Every once in a while...

So Abram went up from Egypt,...to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. - Genesis 13:1-4

Abram is us. Not in the sense that we are an elderly man thousands of years ago who had a child in our old age. But we are idolaters like he. We always pay homage to things less than Christ and think nothing of it. We allow for life and circumstances to get in the way and supplant the pedestal where which the Cross once stood.

We are called from our normal lives to one's centered on a promised land. A place where we are called to live set apart for us as God's people. In this land it is specially suited for us, but there is still heartache and famine. Quarrels with family and friends take place regularly. It can be lush with greenery and dry like a desert. It may even force us to abandon it's borders on occasion in order to better care for those around us.

In this abandonment though, we are always called back to the place where we once were. To the land and home Christ has bought with His precious blood. To the hill where an altar was built with the stone that was rolled away so that we might worship God freely. Where there is no need for sacrifice but just a need to call on Him for the mercy found in the once-and-for-all-time death on our behalf. It is not perfumed by lights and stage effects or symphonies and organs, but is dressed in the one Name that is stronger and more powerful than any other: Jesus Christ. God's Chosen One who saves His people from certain death. The sin-bearer who bore the sins that were even committed against Him when He was nailed to the tree.

Worship is always about a returning. A traveling from a place not preoccupied by God to a place where all we can do is call on His name. Because it is a lifestyle not a moment. A daily being not an hour arbitrarily set aside one day in seven. Not in any special way or with cool parlour tricks, but just in a crying out to Him for His steadfast love and grace which surpasses our own understanding. For He is a God who saves. A God who loves. Who seeks a people who might call on Him every once in a while.

TW