Melodie Malone

This doesn’t come as a surprise because a lot of us, whether we are willing to admit it or not, have had those same feelings. We live in a world where somehow we are more connected and yet more isolated than ever before. Technology, for all its good, has also given us a false sense of intimacy. We know how many kids the guy we sat next to in high school algebra ten years ago has now, but we no longer know how to engage with the cashier at the grocery store, much less have a deep, face-to-face conversation with those in our day-to-day lives.  Our schedules demand we simply orbit the people in our household because Sarah needs to be taken to ¹¹soccer and Jake to drum lessons, and the bills need to be paid, the trash taken out, and and and. And even surrounded by people, we can feel utterly alone, even in the church.  But have you ever stopped to wonder why? Why is there this longing, this ache in my heart that desires to be known intimately and deeply? And why, at the same time, am I so afraid of being truly seen and known? The short of it is we were made for relationship.  We see in Genesis 1 that we were created in the image of the triune God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Since before time, God has been in relationship with himself. The Father loving the Son, the Son adoring the Father, and the Spirit delighting in the Son. As image bearers, we have that same desire for perfect union and communion.  The astounding thing is the living God wants a relationship with us! It’s why we were made! And yet, God said in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that the man should be alone…” Adam needed suitable companionship on this earth.  So, from the very beginning, we see that we were made for a relationship with God and with others. And before the fall, before we decided we knew a better way, that this thing we’ve got going with the living God is great and all, but maybe there’s something better, maybe I could be my own god, we had the very relationship we so desperately long for today.  Scripture tells us Adam and Eve used to walk with God in the Garden of Eden! Can you imagine? Now, we spend most of our days trying to recover what was and is and always has been ours since the very beginning. Now, we search high and low for anything to satisfy this hunger to be known while at the same time hiding our true selves in the prettiest display of fig leaves we can design.  Because when we decided we knew better than the One who created us, sin and shame entered the story. And now we live in fear of being too much or not enough. We live in fear of rejection.  If they only knew what I have done. If they only knew the thoughts I’ve had.  And so we construct outfits of pretense and masquerade as those who have it all together. We in the Church often being the biggest offenders. And yet, we wonder why we feel so lonely. Other times, we enter an authentic community but put undue pressure and expectations on our friendships. We forget that we were created by Jesus for Jesus. We were made for relationship, but if we put the expectations of what only our Heavenly Father can provide on human relationships, they will be crushed under the pressure. Before pursuing genuine, authentic friendship here on earth, we must remember we already have the greatest friend we could ever have. There is One who sees everything we have done and knows every thought we will ever have. We consistently overlook him and reject him, and yet he chose to give his life to restore his relationship with us. Until we see and understand our gift in Jesus, we will spend our days asking the people in our lives to fill a void only Jesus can satisfy.  The woman at the well understood this. In John 4, Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman that includes him bringing up what was most likely her area of deepest shame. He tells her to get her husband and bring him back to the well. She tells him she has no husband. Jesus replies, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” (John 4:17-18 NIV)  Why on earth would Jesus do this? So that she would know how deeply loved she is. If she had gone home before Jesus brought up the husband dilemma, she could have begun to doubt Jesus’ love. Would he love me if he really knew me? But Jesus exposes the very thing she tries to hide. He wants her to know, “It is the real you that I love.”  And it is from this place of love and acceptance that we can become a space for others.  Henri Nouwen says, “As long as we are lonely, we cannot be hospitable because as lonely people we cannot create free space. Our own need to still our inner cravings of loneliness makes us cling to others instead of creating space for them.”²  Oh to enjoy friendship as a space of helping, serving, caring, guiding, and healing! It is only when we live in reality that we are fully loved and accepted by Jesus, the One who knows us best, that we see friendship as a gift not to possess but to share.  ¹ Taylor, Harry O., K. M. Cudjoe, Feifei Bu, and Michelle H. Lim. “The State of Loneliness and Social Isolation Research: Current Knowledge and Future Directions.” BMC Public Health 23, (2023). Accessed November 7, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15967-3. ² Nouwan, Henri J.M. Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. Image, 1986.

Maybe you’re like me, and you’ve read this passage so many times that now you’re actually skimming over the verses instead of truly taking them in. How about we go back together and read them one more time. Before we do, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate God’s Word in our hearts.  I love this parable from Jesus. I don’t have the best memory, but any time truth is paired with an illustration it comes to life for me. The idea of Jesus being the Vine, God the Father being the Vinedresser and the branch being a representation of us as believers is such a beautiful depiction of God’s kindness and desire for us to understand the rest we find in our relationship with him.  In this chapter, John uses the word “abide” eleven times. “Abide in me!” I read that statement and immediately see it as something I need to accomplish. Abiding is something we must do. But if we take a closer look at what the parable is saying, we see that Jesus is the one who will keep us and enable us to abide! Just as He is the one who saved us, He is the one who keeps us!  Without the vine, the branch can do nothing. The vine gathers nutrients and sustenance from the soil and provides it to the branch. And all that the vine possesses belongs to the branch! Abiding isn’t doing; abiding is accepting our position in Jesus, yielding to be kept there, and surrendering in faith to let the vine hold the branch. Our part is simply to trust and to wait and let God do the work.  For me, this has recently looked like intentionally turning my heart to a posture of listening. Positioning myself to pay attention when God speaks. Like Samuel to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)  And the crazy thing is, as I listen and trust and yield, God is lifting a weight of performance and striving off of my shoulders. He is reminding me that even my doing and working are the fruits of His work in me. And so I pray each of us may rest in the freedom Jesus is offering us today with his invitation to “abide in me.” I pray as we surrender our hearts to His Spirit we’ll be propelled by His strength, His grace and His love!

If we are not careful, the more we use the word this way, the more likely we are to debase and profane, forget, or excuse someone else’s calling that we were created to do.  You see, worship is so much more than the fifteen or twenty minutes of music before the sermon on Sunday. It’s a lifestyle! Merriam-Webster defines lifestyle as “the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture.” Whether we realize it or not, worship is our typical way of life because it is what we were created to do. Every one of us worships something or someone every moment of our lives. Because worship is our purpose, it’s not just a Christian purpose. It’s a human purpose. It’s in our wiring. In him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  Colossians 1:16 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight… to the praise of his glorious grace. Ephesians 1:4,6 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11 We were made to know God and love him in response. That is worship.  Louie Giglio says, “Worship is our response, both personally and corporately, to God—for who He is and what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.” God reveals who He is—His love, grace, kindness, goodness, righteousness, holiness, justice, patience, and compassion and we respond. But we get to decide if our response is measured and calculated or abandoned and undignified. The measure of our response will grow or shrink directly to our view of God because worship is proportional.  A high view of God results in extravagant worship. But lose sight of His greatness and “goodness,” and we will spend our days asking the created to satiate what can only be satisfied by the Creator.  The good news for us is that worship begins with God. A response is a reply—to say or do something in return. It insinuates previous actions or revelations. In worship, God reveals, and we respond.    When Abraham encounters God, he is called to obedient sacrifice, an act of worship.  When Moses leads the people out of Egypt, it is so they can worship the Lord, and Miriam leads them in worship.  When the Moabites and Ammonites attack Judah, Jehoshaphat sends out a choir before the army, and they worship.  When Job loses everything, he falls to his knees in worship.  When Elijah calls down fire from heaven, it is an act of worship.  When David dances before the Lord, it is worship.  When Hannah hands her baby son to the Lord, she sings a worship song.  When Mary knows that she is carrying Jesus, she worships.  When the wise men greet the baby Jesus, they worship.  When Simeon sees the infant Jesus, he worships.  When the widow gives her mite, all she has, as an offering to the Lord, she worships.  When the sinful woman brings her most valuable possession and pours it out on the feet of Jesus in an expression of love, she worships. When the disciples realize that Jesus is Lord, they worship him. When Paul and Silas are imprisoned for casting an evil spirit out of a woman, they worship.   Each of these encounters with God happens when God shows up in the seemingly mundane routine of life. And only one takes place in a church service. Worship is woven into the hearts of God’s people. It cannot and should not be contained to a church building or a job title. It’s a lifestyle. But so often, we are missing God in the ordinary because we fill every moment with distraction and idolatry. God is revealing, but we are failing to respond. We have substituted an intimate relationship with Jesus for simply orbiting around the things of Jesus. We are spending our time binging the next best Netflix series or watching endless TikTok videos while the very words of God are at our fingertips. Worship is proportional to our view of God. So, if our everyday lives aren’t filled with adoration for the King of Kings and obedience to His commands, maybe we need to examine who we believe Jesus to be. Do we declare His glory on Sunday but deny His Lordship on Monday?  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1 The Greek word for worship in this verse is latreia (lat-ri’-ah). It is the second most commonly used word to describe worship in the New Testament. And it means “service.” The extravagant, proportional worship we are discussing is not simply raising your hands at the pinnacle of your favorite worship song. It is a service. Paul is saying when we see what it cost Jesus to bring us from death to life, how could we do anything less than serve him for the rest of our lives with all of our lives?  And that’s why, lastly, true worship propels.  I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:21-24 Our songs mean nothing if we spend our lives preoccupied with ourselves and fail to see that God is about the world’s salvation. Worship is born out of our relationship with God. When we see Him, we will be changed. He will mold our hearts to His. As we empty ourselves, He will fill us up with His life. We will be transformed into His likeness. And we will be compelled and propelled to love and serve those He puts in our path daily. God’s heart is for His people. Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-39, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” In other words, this is how we practically live out our worship. In our offices, at our homes, taking our kids to school, at the grocery store, when we’re out to eat, hanging out with our friends—with every breath, we love God and love people.  Tim Hughes puts it this way, “God empowers and equips us to make a difference and in true worship we worry less about how we feel or whether we’re being blessed and instead prepare to be led away from ourselves to the place where we are desperate to see the transformation of society. And there, serving the poor and sharing our best with those clothed in pain and despair we discover that Jesus is already there.”

In 1847, Placide Cappeau was commissioned by his local parish priest to write a poem for their Christmas mass. Cappeau was a French wine merchant and poet. Though it was known that he often didn’t grace the pews on a Sunday morning, he knew enough to choose Luke’s gospel as the source of his inspiration. He imagined what it would have been like to witness the birth of Jesus and penned what would become the beloved carol. Cappeau then decided that his poem could use a musical touch and enlisted the help of a friend and composer, Adolphe Adams. Adams studied in Paris and wrote for orchestras all over the world. His Jewish heritage meant he did not believe in or celebrate the birth of Jesus as the Messiah; however, he accepted Cappeau’s request anyway. “O Holy Night,” originally “Cantique de Noel,” was sung for the first time at Midnight Mass that Christmas Eve.  The church in France initially welcomed “Cantique de Noel,” and for a season, it quickly became a popular Christmas song. However, after Cappeau walked away from the church and news spread that composer Adolphe Adams was of Jewish descent, the church systematically condemned the song as “unfit for church services because of its lack of musical taste total absence of the spirit of religion.” Despite attempts to blow out the light of this beloved Christmas song, people kept singing “O Holy Night.” Over a decade later, American writer John Sullivan Dwight discovered and translated the piece into English, bringing the song to life for an entirely new audience across the ocean.  Maybe you are not as captivated by this story as I am, but when I read its origin, I thought of one word: Unlikely.  This Christmas carol was created by a poet who walked away from his faith, composed by a man who did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah and was later denounced by the church in hopes that people would forget it. But isn’t that the story of Christmas? God using the unlikely to do the unthinkable?  Mary was a young, unmarried girl. She was unlikely to be chosen to carry the Messiah. But God chose her. Shepherds, the despised, and the outcasts were the first to hear of Jesus’ birth and see the good news—that the Savior had come. This was unlikely. In an unlikely, unassuming town and a simple manger, the Savior of the world was born. If you or I were writing the story, I have a feeling it would have been full of a lot more “likelys,” a few more “well-knowns,” “well offs,” and “well kepts.” The way of God and the Kingdom is always the opposite of our sin-colored thoughts. Praise the Lord it is because that means there is hope for you and me!  You and I are the unlikely, the unassuming, the undeserving—now filled with hope and worth because our Savior has come. Grace is here…His name is Jesus! And in Him, all is satisfied, and all is complete, all is at rest.  We, too, can sing,  Long lay the world in sin and error pining ‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn Fall on your knees O hear the angel voices O night divine O night when Christ was born On Christmas Eve in 1906, Reginald Fessenden, a young university professor and chemist, also did the unlikely. Fessenden spoke into a microphone, and for the first time in history, airwaves carried a man’s voice far and wide:  ”And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed….”  People were stunned as they heard Fessenden read the miracle of Jesus’ birth over the radio that night. When he was finished, he picked up his violin, and the sound of the first song ever played on the radio rang out in homes, on ships, around tables, and in hearts. The song? O Holy Night.