“Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went…When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume…she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.” – Luke 7:36-38
Every Friday morning I get together with a couple of other pastors in my town for coffee and conversation. One is a Word of Faith pastor, the other is a Quaker pastor, and sometimes a youth pastor from a Baptist church shows up. I’m still badgering the Nazarene pastor to join us, but it’s his day off and a seven am meeting is tough for most pastors to rise for, especially on their day off.
At our last meeting, we were talking about the difficulty of leading people in praise and worship. Some Sunday’s are just amazing. People are lifting their voices and their hearts, they seem to want to linger in the presence of God, and you can sense a special presence of God in the sanctuary.
Other Sunday’s make you wonder why you even got out of bed. Everything seems to fall flat, few people seem interested, and we’re counting the minutes until the singing is over and we can move onto something else.
As we mulled over this strange phenomenon, I recalled the story about the woman who anointed Jesus with an alabaster jar of perfume and her tears. She heard that Jesus was going to be at Simon the Pharisee’s house, and she went there with one purpose in mind: anoint the Savior of her soul.
What intrigues me about this scene is that Simon is oblivious to the important presence of Jesus. Although he invited Jesus into his house, he proceeded to ignore Him, forgoing the usual courtesies granted a guest (Luke 7:44-46).
Now we have Jesus present in a house with two opposing reactions. One person came into the house prepared to worship, while the other was prepared to ignore their guest. Continue Reading
This is the scene: Some time after the betrothal of Joseph and Mary, but before they consummated the marriage, the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that God chose her to give birth to the long-awaited Messiah.
A few years ago, a church I attended in Arkansas hosted a Thanksgiving service, which served to raise money for the ministerial alliance. The alliance asked our church to lead in the praise and worship, and I played the piano on the worship team. Looking over the congregation, I noted a pastor from another church who, no matter what we sang, refused to either clap his hands or raise them in worship. He simply sat in his pew with his arms folded. That struck me as strange, because outside of church he was a happy, vivacious, demonstrative man.
I’ve been around Christians and Christianity for thirty-five years now. I’ve been associated with Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic and non-denominational organizations and churches. I’ve seen mysterious, authentic movements of God’s Spirit that have transformed people’s lives, and had conversations with pseudo-religious nuts who proclaimed they were the only ones who held true to “The One True Faith.” It’s been a wild ride.
Perhaps it is just me, but I don’t think the believers in Acts 2 were very surprised when the wind blew and shook the upper room when the disciples gathered for prayer and worship. Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matt. 18:20). Would you really expect God to enter a room and not make just a little bit of noise? When God arrives, change is in the air.
