worship

Good morning friends,
Our reading today reveals a fascinating picture of worship. The worship Paul describes is highly participatory with leadership shared among the whole congregation. The congregation expects to hear God speaking through each of them in prophesy and praise. When God speaks to someone sitting in the pews, the person speaking at the moment should be quiet and allow that person the change to be heard. Let's allow ourselves to be challenged by this word as we think about worship.

As far as Paul's words here about women go, they really don't make any sense. Paul himself relied on female leaders and recognized at least one woman as an "apostle of the Lord" so it doesn't make any sense for him to say that women should be silent in church.

Blessings as you seek to hear and share God's voice,
Sam

1 Corinthians 14:26-39

26What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret. 28But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God. 29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30If a revelation is made to someone else sitting nearby, let the first person be silent. 31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged. 32And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, 33for God is a God not of disorder but of peace.


(As in all the churches of the saints, 34women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. 35If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 36Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?) 37Anyone who claims to be a prophet, or to have spiritual powers, must acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. 38Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized. 39So, my friends, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; 40but all things should be done decently and in order.

prophecy builds up

Good morning sisters and brothers,
I'd like to remind you of a workshop on visiting we're hosting at Laurelton (in the Peters Room downstairs) at 6pm. Feel free to email or call me with questions. This morning Paul continues his discussion of why tongues are a spiritual gift with limited use while prophecy, though less impressive, is more important for the church. The main idea is that no one else understands what the person is saying when they speak in tongues, so they can't be built up by it. He also turns to evangelism as a consideration for worship. Paul seems to contradict himself for a second here because first he says that tongues are a gift for unbelievers while prophecy is for believers, then he seems to say the opposite. I don't know what to make of this, and welcome your impression to help me out.

He moves on to say that if a visitor comes into worship and people are speaking in tongues the visitor will think the members of the church are crazy. On the other hand, if a visitor comes in and the church is prophesying that visitor will hear things that resonate with his or her heart. Many of us have had the impression sometime in our lives that part of a sermon or prayer or scripture passage is aimed right at us. I think that's similar to what Paul is thinking of here, though maybe more so. When the visitor feels the "thoughts of his heart disclosed" he or she will recognize that God is in that meeting and be built up in God's love.

God bless,
Sam

1 Corinthians 14:13-25

14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. 15What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. 16Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying? 17For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. 18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; 19nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.


20Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. 21In the law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people; yet even then they will not listen to me,” says the Lord. 22Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. 25After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, “God is really among you.”