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| The Lutheran Service Book, copyright Concordia Publishing House |
Day 2 – We gather together
“We
gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
he chastens and hastens his will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.”
he chastens and hastens his will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.”
Can
you hear the hymn in your head? I was reading Scripture and
commentary to get ready for this post and I just could not get this
particular hymn out of my mind. The hymn is traditionally a
thanksgiving hymn, but was originally used for patriotic purposes by
the Dutch. The last time I heard it, it was at a baptism.
I
watched the darling baby being baptized and I sat back and listened.
I didn't sing. I listened. In fact, I entered that weird vortex when
everything seems to still around you and it's just you and God.
Except it wasn't. It was me and God and the voices of a hundred of
God's precious people singing praise to His name.
“Beside
us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning;
thou, Lord, wast at our side; all glory be thine!”
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning;
thou, Lord, wast at our side; all glory be thine!”
Beside
us, joining, maintaining, at our side. Gathering together
Scripturally is almost always about relationship. This made it a
perfect hymn for baptism- it's all about relationship!
Let's
look at the Ecclesiastes 3:5 passage to refresh our memories
regarding the wording...
“a
time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones
together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;”
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;”
The
counter to casting away stones from yesterday is to gather stones
together.
What
can we learning about gathering from Scripture? Open your Bibles and
check out the following passages. I'll include the text of two
passages here for ease of use, but challenge yourself to dig in!
Genesis
25:8 “Abraham breathed
his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of
years, and was gathered to his people.”
Genesis
31:43-55
1
Kings 18:19-20
Ezra
3:1
Isaiah
11:12
Mark
2:2
John
11:51-53
Acts
13:44-45
2
Thessalonians 2:1 “Now
concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being
gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers...”
The
people and things in these Scriptures were not simply collected and
placed haphazardly. These people were gathered together for a
purpose, whether as His people or by Him as the diaspora, or even in
order to plot against Him. Even that is by His hand- gathered
together.
One
of my favorite stories of gathering is in Esther 4:10-17... If your
Bible is handy, read the whole chapter. Here, I'll focus on these
seven verses:
10 Then
Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and
say, 11 “All
the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that
if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court
without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death,
except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so
that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to
the king these thirty days.”
12 And
they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then
Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself
that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other
Jews. 14 For
if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for
the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will
perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for
such a time as this?” 15 Then
Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go,
gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my
behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I
and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the
king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I
perish.”17 Mordecai
then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
Underline
Mordecai's wisdom for Esther in verse 13:
“Do
not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any
more than all the other Jews.”
This passage in Scripture
that is all at once familiar and confusing to us, with all of it's
names and 'he said' 'she said', reminds us that God values all His
people. He sees us for sure as individuals, but He sees us as
community also.
When
we stand as Christians, we stand for the Body of Christ. We are not
living our lives for only ourselves, but for one another. And each of
you are being lived for, by your Christian brothers and sisters. The
great cloud of witnesses isn't just a fun picture of the saints gone
before us and the saints around us. It is a living and active
breathing ministry, to the whole Church...to you, beloved.
Look
around you. Who are you here for in this time and place? Who is God
gathering you to and with?
This
historical event from Esther gives us a glimpse of a moment when the
people were all gathered together for the needs of the body. Reread
verse 16:
“Then
Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the
Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not
eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women
will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is
against the law, and if I perish, I perish.'”
One
for all and all for one. Sometimes persecution brings scattering,
sometimes it brings complete and utter unity, all for Him.
What
has God asked of you in your time and place? How does this desire He
has laid on your heart, or task He has given you, gather you with His
people?
In
the end, we will be gathered together in Him, perfect and whole and
complete. Until then, let us spur one another on- casting living
stones, gathering them together, all in His time.
Discussion
questions:
Look around you. Who are you here for in this time and place? Who is God gathering you to and with?
Look around you. Who are you here for in this time and place? Who is God gathering you to and with?
What
has God asked of you in your time and place?
How
does this desire He has laid on your heart or task He has given you
gather you with His people?
(All Bible quotations are from the ESV Scripture translation.*I am unsure of who to credit for the Hymn "We Gather Together." I found it in an old file from a retreat. The author itself is unknown.)