Vacant worship
Day 323, Monday, June 30
Isaiah Chapters 28 – 29
Wonder and awe are integral to real worship; over formalized or overly intellectualized worship fail to bring the heart of the worshiper in line with the heart of God.
A word from God in Isaiah 29:13-14 addresses this: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
“Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
Today’s questions about what style of worship is best aren’t really new. While the Bible may not use terms like “traditional” or “contemporary” or “seeker-sensitive,” the same questions arise in scripture—and different passages seem to have different answers.
In this particular passage, Isaiah is advocating worship that does not depend on “human rules they have been taught.” For Isaiah, worship is about a right heart, and a focus on the right words and forms is not only not necessary, but is counter-productive.
It is worship based on awe and wonder at what God has done, not on wisdom, intelligence and learning.
How would Isaiah view our worship today? Does it reflect wonder or tradition? Is it based on awe or learned words and rituals?

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Monday meditation

Job 1:1-5
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

Prayer focus
Lord, show us how to worship.