monotheistic faith in God as the sovereign Lord. The term is the Hebrew word that begins Deut. 6:4.” Jesus was obviously familiar with the Shema.
The world’s 3 monotheistic religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity agree that there is only one God. Irrespective of the name by which that God is addressed, they all agree on there only being one God. Other religions, in history and still today, are polytheistic, believing in multiple gods. Historically, most religions were polytheistic. “In 1353 or possibly 1351 BCE, Amenhotep IV ascended to the throne of Egypt. In the fourth year of his reign, he changed his name to Akhenaten. He created a new monotheistic religion devoted to a single god named the Aten . . . This religion consumed his reign, and the changes he made were remarkable. The most notable effects of his conversion included an entirely new religious philosophy and style of artistic expression, the establishment of a new capital city, and a ruinous disregard for foreign policy. His efforts would ultimately prove to be futile, as Akhenaten and his sun cult were all but forgotten in the years following his death.” (dailyhistory.org) Aten aside, our Jewish ancestors-in-the-faith were one of the few monotheistic religions. At best, there were some brief periods of henotheistic belief, “The view that while there is one God who is supreme, other deities may also exist.” I think of this as the “My God can beat up your god” form of belief.
As I am thinking about all of this, there is one more definition that seems very important and pertinent. My theological dictionary defines worship as, “The service of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and petition directed toward God through actions and attitudes.” I think a better, more generic definition might be, “The service of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and petition directed toward the object of worship through actions and attitudes.”
That leads to the question, “What do you worship?” Where do you focus your attention, time and resources? I know those who seem to worship their cars, their golf clubs, their bass boats, etc. Sunday mornings are just as apt to find them washing and detailing their cars as at church worshiping their God. Many of us have heard a friend piously claim to be able to commune with God on the golf course or from their fishing boat and that they do not need to be in a church to find God.
In theory, it is true that we can and do find God everywhere in life. Words like omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent direct us to the fact that our Creator God created Creation and permeates all of Creation. As I look all around me, I see God. God is in the swaying of the trees I see out my window. God will be in the rain and snow showers forecast for tonight and tomorrow.
But, I wonder, is it possible to truly worship God without ever giving over my attention to God and God alone? Is it too much for God to expect me to set aside at least one hour for God to receive my undivided attention every week? Isn’t it reasonable for God to expect more than a casual and very rare “Thank You?” As much as we all like to isolate the secular from the divine in our lives, could we even have churches, Bibles and clergy without dedicating some portion of our time and financial resources to worshiping God through those same churches, Bibles and clergy?
Go back and read those verses above. We believe there is only one God. We believe we can and must trust that one God. We believe it is ruinous to pursue false gods. Christians know that when asked about “Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus responded with the Shema. And we believe that the God of the Jews is the God of the Christians, the God of the Gentiles. We believe we are called to worship God.
Stay safe, pay attention to God, trust God,
Pastor Ray