Day 18 The Promise of God in Person

Posted on: March 26, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Isaiah 64:1

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down. . . .

Isaiah 59:15b-17

The LORD saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then his own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

Zechariah 2:10-11

“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

Picking Up the Thread

Shortly after the temple dedication, the LORD appeared to Solomon. God reiterated the promise of dwelling with his people in the temple. However, he also issued a warning: “But if you turn aside from following me . . . and . . . go serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them . . . and this house will become a heap of ruins” (1 Kings 9:6-8). Indeed, within a few years, Solomon would forsake the LORD for the gods of the many foreign wives he took. Within a century, the kingdom would split in two.

Through the centuries even after periods of renewed faithfulness, idolatry and injustice seduced God’s people. Finally, after decades of warning through the prophets, in 587 BC the LORD allowed the Babylonians to capture Jerusalem, destroy the temple and carry off the people for seventy years. During that exile, they cried out to the LORD to purify their hearts and restore them to Zion. They clung to the promises that accompanied the prophets’ warnings. The LORD had declared that in the end, he would have to come himself to save his people. God’s plan resonated with their deep desire, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1).

The whole history of Israel becomes a paradigm for the human race. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot clean up our act. We cannot change our hearts. We may strive to create a good life apart from God, but we always fail. We clash with each other in self-pursuits. The stronger dominate the weaker. The crafty cheat the simple. The greedy take all they can. As a human race, we bring destruction and chaos upon ourselves.

Our verses from Isaiah 59 portray God’s coming to the same conclusion: “The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was . . . no one to intercede” (Isaiah 59:16). God knew that to save us he would have to take responsibility for those he made. He would have to avert his own wrath against our corruption of his good creation. Without taking away our free will, God would enact a way to change the human heart from the inside out.

In old movies, we might see the hero take off his coat and then roll up his sleeves. He bares his arms for the fight, revealing his prowess and his preparedness. This signals that he is ready to take on the villain. We see this same intention when Isaiah writes, “The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations” (52:10). God promised to come down here and by his own “arm” dispatch the enemy, both within and without, to make things right. As we see in the Zechariah passage, the LORD promised to dwell in the midst of his people in a greater, more intimate way than ever before since Eden (Zechariah 2:10).

Often Biblical promises are multi-layered. A people in exile would have rejoiced just to get back to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and return to how the LORD used to meet his people there. Indeed, that happened. But they realized it wasn’t enough. A greater arrival of God in their midst was needed. For centuries more, they watched for the LORD to come as a mighty redeemer. They focused on the passages about a warrior savior who subdues enemies. However, they overlooked the surprise arrival of a suffering servant who could remake not just the nation but the human heart.

Stitching It In

The decisive change that leads to spiritual transformation involves the humility to say, “I can’t. But God, you can.” This fundamental insight from Scripture is embedded in the first of the “Twelve Steps” of Alcoholics Anonymous: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.” No one goes there easily. One of my toddler’s first sentences is the heart cry of every human, “I can do it myself!” Oh, how we try to live managing our own lives. How we don’t want to need God! Or, for that matter, anyone else.

Once more, Isaiah cuts straight to the quick: “You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say, ‘It is hopeless’” (Isaiah 57:10). Instead, each morning, we regather our self-strength and try once more to solve our lives in our own wisdom and strength. If we are blessed, we come to the realization of how helpless we are before too much irreversible harm has been done. We finally call out, “O that you come down to save me!” (paraphrased from Isaiah 64:1). It is then we discover how the LORD has been waiting to hear this. He knows there is no one to intercede, so he has bared his holy arm in order to save us.

Praying Along the Pattern

I have been missing you with an ancient longing.

Since Eden, we have felt the inconsolable loss.

For so long I did not know how to say it.

There was just a missing piece,

Something more I knew was supposed to be there.

But I did not want to ask you for it.

I feared what I might lose if you came down.

Yet all the time the pit in me deepened.

I kept trying to fill it with more of myself,

And only fell further into nothingness.

In your mercy, you let my misery go on,

Until at last, but not for the last time,

I said, “I can’t. You can. Oh my Father,

Would you come down? Would you

Bare your holy arm, scatter the darkness

And dwell with me once more?”

Posted in: Lent

Day 17 God Dwells in the Temple

Posted on: March 25, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

1 Kings 8:22-24, 27-30

Context Note: This passage presents Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem.

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”

Picking Up the Thread

The LORD’s people carried the ark of the covenant through the forty years of wilderness wandering. They arrived in the land promised to them, yet for more than 400 more years, the tabernacle of the LORD’s presence remained in a tent, not a permanent structure. Around 1000 BC, King David desired to create a magnificent temple for the LORD. Through the prophet Nathan, God commended David for this vision but also told him the temple would be a work for David’s son to complete. This news came wrapped in the promise of steadfast love to the line of David. There would always be a king on the Davidic throne (2 Samuel 7:4-17). In today’s passage, we see how the word of the LORD came true. David’s son Solomon oversaw the construction of the temple and then held a huge dedication service.

In his magnificent prayer, Solomon acknowledges the paradox that the uncontainable Creator God could live in a human-made structure: “Behold heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house” (1 Kings 8:27). Surrounding religions might well have thought that their gods actually dwelt in the temple humans built. But the Hebrews knew better. The one true God transcends earth and even the cosmos. God is beyond and independent of the universe. He does not require his creation. His power does not wax and wane according to the levels of devotion of his worshippers. Yet by his own choice, the LORD is also immanent. That means he can accommodate himself to our capacity. He can get down on our level. Without restricting himself at all, the LORD can choose to be particularly present to his people in one place. How can it be that our God can be everywhere all at once and still in a particular place at the same time?

The key is relationship. Unlike the capricious gods of Israel’s neighbors, the LORD of Israel remained steady in his freely chosen care for his people. Solomon grasped this in praying, “[T]here is no God like you . . . keeping covenant and showing steadfast love” (1 Kings 8:23). The God who is beyond time and space enters the place and time of worship in the temple without at all compromising his omnipresence. Through his relationship of love, he stoops to make his name, his essence, especially present in the temple. For centuries following Solomon’s prayer, the LORD would be faithful to his promises to meet his people there.

Stitching It In

From childhood, I was taught that the answer to the question “Where is God?” is always “Everywhere!” Indeed, I love the Isaac Watts hymn “I Sing the Mighty Power of God” in which we sing, “And everywhere that man can be / Thou, God, art present there.” In that sense, no one place is holier than another. Wherever we are, we have access to the God who made us and loves us.

However, we also know that in the way we experience the world, it’s easier to find God in some places more than in others. Do a quick diagnostic. Do you find God’s presence during stop-and-go traffic on an interstate as easily as when looking at a mountain view? Of course not. Our awareness of the God who is everywhere gets enhanced not only by environment but also by familiarity and history.

I am moved to pray when I go into the Dunham Chapel where I have worshipped with a beloved community for twenty years. I feel the resonance with all the moments I’ve met Christ there at his table. Even in silence, I hear the instruments tuned to his praise. The hymns we have sung there echo in my soul. In that room, I’ve led two of my children to take sacred vows of marriage. I’ve claimed the resurrection of Jesus for my father. I’ve taught Bible stories to children and experienced being “inside” the story of Jesus through the stained glass windows. Sure, God is just as present on the burning pavement of the parking lot, but I make connection much more readily in that little temple.

What are some of your favorite meeting places with the God who dwells with us? Perhaps there’s a chair where you meet the LORD daily in prayer and Scripture. Maybe there’s a place you visited only once, but it still inspires you. Maybe the “place” is a song you return to or particular passages you keep reciting. Visit these temples in your prayers today. Give thanks that though the reaches of interstellar space cannot contain our God, he still visits you consistently in particular places where you seek him.

Praying Along the Pattern

You are faithful, O God our Father!

You show up when we gather in your name.

You let yourself be found when we seek you

Where you have given yourself to be known:

In Scripture and the breaking of the bread.

I thank you especially today for

The sanctuary and chapel at our church,

For the tree I sat in daily in high school,

For the chair where I meet you now,

With coffee and a Bible before the street lights

Blink off in the dawn.

I thank you for passages from which

You spring from the page into my heart.

I thank you for walks in the woods,

And Christmas Eve services,

For midnight contemplations and sunrise Easters,

For the awareness that around the world

In every hour prayers rise and you reply.

Blessed are you, God of steadfast love.

Posted in: Lent

Day 16 God Dwells in the Tent of Meeting

Posted on: March 24, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Exodus 25:8-9; 29:41-46

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you, concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and all of its furniture, so you shall make it.

The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

Picking Up the Thread

Several key depictions of God’s dwelling with his people appear in these verses. Although a tabernacle is simply a dwelling, the word usually has spiritual associations meaning the place on earth where a god chooses to be known to a people. In that sense, “the sanctuary” is another way of saying “the tabernacle.” For us who worship the one true God who is everywhere all at once, the tabernacle is the place where God adapts himself to our limitations. He covenants to show up in a particular place. The people would go to the tabernacle to worship and to offer sacrifices for sins or make offerings of thanksgiving. They would go to offer their prayers to the LORD. Again, God can hear us from any place, but he accommodates himself to our need for a consistent place set apart where we can count on connecting with God. Thus, the tabernacle was a symbol of God’s dwelling with his people, a symbol of a reality they experienced.

After they left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land, the people first had two such holy places. The tabernacle was set up in the center of the camp. Inside it was the ark of the covenant containing the Ten Commandments. On top of the ark was the mercy seat, the place where the blood of atoning sacrifice could be offered. The tabernacle reminded the people of what the LORD had done in the past, assured them of a future in the promised land of Canaan, and became the focus for present relationship with the God who dwelled with them in the tabernacle in a special way.

In the early days after Egypt, the tent of meeting was separate from the tabernacle. It was erected outside the camp, and Moses could go there to speak with the LORD. The people could see Moses and God were talking when the pillar of cloud came down to the tent. But not only Moses prayed there for “everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting” (Exodus 33:7). Eventually, the tabernacle was set up inside the tent of meeting. Whenever the people moved ahead in the wilderness, they carried all the pieces of the tabernacle and tent of meeting, setting it all up in each new place. In this way, the dwelling of God with his people went wherever his people went. Israel’s God was never confined to one geographic location. But in every place, these accouterments of worship affirmed one central desire of the LORD: “I will dwell among them.” God passionately and persistently longs to be in the midst of his beloved.

Stitching It In

The free intimacy between Adam, Eve and the LORD in the Garden of Eden was severed. The tabernacle in the tent of meeting allowed the people to enter into relationship with the God who had redeemed them from slavery. But the very holy nature of the ark, the jar of manna, and the mercy seat, all kept veiled behind the curtains, reminded the people that God was not safe. His holiness was dangerous. Their mission to become a people of his own possession in Canaan was serious business. The LORD intended to bless and redeem the world through their distinctive worship and witness. However, many times in their history Israel would yearn for a more manageable god. They would grow weary of all the sacrifices. They would long for freedom to be more like their neighbors. Being the chosen ones placed a heavy burden on the former Hebrew slaves. The world depended on them. Their God expected much from them.

Thus, these symbols and rituals of worship played a crucial role in maintaining their distinct identity. The ark with the tablets of the law, carried for forty years through the desert, reminded the people of what God had done for them. As Moses would say, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?. . . Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders . . . by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm . . . all of which the LORD your God did for you before your eyes. To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other beside him” (Deuteronomy 4:7-8, 34-35).

The LORD God was reweaving his tapestry of humanity flourishing as his image makers and remaking the earth into a Garden temple again. He honors us by asking for our participation. We have a new pattern to present to the world, and it is glorious. But it is not natural to our inwardly focused wills. To live within God’s new pattern, we require the rhythm and ritual of worship, both personal and corporate. We need the signs that remind us of all God has done. The story of his Word rehearsed and pondered over and over. The sacraments enacted. The clear teaching that propels us to live and show a more beautiful pattern. For what news we have to share! God dwells with his people!

Praying Along the Pattern

I confess Lord Jesus Christ that sometimes

I wonder if it really matters that I tell your story.

Aren’t there many ways and many gods that work for people?

Can’t people just choose and find their own way?

Won’t it all work out in the end?

But then I remember the story of what you did.

I recall why you commanded me to rehearse it.

For when a son asks,

“What’s the meaning of these laws God gave us?

Why do they matter anymore?”

You told fathers how to reply,

“We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And

The LORD brought us out with a mighty hand.”

You are no abstract set of ideas.

You are not a philosophical option.

You are the God who saves,

Ever since we were made and until time ends,

You are the God who reaches in and pulls us out.

I was blind, but now I see, at least a little bit.

I was lost, but now I have tasted home.

I messed up, did some damage,

But found the real atonement of grace.

I was alone as alone could be, but now

I know that you are with me.

Who has such a God as this!

You dwell with us forever.

Posted in: Lent

Day 15 God Dwells in the Garden Temple

Posted on: March 23, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

WEEK THREE
GOD WILL DWELL WITH US!

Chas Hathaway. I Will Help. ChristianArtExpo. Etsy.

In these next two weeks, we will reverently contemplate what I believe to be the Golden Thread of Scripture. The very heart of the story is God’s intent to dwell among us in communion so intimate that we will know that we are his people and the LORD I AM is our dear God. Simply put, the LORD I AM wants to be with us. He refuses to be without us. And so no matter how we have torn the pattern, he has a plan to reweave his tapestry of created life. No matter how much we have run from him, the triune God has a way to come find us and sew us back into his story. The Golden Thread of Scripture’s tapestry is God with us forever. This is also the priceless thread with which our lives are stitched together in hope and joy.

God’s dwelling with us weaves through the whole narrative of Scripture. A means for our relating personally and lovingly to our Creator was established in the beginning. We were meant to walk with God in the Garden sharing sweet communion. But through our rebellion, we lost access to Eden. The rest of the story of Scripture reveals God’s plan to re-establish connection. To be with us. To be in relationship with us. In our metaphor of the tapestry, the golden central strand was frayed by human sin. But God is enacting a plan to repair this connecting strand of his presence with us. He intends to reweave the whole tapestry of creation around this thread of his dwelling once again with us.

This dramatic painting envisions a Jesus who has traversed the lowest valleys and highest peaks reaching out to us. He wants to gather us to himself and come alongside us for our journey through the ups and downs of life in the world. He is the God who simply will not be without us.

GOD DWELLS IN THE GARDEN TEMPLE

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Genesis 2:7-8, 15, 19, 22, 25; 3:8

[T]hen the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Picking Up the Thread and Stitching It In

I love this “hands-on” account of the creation of humanity. In Genesis 1, we read how God brought forth everything by the creative authority of his Word. In Genesis 2, we see the tender, personal interaction between the Creator and his image bearers. This version is “anthropomorphic,” showing God who is eternal spirit in terms descriptive of how a human would act. Therefore, some might say this account is primitive and merely metaphorical. But that would be to miss its profound depths. A metaphor is always meant to show something real through comparison. We take in its word pictures in all their evocative specificity to receive an understanding of what they point to. If we try on these verses according to their own terms, we will experience how they take us to some intimate truths about our Creator. We will discover how rich, how deep and how true these words are. Let’s look closely at a few threads.

Personal Engagement. We witness the LORD God creating the first man with personal shaping. In God’s “hands,” Adam was made from the stuff of earth. But that’s not all. How intimate is the picture of God’s breathing his own breath into the man’s nostrils! When we recall that the Hebrew word for “breath” is the same word for “spirit,” we feel the intended communion. God’s own personal Spirit brings the physical body to life. We live as God’s image by his breath, his very Spirit, respiring within us.

Participation Planned. Genesis visualizes the LORD as the great Gardener who prepared Eden for his supreme creation. With an artist’s anticipation of showing his beloved his work, God takes the man—how? By the hand. In his own divine hand! He places Adam in the Garden as a participant in its shaping and growth as if to say, “Here, I created all this out of nothing, but I left some work for you to do. I want you to bring your mind and creative spirit to bear through your hands and muscles to tend this creation over which I have placed you.”

Then, in a playful, touching scene, the LORD of all fashions the animals and shows them one by one to the man: “Take a look. Give each a name, and I will call it by that name too.” We cannot create out of nothing. But our God made us to participate with him in ordering all life.

Communion Completes Us. The very life of the triune God is a communion of love. Father, Son and Spirit ever dance in and out of one another. Creation came from the overflow of this love. Thus, God made his image bearers for relationships of love with him and one another. Again, we see deep intimacy and direct involvement as the LORD takes a rib from Adam to form the woman. The word translated here as “helper” means one called alongside to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. To fully be who we were made to be, we need to be in relationship with others. In the beginning, nothing stood between the man and the woman. They were completely exposed to one another. All was known and no shame provoked hiding.

To Be With Us Directly. Nothing stood between our first parents and the Creator. Eden was made to be a meeting place between God and humanity. The LORD withdrew enough of his radiant omnipotence that his creation could meet with him directly without being destroyed. Scripture has always portrayed the one true God as being mighty enough to create all things yet tender enough to relate personally and truly to his creation. He accommodates himself to our frailty and does not chide us for our limitations. In the beginning, God dwelt among his people.

Daily Meeting. Finally, and sadly, we learn so much about what was intended just as all was lost. Scripture tells us that after Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, the LORD came walking in the Garden in the cool of the evening. We get the sense that this was part of the rhythm of life in Eden. God did not beat down upon the man and woman with a constant, inescapable, overwhelming presence. He withdrew so that they could enjoy and tend the Garden. At the end of the day, he walked to them. That is, God accommodated himself to a form that was recognizable and relatable to them. He came to be with them. The Garden was a temple, a meeting place between God and humanity. That has always been the plan!

Praying Along the Pattern

Father, these words make me ache!

For what is and what is lost.

I hear how personally you shaped us.

The uniqueness of my body,

The one-of-a-kind information in my cells,

These are your fingerprints upon me!

I feel the closeness of your breath,

As I breathe the life-giving air.

My very respiration in all its necessity

Is but a sign of how you blow life into me.

I have known the goodness of work,

When the effort expended seems to flow

From a great desire to do, make, or shape,

To join you in ordering creation.

Now I know why sunset makes me sad.

Not just the ending of another brief day.

But ancient memory that this is when

You walked with us in sweet communion.

Oh come again to make this tired earth

An Eden where we can be close as breath,

Close as voice, close as heartbeats

With you and one another.

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights. c. 1500, Musea del Prado, Madrid.

Posted in: Lent

Day 14 The Lamb on the Throne

Posted on: March 22, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Revelation 7:9-17

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Picking Up the Thread

Today’s scene before the Lamb enhances a theme begun in yesterday’s passage. Let’s go back and explore it in more depth. The angelic beings proclaim the worthiness of the Lamb to open the scroll of God’s future for creation. In their praise, they declare, “[B]y your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe . . . and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).

This harks back to one of the LORD’s original purposes for his people. Uniquely gifted with consciousness, speech, reflection and capacity to relate to our Creator, we were made to give voice to all creation in praise. When the world fell, humanity’s intimacy with God was severed. We lost our deep connection with each other and with all creation over which we had been placed. Each person became imprisoned in the loneliness of self. God’s long-term plan of salvation, however, included calling one particular people to be a light in the dark for all people. We hear this in Exodus when the LORD speaks to his people after the blood of the lamb saved them from the angel of death and his mighty power led them through the Red Sea:

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus19:4-6)

God’s people are set apart as a community that reflects the harmony and justice of his design for human flourishing. We who belong to the LORD have always had a priestly function. We represent to the world the one true God who has revealed himself in mighty acts of salvation recorded in his Scripture. We speak and show the truth of the triune God. We also represent humanity to God. We intercede for the lost, taking their side as we ask God to send his Spirit into their hearts. We strive against the darkness as we pray for peace, goodwill, right ordering and true justice to prevail.

Above all, we are worship leaders. We put into words the praise of the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb who has redeemed us by his blood.

In today’s passage we see a vast multitude called out from every ethnicity standing before the Lamb in worship. Though their native languages are many, they speak in one worship voice: “Salvation belongs to our God!”

All these people of various tribes share striking similarities. They are each dressed in dazzling robes and holding palm branches that represent both victory and the peace that follows. These are the witnesses to the truth of who Jesus is and what he has accomplished, both in them and in the world. The same Greek word underlies not only “witnesses” but also “martyrs.” This multitude includes the martyrs who lost their lives under persecution. They have discovered that though we die, yet shall we live.

Curiously, their dazzling robes have been made white by the blood of the Lamb! Nothing stains quite so stubbornly as blood. But the Lamb’s blood is so strong in its atoning power, it washes away all that is dull, soiled, muted or compromised in us. Covered in the blood of the Lamb, we shine in a glory that is not our own yet makes us most truly who we were made to be.

Stitching It In

It’s crucial to note the communal nature of this scene. We are often very individualistic in our faith. We can mistakenly think that all that matters is my personal, private response to Christ. But a true reply of faith to Jesus means being united to him. United to the body that is his person, but also, and just as truly, united to his body that is his bride, the church. Yes, we were redeemed for communion with the triune God. But we were redeemed just as surely for communion with the worshipping community of saints. We are not monads, a word that means solitary, self-contained, self-fulfilling creatures. That isolation leads to idolatry of my wishes and way. And so leads to the loneliness of hell! Rather, we are members of a body, a body with myriad members of all types and functions yet united by the praise of the Lamb.

When we reach up and out from ourselves to worship the Lamb who alone is worthy, the heavenly beings make a reply! Our hesitant songs and feeble croaks evoke a symphony of angelic music. Seeing and hearing us praise as redeemed creatures, the immortal spiritual beings fall before the wisdom of God who could work such a mighty redemption. They take up the strands of our worship and magnify them in celestial worship.

Moreover, we discover that there is no more unifying act than raising hearts and voices in praise. Do you ever feel that in worship as you glance around at the people whose stories you know, as you marvel at the work of love done in their lives? Sometimes when I am singing to the Lamb, I have held in my mind’s eye people, even loved ones, who have hurt me. I have imagined those who have wounded me singing praise next to me, all of us discovering the power of the Lamb’s blood to atone. In Christ, we enter communion with God and one another.

Praying Along the Pattern

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne

And to the Lamb!

Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and

Thanksgiving and honor and power and

Might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.

Yes, Lord Jesus!

You are the Lamb who was slain yet lives.

You are the Lamb in the midst of the throne.

You are both the Lamb and our Shepherd.

You guide us to springs of living water,

You promise to wipe away every tear from our eyes.

So unite us in imagination and worship

With the all witnesses who have gone before us,

With the angelic beings even now praising you,

With the communion of the saints

Who are all around us and whom we will meet this day.

May this heavenly vision bring

Reconciliation with all from whom we are estranged,

And may it unite us ever more to your church,

And propel us into the world as witnesses to your glory.

Posted in: Lent

Day 13 Who Is Worthy?

Posted on: March 21, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Revelation 5:1-14

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

Picking Up the Thread

The book of Revelation recounts a vision John was given. He saw through the veil into the heavenly throne room of God. Christ Jesus himself commissioned John: “Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after that” (Revelation 1:19). John would behold the present reality of worship around the throne. He would also see unfolding what was to come, the foreseeing of God’s redemptive plan for the earth. Early on in his vision, John sees a scroll sealed up with unbreakable seals in the hand of the Creator on the throne. He is dismayed because no one is found worthy to break those seals and discover what is within. His sorrow only dissipates when there appears the Lamb who was slain and who alone can open it.

Christopher Powers. Revelation 5:5. October 2019, https://www.fullofeyes.com/revelation-55/

The artist Christopher Powers rendered this image of the Lamb with the scroll. In his blog, Powers comments on the meaning of this event: “The context of “weep no more” in Rev.5:5 is that the “scroll” seems unable to be opened. . . . And what does that mean? Well, I think—and there are many interpretations of it—I think the scroll represents God’s purposes in history. In that sense, we might say that it represents all the hopes, all the longings, all the anticipations of God’s people. It is God’s kingdom coming and His will being done in heaven and earth. Therefore, the inability for this scroll to be opened is the worst thing imaginable. If it were not opened, it would be worse than hell itself, it would be the failure of God . . . the thwarting of His purposes . . . beauty devoured in chaos, hope swallowed up in despair, light extinguished in darkness . . . that is what the unopened scroll would mean.”

The scroll represents God’s future purposes for creation. His plans. The possibilities of what lies ahead for the flourishing of humanity on the earth.

What does it mean that no one in creation was found worthy to open the way to God’s glorious future? It means that creation itself cannot sustain its own existence. Beings of finite capacity cannot manage or shape a universe so vast and complex as ours. Created beings, no matter how mighty, cannot forge themselves a future of everlasting life.

Simply put, we cannot even keep ourselves alive. We cannot reconcile warring humanity, nor fill in each empty heart. We cannot stem our high propensity to foul everything up, nor can we lift the weight of guilt from our attempts to have life on our own terms. We cannot make everything turn out all right. That discovery is an occasion for sorrow. This job can’t be done. This knot can never be untied. Left to itself, the universe will spin out to its ending. It will expand to nothingness. The stars will burn out. All life will cease. And on our own, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it. As it is, existence is a tragedy that cannot overcome its own entropy. Grasping this, no wonder John wept loudly.

But then. Then comes the news. One of the heavenly elders tells John, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . . has conquered.” Expecting to see a mighty lion, John, however, sees instead a lamb. Strangely, the lamb stands but appears as if it had been slain. It is wounded mortally yet standing triumphantly. The contradictory imagery attempts to portray the paradox. The Lamb of God is simultaneously victor and victim, conquering king of the universal jungle of chaos and pierced lamb of a complete sacrificial offering.

Stitching It In

Powers goes on to suggest what this heavenly scene might mean for our daily lives in a broken world:

When the elder says to John, “weep no more,” he means that John should not weep over the prospect of the scroll being forever sealed . . . and yet . . . if the scroll is not forever sealed, if it in fact will be opened—if God’s good purposes will be achieved, if the “happy ending” will be invincibly secured—then are not the elder’s words to John also words to us in all of our sorrows? If the Lion has conquered, if the Lamb has overcome, is not all weeping overshadowed in the light of coming and sure joy? Is not all weeping, then, set in its rightful place, enduring for the “night,” while joy is sure to come with the blood-bought morning? (Christopher Powers, “Revelation 5:5,” Full of Eyes.)

Praying Along the Pattern

Today, let us pray with the angelic beings and indeed all creation as depicted in John’s vision. Upon seeing the Lamb who alone is worthy to open the scrolls of creation’s future, they cried out in worship. Revelation 5:11-14 records it this way:

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Posted in: Lent

Day 12 Redeemed by the Blood of Jesus the Lamb

Posted on: March 20, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

John 1:29

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

1 Corinthians 5:7b-8

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Peter 1:13-15, 18-19, 22-23

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct . . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. . . . Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.

Picking Up the Thread

The first Christians quickly connected the Passover Lamb and the Suffering Servant with Jesus. We see this clearly in today’s passages. John the Baptist exclaimed over his cousin at the Jordan River, “Look, there is the Lamb of God. There’s the one who takes away the sins of the world.” In encouraging love and purity among the Corinthians, Paul uses a term about Jesus as if it were already commonly understood: “For Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” The lamb whose blood turns away the angel of death is Jesus. Now God passes over our sins by the atoning blood of Jesus marked on our hearts through the Spirit in faith.

Peter makes the connection between the blood of Jesus the Lamb and the motivation and means of our changed lives. He urges his readers to consider ever more deeply the price Christ paid so that we do not take our forgiveness lightly. Something has happened that changes everything. It propels us into a renewed future.

Peter reminds us that once we did not know better than to follow our passions. We were clueless about the way of life that flows from sacrificial love. We did not know who God truly is, and so we were ignorant of how to live as created image bearers for the glory of God. He speaks of “the passions of your former ignorance.” We used to act on our first impulse on base desire, only making a bigger mess of our lives. Indeed, our whole way of life before Christ was “futile.” We were in bondage to lies about what makes for fulfillment and meaning. We couldn’t help ourselves. Appetites and pride locked us into an endless cycle. Consumption then regret. Offended then angry. Spending sprees then debt collectors. Revenge then wounds that remain. Greed then emptiness. Taking not giving and afterwards feeling like we had even less. Habits, addictions and compulsions in the name of our freedom to do what we want that left us more enslaved than ever.

But Christ ransomed us from bondage. A person taken as a slave might be redeemed, that is bought back, by a friend or relative who would pay the price of freedom. It took more than money to set us free. It took the precious blood of the unblemished lamb. A Passover lamb that was the eternal Son of God in human flesh. The only man who ever lived in full faithfulness, perfect obedience and consistent love. His holiness was condemned by human malice, but that was the plan. To take sin upon himself. To ransom us from ourselves. To buy us out of bondage to our own corrupt hearts. The price was Jesus’ precious flesh and blood. He who so loved his Father had to experience the horrifying hell of God-forsakenness. Only by that searing sacrifice can we be regathered into the Father’s everlasting arms.

Stitching It In

Peter reveals that Jesus as the Lamb of God is not just a lovely theological concept. The Lamb who sheds blood has redeemed us for a purpose. Our freedom from sin’s consequence and power brings about a life of renewed relationship. Now we can live out our creational calling to walk in the image of our just, loving, sacrificing God. Jesus did not pay such a ransom so that we could keep trying to live the life of our own selfish dreams. No, he has something much better for us.

Now in gratitude for our freedom, we can love others the way Jesus loved us. Pope John Paul II loved this insight, “Man cannot fully find himself except in a sincere gift of self.” (3 Pope John Paul II, Gaudium et Spes, 24.) We find the meaning of our lives only by giving ourselves away in service to our Redeemer. This service takes the form of loving one another. We expend sweat, tears, and sometimes even blood to care for those God gives us to love.

To put it more pointedly, did Christ the Lamb of God ransom me from slavery so I could stay glued comfortably to the couch for one more episode? Did people give their lives to preserve the Bible so I could know more football statistics than Scriptures? Or rather, did Jesus pay such a price to free me so that I could join him in gathering lost lambs back to the fold? Did he not reveal the futile ways of life offered by a consumer culture precisely so I could expend more time, money, effort, attention, humor and kindness to share his love?

Praying Along the Pattern

Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God

Who takes away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on me.

Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us,

I will keep the feast of remembering

Your mighty acts of redemption.

All you did for the world of lost people,

All you did for me.

Your dying frees me from sin,

Your rising frees me from death,

Your return frees me from fear.

Your rule frees me from falling back

Into the chaos of self.

You are the new and living way,

You are the better path forward.

Jesus the Lamb of God,

Christ our Passover,

I will keep the feast of love

To which you call me.

Sincerity, initiative, true speech,

Earnestness, obedience, purity,

Affection and welcome,

These I offer you today,

With the heartfelt request that you

Continue to free me, cleanse me,

Restore me and send me.

Posted in: Lent

Day 11 The Suffering Servant

Posted on: March 19, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Isaiah 53:3-12

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Picking Up the Thread

Fast forward from the exodus from Egypt to the days when a disobedient Israel went into exile in Babylon. Through his prophets, the LORD convicted his people of idolatry and injustice and called them to repentance. Still, they continued to rebel, and the consequences were dire. However, although God banished them to Babylon for seventy years, he threaded hope through Isaiah’s words. A redeeming servant of the LORD would appear. The one true and faithful Israelite. The one who could live, suffer and die on behalf of the many. While elsewhere God had promised a mighty Messiah who would conquer all enemies, in the servant songs of Isaiah he promised a suffering Savior as well.

Once again, a passage from the Hebrew Bible would have remained baffling to the people until Christ came. With the arrival of the Son of God in Jesus, we see that Isaiah 53 makes a clear connection between the unique servant of the LORD and the Lamb of God who takes away sins. This beautiful poetry forms the bridge from the lamb in the stories of Abel, Abraham and Exodus to Jesus the Lamb. The offerings of lambs in sacrifice were always pointing towards a greater reality. Actual lamb’s blood could never fully and finally atone for human sins. The animal offerings foreshadowed a reconciliation with God we desperately needed. But a true restoration to right relationship required a redeemer who could actually represent us as one of us.

Yet the sacrifices were by no means a waste. The centuries of offering animals accustomed God’s people to understanding that one can take away the sins of another. The tracks were laid down for us to apprehend how the servant of the Lord could substitute for us. This one faithful man bore our sins in himself so that he could “make many to be accounted righteous” (Isaiah 53:11).

It is extremely difficult to work out just how the suffering of the Servant could heal us and bring us peace (Isaiah 53:5). But the centuries of the sacrificial system made it possible for the people to realize intuitively that “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” and “with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:6, 5). But only when Jesus came could the glorious truth crash in upon human understanding. Jesus is the vicarious man. The faithfulness he has lived, the atoning death he has died, the very life-giving power of his resurrection can be ours! We become joined to Jesus by the Holy Spirit as we put our trust in him through faith.

Stitching It In

Isaiah 53 draws us in magnetically. Life in this world is full of seasons of loneliness and sadness. Much we love falls away. Beauty gets marred. Evil steals joy. But hope awakes when we read about “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (verse 3). This one does not suffer only for himself. Rather, “surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (verse 4). Jesus takes the weight of the world upon himself. He experiences human suffering in a way that makes him our companion. Even more, he helps us bear the load, to make sense of the pain and have hope in the loss. Though he was the eternal Son of God who could not die, he took up a humanity that could indeed be pierced, crushed and killed. We are sheep that go astray, turning destructively to our own paths (verse 6). But Jesus is the Lamb innocent of all sin who gives himself wholly up even to death, as a sheep led to slaughter (verse 7). In the mysterious exchange of God’s love, he offers up himself to take our sin. Then he gives us his righteousness. Jesus undergoes our suffering in such a way that no sorrows of ours are ever again borne alone. And all our suffering gets folded into his redemptive plan.

Today, come to him with your sins and seek confidently the forgiveness for which he gave his life’s blood. Offer to him your sorrow and see how Jesus takes it just like he did a crown of thorns. Show him your wounds and see him press his nail-scarred hands into yours bringing the warmth of healing love. Go to the Lamb this very hour!

Praying Along the Pattern

What wondrous love is this?

The mighty redeemer arrives as a gentle lamb.

The conquering king lays down his arms.

He takes our rejection deep into himself

Until it kills him.

In this is my life.

He is jeered and slapped,

Scorned and condemned,

Nailed and pierced,

Buried and sealed away.

He becomes the most despicable.

In this is my life.

Faces turn away from the shame.

All our venom and rage heap upon him.

Our twisted justice, skewed desires,

Fierce projections of damning blame

He drinks down the last sponge of sour wine

In this is my life.

Surely. Weirdly. Wonderfully.

You Lord Jesus have borne my griefs

Carried my sorrows,

Atoned for my sins

And set me at peace with your Father.

In this is my life.

Posted in: Lent

Day 10 The Passover Lamb

Posted on: March 18, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Francisco de Zurbarán. Agnus Dei.1640, Prado Museum.

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Exodus 12:1-13

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. . . . Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old . . . and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. . . . In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Picking Up the Thread

Centuries after Abraham, the LORD’s people were enslaved in Egypt. God raised up Moses to demand that Pharaoh set his people free. The ruler of Egypt continually refused even after God sent the plagues upon the land. Finally, the time had come for the tenth plague which would break even the will of Pharaoh. The angel of death would pass through Egypt slaying every firstborn animal and human. But the LORD provided a way to protect his own people. Each household was to sacrifice a lamb and then do three things: 1) place blood from the lamb over the doorposts of their homes so the lethal angel would see the mark and “pass over” the firstborn within, 2) feast on the lamb eating all of it as a sign of participating in the sacrifice, and 3) dress ready to depart as soon as Pharaoh released them.

Once more, we are reminded of the gravity of the lives we have been given. We were made to be in relationship with our Creator. This is a joyful and fulfilling purpose. It is also serious business. Consequences follow rebelling against the love by which and for which we were made. Human willful sin invited death into the world. Open defiance of God’s will continues to open a channel of deathliness. Often we may not see the connection clearly, but the event of the first Passover reveals the stakes plainly to us.

Death is due to defiance of the LORD’s good will for humanity. Through the course of our lives, God patiently endures with us. But when the time for judgment is at hand, an account must be given. The lamb at Passover symbolized the offering of a pure, undefiled and precious substitute for the firstborn. The life is in the blood, and the blood of the lamb was placed over the entrance to the house to act as a covering for the entire household. Moreover, everyone within the house willingly and fully participated in the offering by partaking of the lamb. There was communion with the sacrifice and with one another. They also prepared to be responsive. The grace of the angel of death passing over their houses was but the prelude to the obedience of the people in departing swiftly from Egypt, leaving behind the old life and heading for the Promised Land.

Stitching It In

Once again, we see the offering of a lamb at a crucial moment in the history of God’s people. We can readily see the spiritual significance of this event for us today. Christians, above all people, remain acutely aware that death is a reality. The only variable is time. Hebrews 9:27 starkly says, “[I]t is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment.” The angel of death interrupted normal Egyptian life in a unique, cataclysmic act of judgment against the enslavers of God’s people. Yet in a depressingly ordinary way, the angel of death visits everyone who lives in the world until the final day when Christ returns.

We are not our own. We will all give an account to the God who made us. The question becomes, “Do I plan to appear before the LORD on my own merits? Will I direct God to look at the good days I had doing kindness and showing mercy?” Sometimes we may imagine our résumés will be sufficient. But when the all-seeing God looks into our hearts, I dare not depend on my own purity. Even my best works are laced with self-interest. Greed, lust, pride and self-protection are woven through all I have done, said or thought.

I can only pass safely through death to the presence of God through the blood of the Lamb of God shed for me. This means that by a definite act of faith, I accept that blood over the house of my life, conceding that Jesus alone can save me. And I enact the visible signs of my union with him by partaking of the Supper he provides joined in reconciling love to the community of Christ. There is no salvation without such acknowledgment that I am insufficient on my own. And that I agree to participate in the community, worship and mission to which he has entrusted me. As I make that decision, once and for all and continuously, I discover the wonder of being included in the lifeblood of the Lamb of God.

Praying Along the Pattern

Jesus, you are the new and living way.

Your blood alone brings eternal life.

For I know the truth of your Word

That the wages of sin is death.

I would rather it not be so.

I wish you could just overlook everything,

Just be nice and make it all right.

But my bent mind, my wandering heart,

My toxic estrangement from you and others

Requires a more costly solution.

I need the blood of the Lamb over me.

I require partaking of you in faith,

I must come back into community

From the isolation of myself

In my stubborn independence.

I dare not appear before your throne

Dressed in the rags of my own righteousness,

Made up with the cosmetics of my pride.

I come with the blood of your cross

Signed upon my forehead.

Its sticky, staining, vivid red

Alone washes me clean.

I know that the angel of death

Still comes to us all,

But pass over my sins,

See, your blood is on the door

Of my life-house.

I partake of you with the entire

Household of faith,

No longer aloof, but

Singing and serving the Lamb.

Posted in: Lent

Day 9 The Lord Will Provide the Lamb

Posted on: March 17, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Genesis 22:1-14

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Picking Up the Thread

To me, this is the most disturbing story in the Bible. Just as he promised, the LORD gives a son to childless Sarah and Abraham. Then God commands Abraham to ignore the primal instinct we have to protect our children. Instead, Abraham is to make a burnt offering of his beloved only son. How this must have baffled God’s people through the centuries! What kind of God demands such a horrific sacrifice? It is only with the coming of Jesus that the story at last comes into focus. Let’s look at three of the many connections to Christ.

1. Abraham hears God call his name, and Abraham’s literal reply is, “Behold!” which means “Look, here I am, ready to do your will.” This is the paradigm for responding to God. Immediate and radical availability. Hebrews puts this same word on Jesus’ lips: “Behold, I have come to do your will O God” (Hebrews 10:7). The text goes on to tell us that this means “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

2. Isaac also foreshadows Jesus in that he obeys his father and undertakes the journey up the mountains. He carries on his back the wood that will become the burning altar of sacrifice. Similarly, Jesus carried up the hill of Golgotha his own wooden cross, the altar of sacrifice on which he offered himself for us.

3. Along the way, Isaac astutely asks where the lamb for the sacrifice is. We hear Abraham’s faith as he replies, “God will provide for himself the lamb.” Hebrews 11:19 explains that Abraham “considered that God was able even to raise the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, [Abraham] did receive [Isaac] back.” Abraham advanced toward the ghastly act trusting that God would keep his promises even if it meant doing the impossible to raise Isaac. Every listener breathes a huge sigh of relief when at the last second Abraham sees a ram caught in the thicket.

Jesus himself would reflect on this event in John 8:56 when he says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” Jesus understood that he was the true Isaac. The eternal Father himself would offer his only Son to redeem the world.

Stitching It In

This story is hard. Indeed, Biblical faith is hard. We have often made Christianity softer than it is, expecting Jesus to cushion any sacrifice we might have to offer. We think he who took away our sins must also smooth the way of discipleship. But Scripture speaks of a tougher realism. We recall verses from Romans 8:35-36 that we often skip:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Here Paul quotes from Psalm 44 to make sense of Christian suffering and to affirm that God calls us to expend our lives in his service. That may well mean we experience overt persecution or the more subtle tribulations of life in a dangerous and fallen world. Our model, of course, is Jesus who lived as a sacrificial lamb. He calls us also to pick up our cross and follow him (Mark 8:34). It is only in accepting this charge that we can truly know the comfort of the verses that follow: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Praying Along the Pattern

You are my gracious Father,

Yet ever you have called your people to hard things.

You called your beloved Son Jesus

To be the forerunner and pioneer of our faith,

Forging through the horrible cross

In faith of the joy that lay far ahead.

I wish that had been the end of it.

But I know your Word tells me otherwise.

You call and I am roused to reply

With Abraham and Jesus,

“Behold, here I am!”

Even when the path is marked with pain,

Even when I cannot see,

Can only barely imagine,

The glory on the other side.

For your sake, I pass through

The deathliness of life,

Praying sometimes with clenched teeth

“The LORD will provide,”

For you do and you have,

And there is no other way.

I offer this day what has come to me that is hard,

As a sacrifice of praise to the Lamb

Who offered himself on my behalf.

Sacrifices of Abel, Melchisedec and Abraham. Mosaic from the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, 6th century. Wikimedia Commons.

In this 6th century mosaic, we see an artistic link between three stories about offering. On the left, Abel offers his lamb as the acceptable sacrifice. On the right, Abraham offers Isaac in obedience. In the middle, the mysterious Melchizedek, a prefiguration of Christ, offers bread and wine.

Posted in: Lent

Day 8 The Offering of Abel

Posted on: March 16, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

WEEK TWO
BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD!

Lamb of God. 18th century, Florence, Italy. Alamy.

The joy of being created in the image of God has been corrupted by the reality of human rebellion against our Creator. Our disobedience invited death into the world. Everything since has been disordered. We are now, by nature, separated from God and one another. We require reconciliation. We need to be made one with God again.

The image of the lamb has long been a sign of such reconciliation. We find mention of a lamb from early in Genesis to the end of Revelation. This is an image that grows in meaning as the Bible unfolds. We associate important Biblical concepts with the lamb. Purity. Offering. Sacrifice. Blood. Substitution. Atonement.

In all these cases, the lamb has a vicarious function in Scripture. Here “vicarious” means something done on behalf of another. In Bible terms, a lamb without blemish could stand in for me the impure one. Offering that animal in sacrifice, I offer my life vicariously through the blood of the blameless lamb. In turn, I claim its innocence for me. I count on its life as a payment for my sin. I give up this lamb to God as a symbol of giving my heart and life to the LORD. In all these ways, the lamb stands in for me. I participate in a sacrifice for sin, a gift of thanks and a dedication of myself vicariously through offering the lamb.

Of course, we know that these sacrificed animals were but a foreshadowing of the true Lamb. They only point to the reality beyond comprehension. In Jesus, the Son of God gives himself to be a vicarious atonement. He lives out an eternal faithfulness as a man, a faithfulness in which all men and women, boys and girls can participate. And, as it gloriously turns out, the Lamb who was slain is the Lamb who reigns and will joyfully be worshipped into eternity.

The beautiful colors in this stained-glass window convey the joy and majesty of the Lamb who is our king. We feel both the sweet attraction of this kindly Lord, and the deep eternal mystery that the one who reigns is the one who was slain.

THE OFFERING OF ABEL

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Genesis 4:1-10

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.

Hebrews 11:4; 12:22, 24

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. . . . But you have come . . . to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Picking Up the Thread

At first, this story baffles us. There was yet no law prescribing sacrifices. So why did both young men make an offering to the LORD? Does God really need stuff from us? Underlying this whole account is the reality that we were made for communion with God. That profound relationship finds expression through worship. And worship involves offering. We give ourselves back to the God who “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). Songs, prayers of praise, gifts and service all express the offering of our whole heart, mind and strength to our God.

This story reveals how deep within us is a yearning to make a return to the LORD. A child may offer a parent a crayon drawing of the family. In terms of mature art, it may not be very much. But the child longs for it to be accepted. A loving parent rejoices in the offering. That drawing may stay on the refrigerator for years! Similarly, we long for God to accept, even treasure, what we can bring forth from the life he gave us. Great satisfaction fills us from the inside out when we make such an offering. And we ache for this symbol of our very lives to be accepted. Through Scripture, we discover that our sincere act of worship pleases God as a sign of love.

Both young men made an offering. But why did God reject Cain’s gift of grain? After all, farming is what he did! We note in the text a subtle but important difference. Cain made “an offering.” Abel sacrificed the firstborn of the flock. There is a sense that Cain offered just part of what he had while Abel offered the best, the firstborn that represented his whole flock. His offering cost more; his worship ran deeper; his heart expressed a more whole-hearted faith.

This story establishes the importance of blood offerings. We learn in Leviticus 17:11 that “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Through such a substitute, animal sacrifices would come to represent the offering of a person’s very life to the LORD.

Moreover, Cain’s envy led him to murder his brother. Here was the first act of lethal violence between humans. A primal wound in our relationships opened. The LORD confronted Cain with the words, “His blood cries up to me from the ground.” The very earth called out for justice for the taking of a life.

Our passage from Hebrews 12 links Abel’s sacrifice and his unjust death to the sacrifice of Christ. Jesus’ blood “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” The murder of innocent Abel points to the abject alienation in even the best of human relationships. Something is wrong, very wrong, in a world where brother sheds the blood of brother. The wound in humanity remains open. We see it oozing all around us. But paradoxically the murder of innocent Jesus creates the grounds for healing. Jesus’ intentional offering of himself to his Father in an obedience unto death atones for sin and reconciles us to God and each other.

Stitching It In

Paul gets right to the heart of our need to make an offering: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). We no longer need to make an animal sacrifice. As we shall see later this week, Jesus the vicarious Lamb of God makes a sufficient and once-for-all sacrifice for sin. But as humans made to worship the triune God, we still need to make an offering. We are only fulfilled when we offer up our lives to Jesus. We don’t have to shed blood. Jesus did that for us. But we must release control of our lives to Christ. We present ourselves to him: “Lord, I am yours!” In this way, we become a living sacrifice giving our lives to God through the obedience shown in every moment of faithful living.

What might this look like today? Perhaps you could:

View the first interruption of your plans as an opportunity God has ordained for you to show love, compassion and service.

Ask God to move you to initiate one text, email, card or call to someone who needs encouragement.

Give up for this day a habit or vice to which you are prone.

Make an over-and-above financial gift to God as a token of love.

Make a list of ten things you love about Jesus, then read those to him.

Praying Along the Pattern

Oh my God, oh my God, I am yours.

Now I make a return of praise and thanks.

All that I have comes from you.

Only your own of your own do I offer to you.

Yet you have given me discretion over so much.

I have thoughts that can be directed.

I have a voice that can form words and songs.

I have enough agency to make choices.

I can move out of myself towards others.

And I can wait in silence and stillness

Until your Spirit stirs me

With ways to offer all of these to you.

Oh my God, oh my God, I am yours.

Receive this offering of my life,

Through all these gifts returned to you,

Expressed today as you direct,

That you might know I mean it

When I say “I love you.”

Posted in: Lent

Day 7 God Will Recreate Everything

Posted on: March 15, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Isaiah 65:17-25

“For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,

and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever

in that which I create;

for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people;

no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

and the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days. . . .

They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain

or bear children for calamity,

for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,

and their descendants with them.

Before they call I will answer;

while they are yet speaking I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;

the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

and dust shall be the serpent’s food.

They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

Revelation 21:1-2, 5a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. . . . And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Picking Up the Thread

In the 6th century BC, God’s people prepared to return from seventy years of exile in Babylon. They longed to rebuild Jerusalem and especially to restore the temple of the LORD. Being home in their own land and worshipping in freedom seemed a grand enough dream. But then the LORD spoke a vision through Isaiah that was even more wonderful. He promised to create once more: to create a world recognizable as earth, but yet remade at the very heart. New because the chilly stripe of sadness that runs through everything will be replaced with joy. Gone will be the sorrow over an infant’s dying. No more frustration over a life’s work left incomplete. Injustice and strife, tragic accidents and sudden disasters will vanish. People will live and work in harmony. Peace will reign to such an extent that a child can play safely near a serpent. A lamb can nuzzle up to a lion. Everything will work as we have ever dreamed. No more hurting or destroying.

Isaiah’s prophecy looked well beyond the time when he wrote it. As he did in so many ways, Isaiah foresaw the coming of Jesus. Something new would interrupt the world. God would enter his creation. The new creation would begin in the womb of Mary. As we noted yesterday, Jesus was humanity made right again. His faithfulness through life and death reconstructed the very life of man. His return from death in a resurrection body became the pledge of all creation being made new. That Jesus returned to heaven still joined to our humanity now restored means that he is the guarantee of the new creation reworking the old.

The book of Revelation picks up this theme of re-creation. In John’s vision, the new heavens and earth descend into our present world. In other words, there is continuity. It’s the earth we know. But made right. Healed. So vivid with rightness and harmony and peacefulness that we might hardly recognize it. Revelation depicts “the throne of God and of the lamb” in the center of a new Jerusalem. Echoing Eden, a river of the water of life will flow from God’s throne right down the middle of the city. The great tree of life will grow on either side of this river. Its fruit will no longer be forbidden. But all will eat of it, and the once-warring nations will find their healing. We will be reconciled to God, to one another and to all of nature. The Garden will become even more than it had been (see Revelation 22:1-5).

Stitching It In

Andrew Peterson wrote a worship song that has deeply moved people across the world. “Is He Worthy?” asks the questions of our yearning for God to recreate the world. The song answers our questions with a tearfully joyous affirmation of Jesus as the Lamb of God up to this task:

Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)

Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)

But do you know that all the dark won’t Stop the light from getting through? (We do)

Do you wish that you could see it all made new? (We do)

It takes some attentive time to rediscover that the world we live in isn’t supposed to be like this. The fact that we know that means we have, deep inside us, a sense of what a rightly ordered world filled with recreated lives could be. Take a few moments to consider what parts of the world you most long to see restored. Imagine what such a new creation would be like.

Praying Along the Pattern

Extravagant God and Father,

Your promises of new creation

Release a thrill of anticipation.

I’d love to see the trees of Eden restored,

And climb their branches without fear.

I’d love to put my cheek against a tiger’s,

And scratch his ears until he purrs.

I’d love to swim underwater for hours,

Then catch a current and glide on air.

I’d love to meet someone new

Without questioning motives and intent.

I’d love to delight in someone without envy,

To behold beauty without wanting to possess it,

To dream without lurid and putrid images.

To speak without overtones and undertones.

I’d love to work with effort but not frustration,

To make what I love because you love it.

I’d love to see everyone with enough,

Eager to create and then to overflow in giving.

I’d love to quest deeper and deeper into your Being

And then join the chorus of ever-rising praise.

Even so, come Lord Jesus and make all things new!

Atlas Lifting the World. Contemporary. Alamy.

The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this. . . .

In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity . . . down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him.

One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.

C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: Macmillan, 1947), 112, 115.

Posted in: Lent

Day 6 God Creates Me in Christ

Posted on: March 14, 2025

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Ephesians 2:4, 8-10

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 4:21-24

You . . . were taught . . . to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Picking Up the Thread

This week we have been meditating on the triune God who created the heavens and the earth. Today we consider that God continues to create. And we know why. Creation has been marred by the rebellion of the LORD’s image bearers. From our first parents onward, we in a myriad ways try to be our own gods. We want to do life our way, mistakenly believing we can create for ourselves more fulfillment than comes through following the will of our Creator. From such choices decay, dysfunction and death enter God’s good creation. In short, humans have made a mess of it. We require more than an improvement plan. We need to be created anew.

That’s a wonderful theme in the New Testament. The old creation can be remade through Christ. By his faithful life, his atoning death and his triumphant resurrection, Jesus became the new Adam. He is the man the Father always planned humanity would be. In Christ, a man lived out oneness with the Father. Now we can get in on that harmony by being joined to Jesus. How? He sends his Spirit into our hearts, and we become a new creation. In faith, we bow the knee of our hearts and call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. This transformation is dramatic. In Ephesians 2, Paul puts it starkly. We were dead in sin. But we become joined to the spiritual power of Jesus’ physical resurrection so that together with Jesus, we come alive.

This new life is wonderful. Some have said it’s like going from black and white to full-color vision. We become more ourselves than we ever knew we could be. Our hearts open to God’s reality. Purpose propels us. Joy flows even in sorrow. Peace pervades in trial. Hope springs anew that all is well and all shall be well in Christ. As we read, “The old has passed away and the new has come.”

We also discover that being a new creation in Christ is not just for ourselves. Paul says to the Corinthians, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . . entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). We were made new in order to offer that new life of Christ to the world. We are now emissaries from our King. We have a message of reconciliation to share.

In Ephesians, Paul reminds us that being Jesus’ representatives means we live out the character of new creation. We were “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Good works don’t recreate us. But good works are the way God wants us to express the new life he has wrought in us through Christ’s death and resurrection.

This gets very graphic. Don’t ever pick up that stinky dead carcass of a life without Christ! We know now that the impulse toward revenge leads to shame, not satisfaction. We know now that pursuing pleasure, power or prestige over the glory of God leaves us with baskets full of nothingness. We know that undermining, gossiping and lying ruin love. That dead stuff is so yesterday!

Now we have been given the power of the Spirit to live out of the new creation Christ has already made us. We’ve been created in the image of the new Adam, Jesus. Now we can live following this pattern: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Stitching It In

The television series The Chosen beautifully depicts the re-creating power Jesus exercised in his days among us. Early on, we meet the character of Mary Magdalene, driven to despair over the darkness she cannot escape. But then Jesus calls her name. He sees her as one who knows her, and he knows her as one who loves her. She becomes one of his earliest followers. When someone notices the change in her, Mary replies, “I was one way and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was him.” (The Chosen, season 1, episode 2, Netflix, 2019.)

This line has resonated with thousands of people. Jesus’ power to make us new did not cease when he stepped out of our time and space. By his Spirit, millions have become recreated all across the world. The story of Jesus gets told. Yearning awakes in our hearts. I want to know more about that man. I want to hear him call my name and free me from all these strangling entanglements. I’ll follow him forever if he would just see me, if I could just see love in his eyes, just feel him look me out of my old life and into his new creation humanity.

Perhaps you need to remember the feeling of being made new in Christ. Revisit what it was like to yield your heart to his great heart for you. Recall when you cried out for him to save you from all that you cannot save yourself from. And he did!

As the pace and routine of daily existence overwhelms us, we can lose awareness of that new life. We can slip back into the habits of the old life and lose the freshness of the new life. But in reality, it is not far from us. Not far at all. His Spirit is in your heart. Jesus looks upon you this moment in the love that brings life. Just go to him there. Ask him to awaken you.

Wait upon his gaze. Attend to his Spirit’s breeze upon you. You’re not what you once were. What happened is him.

Praying Along the Pattern

Apart from you, I have no good.

But in you is life, abundant life.

You came to be the new Adam

And to share that recreated life with me.

By your Spirit you are fruitful and multiplying,

Bringing multitudes to vivid faith.

You rescue us from darkness

And bring us into your light.

You change us from children of wrath

To beloved daughters and sons.

You call us from death

Into resurrection that begins now

In a change of heart and spirit,

That makes us ready for eternal bodies.

You send me forth with this news,

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,

Not counting our sins against us.

Be reconciled to God!”

Kindle in me anew the wonder

Of being a new creation

So that I cannot help but

Live, speak and share the new humanity

You have made.

Posted in: Lent

Day 5 God Created Through Jesus

Posted on: March 13, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:15-20

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Hebrews 1:1-3a

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Picking Up the Thread

God is love. As far as we know, no one in the history of the world ever wrote that before the apostle John penned 1 John 4:8. So simple, yet so endlessly profound. God is love. Love means relationship. God exists in an eternal relationship of love. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have loved each other from all eternity. Out of that love, the one God who is three persons created new life. Life meant to be lived in relationship. In love. We humans loving God and one another. Because God first loved us.

How did we come to know this? Because the Son of God came to us as the man Jesus. The first disciples constantly reflected on just who they had followed for three years. They thought about a man who could walk across the sea and still the waves with a word. They knew the man born blind who was made to see by the touch of Jesus. They felt the peace emanating from one tortured by and delivered from demons cast out by the command

of Jesus.

This Jesus ever talked of God as his Father, the two being so close that Jesus could say, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), he told a grieving Martha. But more, this man from Nazareth, who had been a baby in Mary’s arms, said, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). They saw Jesus die and then saw him alive again so that Thomas, touching the wounds of the once-dead Jesus, would declare the astounding truth, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). The man Jesus is the eternal Son of God who took up a real humanity.

Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, it did not take long for his followers to think through all this meant. Within twenty years of Jesus’ time on earth, Paul could write, “[Y]et for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8:6). The one LORD God of Israel is Father and Son. Creation comes from the Father through the Son. God spoke creation into being, but God’s Word is a person. In time, Jesus’ disciples put it together further: the one God is three! God the Father created through his Son in the Spirit, that same Spirit who hovered over the primeval waters.

These complex insights underlie the glorious simplicity: God is love. As John’s epistle continues, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). The triune Creator showed himself in Jesus. The man who walked among us, who gave his life on a cross, is no less than the Son of God through all things were made. And he is profoundly for us. For God is love.

Stitching It In

The God to whom I pray is none other than the Jesus who cooked breakfast on a charcoal fire for his disciples (John 21:9). He walked the dusty roads of Israel, learned a carpenter’s trade, and noticed the farming and shepherding of his people. He loved children, received the touch of a sinful woman, and noticed and felt deeply the suffering of others. The notorious and compromised were drawn to him. This man is the same Son of God through whom all things were made!

And Jesus is the exact imprint of his Father. He is God’s face revealed to us. He shows us that God is this way, like him, and not another way. This is the best possible news. The Creator God is Jesus who came to us, cared for us and gave his life for us. The Maker to whom I pray is the man I meet in the gospels! He calls me by name. I know that voice and that I belong to him.

Praying Along the Pattern

Jesus. Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus Christ.

You are a man,

Yet I am moved to worship you as God.

If you were but a man,

My worship would be idolatry and

Like all idols, you would disappoint me.

No man could fulfill such adoration

As I am moved to give you.

Yet you do not disappoint!

I can praise you with my whole heart,

With every skill or strength, and

Find that it is not too much, only never enough.

For you, Lord Jesus, are a man I could see and touch,

Yet you are the eternal Son of God.

You are not only alive, you are the source of life.

Through you all things came to be,

And you uphold the cosmos by your power.

You, the man whose arms were stretched on the cross

Are the God whose divine hands cup the oceans, spin the planets

Contain the galaxies in the eons of their journeys.

This God, you, Jesus, invite my prayers,

And send reply through your Spirit that stirs in my heart.

I praise you, the man Jesus,

And find that I am drawn into communion

With the triune Creator God.

All my satisfaction is with you

And I will never reach the end of you.

So draw me up to you, draw me into you,

Even as you send me out to the world.

Antonio Berti. St. Paul the Weaver. 20th century, Vatican Museums, Galleria d’Arte Religiosa Moderna.

A tentmaker by trade, Paul knew how to weave threads into a strong, coherent whole. After his conversion to Christ, Paul discovered that Jesus is the golden thread winding rhrough all the Hebrew Scriptures. In his letters, Paul wove this new revelation that Jesus is Lord and Savior into the Old Testament story. So he revealed the glory of what the triune God intended all along. This 20th century relief by Antonio Berti highlights Paul's skill as a weaver, not only of tents, but of glorious theological truth.

Posted in: Lent

Day 4 God Calls Me by Name in Love

Posted on: March 12, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Isaiah 43:1-7

But now thus says the LORD,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the end of the earth,

everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

Picking Up the Thread

This passage begins and ends with the LORD’s mighty declaration that he himself made us and formed us. Within these bookends of our createdness, we discover God’s deep, specific personal love.

I still remember my first intense encounter with these words. I was twenty years old and preparing for a long summer trip abroad. There would be deeper waters and hotter fires to encounter in years to come, but what I experienced from Isaiah 43 that summer would be a foundation for trusting God in more intense times.

I would be going first to a country where I did not speak or understand much of the language. My English major skills would be of little use. Then I would be meeting a whole new set of people in an academic environment that could be daunting. I feared making embarrassing mistakes, being shown up as inadequate, or just being lonely. But Isaiah 43 undercut those fears. Let’s pick up a few threads:

I have called you by name, you are mine. God knows me, not as a number but by name. He knows me particularly and individually. I belong to him. I may go far away from my earthly country, but I am never homeless. I never stop belonging to the God who made me and knows me.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. I worried about getting from the plane to the train station. I agonized about keeping all my stuff together, buying a ticket and finding the right train. I feared being seen as a scared kid and rounded up by predators. Indeed, I did make travel mistakes and had embarrassing encounters. There were waters and flames that summer. But after reading Isaiah 43, I never felt abandoned.

You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you. The LORD spoke those words straight to my heart. He loves me. Me as me. Me in my uniqueness, quirkiness, fear and excitement. I matter to God. Knowing me completely because he is my Creator, he loves me truly.

I give . . . peoples in exchange for your life. I know this verse raises the question as to whether some people are more valuable than others in God’s sight. But that wasn’t what struck me back then. What I heard was that in a place where I would be unknown, God would not stop knowing me. Where I could be discarded as a foreigner, God would hold me up with his particular and personal care. He would not forget me when I was in a sea of people who would barely even notice me.

From the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name. Not only did God know my name, he conferred his name upon me. I am his son. I was made, not for myself, but for his glory. I bear the mark of the Creator upon me, and his name is the guarantee that I will be brought home to him. Home from that summer abroad, yes, but also home in Christ forever.

Stitching It In

Not just any old god made us. “God created” is a golden thread for us because of who the God of the Bible is. The LORD I AM is not a remote deity indifferent to our minuscule lives. He is not a tyrant god who made humans to be servile workers. Nor is he a capricious god prone to discard us if we do not amuse him. Ours is the God who knows each of us by name. We are precious to him. He honors us with his full attention. Humbling himself, the LORD risks our rejection by declaring his heart openly: “I love you.” Precisely because he created us in love, our God stays with us through all the twists and trials of this life.

Isaiah 43 is all the more remarkable when we recall that these words were written to a people facing exile. Despite decades of warning through the prophets, the LORD’s own people remained disobedient. They, like we, chased idols and neglected to love. The exile uprooted God’s people from their homes. They lost their freedom, their land, their temple and their way of life. And they deserved it.

Yet God chastened them to change them. The exile was of limited duration. And the LORD never left his people even when they had to leave their homeland. So these affectionate words of assurance came to a people who explicitly did not deserve such care.

God created us. In doing so, he bound himself to us in costly love. Even now, he looks on us with compassion as we encounter the various floods and fires of life. His pledge to be with us is not based on whether the circumstances we find ourselves in are our own stupid fault. What God makes he loves and never stops loving.

Choose a phrase from this passage and speak it directly into a circumstance you face.

Praying Along the Pattern

I spin and strive, bob and weave, never coming to rest

Lest I face the possibility that nothing I do can be enough

To warrant your acceptance, let alone your pleasure.

If I stop, I might fall into the hole of my nothingness.

But you catch me off guard with these words.

Just when I think I will get the exile I deserve,

You gather me to yourself.

You are not embarrassed that you made me.

You say that I am precious, treasured, sought.

When you made me you committed to me.

You honor me now with your full attention.

You say, “You are mine.”

My heart replies in wonder, “I am yours.”

You call me by my name, you call me your child.

I respond, “My Father and my God!”

I face the rising waters and feel your hand.

I make ready to walk into the flames

With your protective arms wrapped around me.

You say, “You are precious and I love you,”

And my heart quiets. The spinning stops.

“I love you too. My Maker and Savior.”

Posted in: Lent

Day 3 It Is Good That You Exist

Posted on: March 11, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Psalm 139:1, 13-18

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

Picking Up the Thread

No matter how many times I contemplate it, Psalm 139 always refreshes and amazes me. I hope it will have a similar effect on you as we move today from considering that God made the world to the staggering personal truth that God made you. Specifically, intentionally, joyfully, particularly, God created you. And he remains vitally involved with you. His thoughts toward you outnumber the grains of sand in the desert. And even though you forget about God, or slip into sleep, or even lose your right mind, God is still thinking about you. His thoughts wrap you in love and sustain you with life.

Today, I’d like us to consider this profound sentence: It is good that you exist. Say this aloud right now: “It is good that I exist.” Listen to those words. In the midst of the swiftly passing years, God speaks an eternal truth in this present moment: It is good that you exist. Amid all your stresses and your delights, your toil and your loves, your frailty and your strength, God declares his deep opinion of you: It is good that you exist.

German theologian Joseph Ratzinger, who spent the last two decades of his life as Pope Benedict XVI, reflected deeply on this truth. He is worth quoting at length:

Where does joy come from? . . . The crucial factor is . . . based on faith: I am wanted; I have a task in history; I am accepted, I am loved. . . . Man can only accept himself if he is accepted by another. He needs the other’s presence, saying to him, with more than words: it is good that you exist. . . .

This sense of being accepted comes in the first instance from other human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile. Ultimately we need a sense of being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts me, and I become convinced of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being.

If ever man’s sense of being accepted and loved by God is lost, then there is no longer any answer to the question of whether to be a human being is good at all. Doubt concerning human existence becomes more and more insurmountable. Where doubt over God becomes prevalent, then doubt over humanity follows inevitably. We see today how widely this doubt is spreading. We see it in the joylessness, in the inner sadness that can be read on so many human faces today.

Only faith gives me the conviction: It is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being, even in hard times.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address on December 22, 2011, Pt. 5.

Why am I here? Adolescents ask that question as they try to find their life’s path. Adults ask that question after a profession proves deadening, or a marriage falls apart, or the investment sinks to nothing. The elderly ask that question in the tedium of lonely days made of just getting through to the next. Why do I carry on? What is the point of my life?

The extraordinary message of Psalm 139 is that God made me on purpose. He notices me. He accepts me. He attends to my emotions, thoughts and prayers. He cares. And he takes pleasure in my living, even if it should be confused or diminished or difficult. For much of my life, I will have, no matter my faults and flaws, the ability to reach up to God. To give thanks. To declare his praise. To share his love in word, work, or prayer. It is good that I exist. Because I belong to God and always will.

Praying Along the Pattern

You made me.

You do not forget about me.

You delight in my existence.

In every breath, even the labored ones.

In every heartbeat, even the rapid ones.

In every muscle movement, even the sore ones.

You, Lord and King of all,

Attend to me like a servant.

You await patiently my prayers,

Ever at the ready for the moment I turn to you.

Ever eager to hear from me what you already know,

Ever cherishing my halting praises.

You, gracious Father, see my whole life.

You see now in view of eternity

When my re-creation will be complete,

And all will be reconciled.

So you whisper anew, “It is good that you exist.”

And I feel with thanks your arms around me.

Posted in: Lent

Day 2 There Is No Other

Posted on: March 10, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Isaiah 45:5-7, 12, 18-19, 22

I am the LORD, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me,

that people may know, from the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being and create calamity;

I am the LORD, who does all these things.

I made the earth

and created man on it;

it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host.

For thus says the LORD,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it empty,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the LORD, and there is no other.

I did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek me in vain.’

I the LORD speak the truth;

I declare what is right.

“Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.”

Picking Up the Thread

These words in Isaiah were first meant for Cyrus, the Persian king who would conquer Babylon and free the Jews from their exile. The LORD reminded Cyrus that neither the Persian gods nor their king ruled over the cosmos. Rather, the LORD I AM, the God of the Hebrews, reigns supreme. His very name means pure being, utmost power, unrestricted freedom and limitless potential. The great Cyrus would be but a servant in the eternal plan of the one true God.

Of course, as we overhear this prophecy, we know its words apply to us as well. The God of Scripture insists that we worship him alone (Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 6:5). His declaration “I am the LORD and there is no other” resounds through our passage today. The LORD alone is creator and ruler. Let’s follow the implications:

God gave the world a real existence. The Creator withdrew enough of his presence that we have room to relate to him freely. He does not shine his reality like a never-ending, inescapable, noonday sun. We can close him out from our awareness. We can consider alternative reasons for the world. We can invent other gods. The LORD really gives us our own lives in a real world. He allows us to have time and space for our own thoughts for he truly wants us to reach toward him by choice and not compulsion.

God created life to participate in the creation of more life. In our passage, we read that the LORD formed the earth to be inhabited. This occurs through reproduction. God could have made the world already filled with all the living organisms he wanted. But instead, he made life able to produce more life. Plants and animals with a real existence participate in making more life. God designed living creatures to share in his bringing forth. For us as his image bearers, this occurs through the myriad ways we cultivate life in the world. Though we are always only sub-creators, we know the joy of sharing in God’s creative work.

Creation remains dependent upon the Creator. We depend on God for our very existence every millisecond of our existence. We cannot transcend or suspend the laws by which the physical world functions. Our very attempts to do so create dire consequences. Nor can we ultimately succeed in rebelling against God as if by a declaration of human independence, we could establish a sovereign world.

Paul in his speech to the Athenians declared, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25). We continue because God upholds the world by his power. He maintains us with his constant thought and attention that undergirds everything. Paul went on to affirm the words of a Greek poet, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God is not dependent on us, but we require him constantly.

Stitching It In

There is no higher vision of humanity than that revealed in the Scriptures because there is no higher, more dramatic understanding of the triune Creator God. He made the cosmos to have a real existence and yet be in relationship to himself. God is sovereign but not remote. Everything created is not God but reflects and glorifies God. All the diversity and complexity and beauty, both gentle and dangerous, attractive and frightening, adorns the majesty of the Creator. He gives every aspect of creation its own place. And we, as his image bearers, get to explore and express how everything gives glory to the Creator.

The writer of Hebrews tells us how much it matters that we consider this unique vision of God and reach toward it in belief and trust: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. . . . And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:3, 6). As we exercise worshipful thanksgiving to the Creator, he reveals more and more of his gracious character to us.

Praying Along the Pattern

Everything that you made gives glory to you.

All that you brought into being with a real existence

Expresses your creative intent and so gives praise.

The light from a star that exploded millennia ago

Reaches us long after it ceased to be,

And yet across light years flares glory

To the intensity and endurance of your power.

The information within my cells praises your Mind,

Even as the same DNA somehow knows to keep making

Fingernail cells distinct from heart valve cells,

Making me always me, yet ever new.

The broad forehead I see

In my great-great-grandfather’s portrait

I also see in my grandchild,

Each person arrives utterly unique

Yet in continuity with the generations.

Each and all cry out your ever-fresh creativity

Expressed through ages of constancy.

Oh my LORD, all that exists

Adorns the majesty of the maker’s mind

Yet you give to humans alone a voice

To articulate your praise.

Making an Extra Stitch: Science vs. Scripture? Creation vs. Evolution?

How many of us have suffered the shock of childhood faith encountering evolution? A simple belief in creation suddenly smacks up against a theory that all things can be explained by evolutionary development. We become ashamed of our faith in God’s intentional creation for this theory seems to account for human life through the gradual change and development of species via a series of random mutations, worked out through the survival of the fittest over billions of years. It can seem that no super-intending by God was needed. This all just happened. The belief in creation seems childish and unnecessary. Suddenly it can seem that science opposes Scripture as if one has to choose creation or evolution, faith or reason.

But what if this is a false dichotomy? An unnecessary contradiction? What if a six-day creation a few thousand years ago or unguided development over billions of years are not the only options?

Let’s take a moment to consider the crucial difference between physics and metaphysics.

In its most basic, broadest definition, physics explores the mechanics of what exists. It explains the properties and phenomena of how things are in the cosmos. As such, physics considers the questions of “how” and “what.” How does gravity behave? What causes the Earth to spin?

Meta is a Greek preposition that means “above.” In this sense, meta-physics means doing physics from above. In other words, it entails asking the “why” questions about “what” we observe. Why is there something and not nothing? Why did these forces that keep the earth spinning come into being? Metaphysics considers questions of meaning.

When we talk about the hard sciences, we are not talking about metaphysics. Chemistry, biology and the specific physics of matter and energy do not address questions of meaning or purpose. Rather, these each consider the nature and function of the physical reality around us. That’s science. It has many strengths and also profound limits.

However, when we talk about philosophy and theology, we think about metaphysics. All the “why” questions and the meaning statements come to bear. Theology may employ the beautiful insights of science about the “what” of this complex universe. After all, noticing creation leads to doxology, that is, praising God. But theology’s focus is on the purpose and goal of the creation being observed. For example, theology’s task is not to map the human genome, but it may draw important implications of meaning from the ordered intricacy science uncovered in our genes.

Physics (i.e. science) and metaphysics (i.e. theology) properly raise and answer different questions. But, of course, the two interact. After all, we think and feel on many levels. But when one discipline purports to take the place of the other, much is lost.

Scientism occurs when the physics of science begins to claim ultimate priority for its way of exploring the universe. In that case, scientists assume to answer the questions of meaning or lack of meaning in what exists. They claim metaphysical territory. Such scientism can offer safe harbor to those who would rather there not be a God to whom we are accountable. The human impulse to be our own gods finds a platform in a metaphysics that there is no other intent or purpose in life beyond what we give it.

Similarly, believers in Scripture can create an unnecessary war with science if we insist that passages such as Genesis 1 and 2 can only be read like a contemporary science textbook. Then, for example, we expend enormous effort trying to explain, by today’s science, how daylight could be on the earth before the sun was created. But Scripture speaks with language higher and more enduring than any particular culture’s way of expression. After all, scientific theories are always updating or upheaving, but the meaning of the earth’s intentional creation by God speaks truthfully and transformationally across cultures and centuries.

With all that said, having the metaphysical worldview of Scripture actually makes us better scientists. Believing in a purposeful, ordered and intentional creation ignites inquiry about how it all works. Trusting in a Creator also frees us to innovate because we are not enslaved to whatever theories are current. We can question the dogmas of scientism the way brave believers once questioned the assumed truth that the sun revolves around the Earth. Therefore, we can, as good scientists, pursue true physics. We can joyfully inquire about how the world actually works. For example, we can ask questions about literal six-day creationism, unguided macroevolution, and any positions in between.

On the one hand, if we grant that Genesis 1 can still be true while speaking primarily about metaphysics, then we are free to ask questions about the physics of the world. The earth appears to be older than a few thousand years. Light comes from stars millions of light years away. The continents appear to have once been connected but are now separated. Spontaneous generation, organisms popping into being, does not seem to be occurring now. Did it once?

On the other hand, we are also free to ask questions about evolution. For we know that it is profoundly not unscientific to ask, “If all this developed through random mutations surviving through survival of the fittest over long periods of time, where is the fossil evidence for the millions of transitional species there must have been?” Or “How does the rising development of complexity in species fit with the second law of thermodynamics, the reality of entropy that things tend towards decay?” Or “How do we account for the ‘irreducible complexity’ in such things as sight and blood coagulation if they developed mutation by mutation over time?” Or “Why do species that supposedly developed in different epochs appear all together in the Cambrian fossils?”

If we grant that the purview of science is exploring the nature of what exists, not the meaning of why things exist, we can see that the existence of a Creator is not unscientific at all. In fact, the more we know about the cosmos, the more its complexity, unity and harmonious interaction all shout out the presence of a Designer. It is not unreasonable to assert a Creator. Rather, it is the better explanation for what we observe.

We need to understand the distinction between physics and metaphysics to face the reality of God and to explore openly the way God may have created.

To further contemplate the beauty of creation and the interaction between faith and science, you might enjoy downloading the app from Ken Boa Museum of Created Beauty or check out kenboa.org. You might also like the series of videos called "Wonder: The Harmony of Faith and Science" narrated by Jonathan Roumie.

Posted in: Lent

Day 1 In the Beginning . . . .

Posted on: March 9, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

WEEK ONE
CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

Étienne Colaud. The Creation of the Animals and the Birds. 1525, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.

On the question of creation, you can divide the world’s population roughly in two. One half believes the universe we see has always been; only the forms of energy and matter change. The other half believes that once upon a time the universe was not and that a creator brought it into being. You can whittle this second group down to those who believe a personal God intentionally created according to a plan. Christians uniquely take this even further. Alone among religions and philosophies, we connect a particular human being, Jesus, with the creation of all things.

Paul writes in Colossians 1:16-17 that all things were created by Jesus and through him. Even now it is through Jesus the Son of God who became the Son of Man that all things hold together. This colorful icon depicts the man Jesus calling the teeming variety of life into being in our beautiful world.

What we believe (or not) about creation profoundly affects how we view the purpose and value of our lives. To go about our days feeling like we are accidents is very different from considering ourselves to be intentionally and particularly designed. This week, we take up the golden thread of the triune God as Creator. We will see how embracing this wonderful reality can light up all our days with joy and purpose.

IN THE BEGINNING. . . .

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Genesis 1:1-5, 26-28, 31

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Picking Up the Thread

God made everything. Is that too obvious? Do you take it for granted? Or do you doubt that it could be so? As our study opens, I long for us to be reinvigorated through realizing afresh that the LORD I AM, the triune God of grace, created and sustains all things.

The beauty of the Bible’s creation account settles us in the peace of finding our proper place in the universe. Through creation, we realize that the very world we encounter is intentional, ordered and good. Let’s consider further:

In the beginning. Genesis tells us that the universe had a start. At one time, all that is had not come into being. God initiated creation. We exist because God thought of us and then made us. He created all there is out of nothing according to his plan and power. Our beginning was intentional. Therefore, our continuing to live is purposeful. Life has meaning because all things were made by God and for God.

God shaped his new world over time. We read that, at first, the earth was without form and void, and the chaos of primordial waters covered everything. Then we read that the Spirit of God hovered over those chaotic waters. That is to say, he superintended the ordered formation of all things.

God spoke new things into being within his infant world. There was darkness. Then God said, “Let there be light.” And light occurred. Creation came about through the powerful word of God. What God speaks comes to be!

God saw that his creation was good. So there was one day, and then there was another. The very cadence of Genesis 1 communicates a peaceful sense of rhythm. It feels right to us as we read. Everything happened as it was supposed to. Moreover, the LORD himself took pleasure in this work. All matter and energy, all forces, all solids, liquids and gases, all particles and waves, indeed everything is pleasing to the Maker. It is good that creation exists!

Humanity is the pinnacle of creation. We were made distinctly male and female so that such complementarity might together be the image of God in the world. Our consciousness, our speech, our capacity to relate to Someone invisible to our eyes, our urge to perceive and create meaning are all part of the mystery of humanity being created after the likeness of God.

Stitching It In

We dare not lose the precious perception that the world is created. Skeptical, discouraging voices proclaim that life emerged from unguided and impersonal forces. To them, there is no purposed beginning and no intentional destination. Hence, depressingly, there is no reason to live because life has no meaning. If innate survival is the only essence of our existence, no wonder so many people live with gnawing despair!

But we have a better story. We can reclaim the daring declaration of Scripture that all things exist by the creative design and powerful action of our God. There is a meaning for everything. It all matters. Our purpose, joy and reason to live all have everything to do with a personal Creator. We recall that we have perceived since we were children that there must be a Maker. Paul writes, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:19-20).

But too often as we grow up we enter humanity’s endless struggle to make up our own independent meaning. We can lose sight of the Creator. We forge our own way and begin to believe that we ourselves are the source and goal of life. Paul continues, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).

Sadly, we can lose the golden thread of our createdness. Sometimes the very pressure and busyness of daily life can keep us from honoring God as Creator and giving thanks. Sometimes our preoccupation with watching stories on screens or listening to voices in our earbuds deadens us to the beautiful and purposeful creation around us.

Recovery, though, can begin with the practice of “mindfulness.” That simply means intentionally becoming aware of what is around us, naming it and noticing it. This practice creates peace. Step outside. Take note. A dove sings alone on a wire. Crepe myrtles bloom again. Ants carry sand to their hill. Leaves wave in the breeze. Squirrels chase each other. This light rain smells fresh.

Then, as believers in a Creator, we turn mindfulness into gratitude. We give thanks for each thing we have noticed. And so we spring from peace into joy. Gracious Father, all this you intended and gave me to perceive!

Take some time now to give thanks specifically for at least three aspects of creation that you find beautiful, mystifying, awe-inspiring or delighting.

Praying Along the Pattern

O God, my God, by your word all that is came to be.

By your gracious will, you gave me the perception of such wonders:

Morning sun lights the waves

that crest and crash over me,

A crawling, dull caterpillar liquifies,

then emerges to fly with colorful wings.

Wildflowers in a forest bloom so briefly,

yet return year after year in the same place.

An infant laughs with her whole body

at the silly faces her sister makes.

A dog grabs a shoe for a chase, head fakes,

spins and sprints past me in triumph.

A Louisiana sunset turns

towering cumulus clouds orange and raspberry.

Every day, every second, your bountiful mind

Reveals itself in the ordinary.

You are God.

I thank you for the beauty that surrounds me

And the glory of all you make.

Posted in: Lent

Introduction to Golden Threads

Posted on: March 8, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Jean Bondol and Nicolas Bataille. River Flowing from the Throne of God. The Tapestry of the Apocalypse, 1377–1382, Château d’Angers, Angers, France. Alamy.

The goldwork embroidery in The Apocalypse Tapestry still shimmers 700 years after its creation. The actual gold metal wound into the threads evokes the splendor of this scene from Revelation 4. In Christian art, gold is the color of God’s glory, representing the hue through which God reveals his heavenly brilliance to earthbound creatures. Thus, this panel from the medieval French tapestry still elevates viewers into wonder. John beholds the Almighty One on the throne and the redeeming Lamb next to him. God is the shining reality underlying all creation. All things come from God and all things return to him. The golden threads stitch a bright home throughout the whole weaving.

We could also say that there are golden threads of phrases and word pictures running through Scripture from Genesis through Revelation that stitch the whole story together with glory. These golden threads reveal the deep underlying unity in the Bible and take us to the heart of God’s glorious narrative of redemption.

This Lent we will lift out six of these golden threads and spend a week exploring each:

1. Creation

2. The Lamb of God

3. God Will Dwell with Us

4. I Will Be Your God

5. Fear God

6. Fear Not

Test of a Golden Thread

As I chose which golden threads to pick out for this study, I used these criteria. First, the phrase, image or theme had to appear in at least five key locations: 1) Genesis, 2) the history of God’s people Israel, 3) the poetry of the psalms or prophets, 4) the story of Jesus (gospels or epistles), and 5) Revelation. Then, tracing one of these golden threads had to be a way to tell the gospel. That is, the thread had to connect to God’s overarching story of love which climaxed in Jesus. A golden thread has to invite us to participate in Scripture’s grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption, mission and recreation.

How to Use This Study in Twenty Minutes a Day

Jeremiah 31 Every Day: Don’t Skip This!

I invite you to pray aloud each day from the magnificent 31st chapter of Jeremiah. This passage takes us to the very heart of the Bible’s revelation. It contains the central golden thread which stitches together the whole story. We can look at any part of the Bible through the lens of this passage and watch it start to shimmer with God’s glory. Therefore, it’s spiritually formative for us to say this passage so often that we come to know it by heart and so possess it as a great treasure. Please do read it aloud every day at least once.

Daily Scripture

We’ll read a selection of texts that contain the week’s golden thread. Take your time. You might want to read these once silently and once aloud. As the week progresses make note of how the thread appears in different historical events and poetic reflections. Try to stay aware of how this golden thread ties together the Bible’s whole revelation.

Picking Up the Thread

These golden threads occur in a variety of places and forms in the Bible, so in this section, we will unpack the different contexts of each golden thread. Over a week, we might explore how the thread relates to the very early accounts of Genesis or how it appears in the teaching and events of the life of Jesus and the way the apostles reflected on Christ. We might consider what the thread means as it is presented in the poetry of a psalm or a promise in the prophets. Or we might contemplate what it means that this thread still shimmers with meaning in the Bible’s final book.

Stitching It In

In this section, we will invite the Spirit to weave this golden thread into our daily lives. We’ll consider what the truth of the key phrases and/or images means for our growth in Christ and our carrying out his mission in the world.

Praying Along the Pattern

This is where we strive to internalize what we learn through this golden thread by praying it back to God. I’ve offered words through which you can press close to Jesus as you encounter him in these Scriptures. Of course, this is only a springboard for you to continue with your own prayers!

Many centuries ago, a church father who became known as Gregory the Great realized that “Scripture grows with the reader.” This conveys that the Bible’s storyline is simple enough to teach to a child, but the depths of this narrative will occupy us throughout eternity. A lifetime of close and prayerful study reveals there is always more to find. The more we explore, the more we discover how profoundly the Bible holds together. Though written by more than 35 authors across a timespan of at least 1,500 years, Scripture tells a single story of the God who loves us enough to become one of us forever. I pray that daily tracing these golden threads will make your hearts glow from the brilliance of God’s priceless revelation to us.

Acknowledgments

It’s a pleasure to write with you in mind beloved congregation! Your thirst for God’s Word inspires me continually. Together, we’ve followed the Spirit’s leading to press further into the beauty of Christ. I’m also so grateful to work with such a skilled and dedicated team of staff members. In particular, this is the 14th Lent study Katie Robinson and I have worked on together. Her layout and design skills make the words so much more effective. And this marks Dr. Jean Rohloff’s third year editing the book for clarity and readability. Laura Shaw and others sacrifice their eyes for proofreading. And it’s such a treat to work with Lauren Honea, Scott Graham and Jacob Struppeck on the podcasts. One more time, then, let’s take 42 days to quest for more of Christ as we prepare to celebrate his resurrection.

Posted in: Lent