Brown's Daily Word 6-5-09

Good morning,
I have a special request this morning. My recent blood tests were abnormal, so my surgeon in Boston recommended that I should go for radiation treatment. I have gone for initial CT scan and Cat Scan. They were all clean. I will start radiation treatment soon, probably on Monday June 15,2009. My brother Patel is still in jail in Orissa, India. as a result of religious persecution and political conspiracy. He is going into his eleventh month of imprisonment. Several thousand Christians who have been made homeless because of Anti-Christian persecution by Hindu -Extremists since last August are still living in refugee camps. Thank you for praying for the above needs.
Dr Tony Campollo was the commencement speaker for Sunita's Graduation from Undergraduate College in Boston. He concluded his address by saying, "It is Friday now, but Sunday's coming". Praise the Lord for Friday. Praise the Lord for Sunday, the Day of the Lord, when we can come apart to be with the Lord and with His people to worship His Majesty, to celebrate His grace, and to declare that our Lord reigns. He is upon the throne.
Philip Yancy has written, “Christianity is not a purely intellectual, internal faith. It can only be lived in community.” So the question is not, “Am I going to be part of a community of faith” but “How am I going to live in this community of faith?” We can pretend that we’re on our own, but eventually we realize how much we need each other. When believers come together, something supernatural happens; Jesus promises, “Where two or three come together in My Name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). The author of Hebrews urges, “Let us consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (10:25). We are not solitary saints. We are incomplete until we find fellowship with others who share our faith.David is the author of psalm 133, and the best one to appreciate the blessing of unity.
Why do we resist the call to community? Sin isolates us; it causes us to find ways of separating ourselves from others. Sociologist Philip Slater wrote a probing analysis of the American way of life entitled, "The Pursuit of Loneliness", in which he claims that we tend to circumvent and deny our needed interdependence. We crave privacy to the point where we become cut off, isolated, from others. This causes any contact we can’t avoid to seem abrasive. Rather than communicate with others, we see others as a nuisance. Slater writes as an observer of the American condition. He describes our secluded self-sufficiency, our self-absorption, and our isolated individualism. Psalm 133 is a brief psalm which contains two poetic images, oil and dew. The first image has always struck me as kind of messy! When I anoint the sick with oil, I usually apply a small amount; here the biblical image is of a large quantity, running down on Aaron’s beard and robes. You wonder whether it would come out in the wash! When Moses’ brother Aaron was consecrated as the high priest in Exodus 29, he was clothed in vestments and anointed with oil. The holy fragrance of the oil would cling to him. Paul writes that “through us Christ spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him” (II Corinthians 2:14). We are a sweet perfume in a decaying world.
Oil softens the skin, and is used as a salve to heal wounds. Throughout Scripture oil is a symbol of God’s presence and Spirit. Oil was used when individuals were set apart for service as prophets, priests, and kings. Christ (who was all three) is a both name and a title; the word Christ means “anointed one". He was anointed to provide us salvation. The earliest Christians were appointed the major challenge to break down the barriers between Jews and Gentiles, and to welcome men and women alike. Paul describes this obstacle as a wall that needs to come down. To do so meant stepping out of one’s comfort zone. The Protestant Reformation emphasized the priesthood of all believers. Pastors provide spiritual leadership, but we are all priests, with access to God, called to ministry, and set apart for service. When we realize that our fellow Christians are priests this changes our relationship. There are many wonderful social and civic organizations, but what the church offers is unique—the unity of the Spirit. The late Dr. James Montgomery Boice explained, “The church is not an organization but an organism; it’s symbol for this age is a body, not a business.” The bond uniting us is also like dew. In high elevations the dew fall is heavy. Every dawn the mountain-tops are drenched, and the feeling is one of freshness and fertility. Israel is an arid country, so the morning dew is very important if plants are to grow. The dew fell on the loftiest peak, Mount Hermon, in the land of the northern tribes, as well as on Mount Zion, one of the smaller peaks, in the southern tribes. Travelers in the desert have been known to drink dew to stay alive. We need the dew of fellowship if we are to flourish in our faith. Unity cannot be manufactured by human effort; it is a gift produced by the Spirit. Unity is ours in Christ. Jesus prayed beneath the shadow of the cross that we “may all be one” (Jn 17:22). The unity we have is based on harmony within God Himself. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Dew is a symbol of blessing. When Isaac blessed his son Jacob, he stated, “May God give you of heaven’s dew” (Gen 27:28), meaning the resource of prosperity. In contrast, Isaac told Esau that his “dwelling will be away from the dew of heaven” (vs 39). Moses prayed that his teachings would “descend like dew” (Deut 32:2). Proverbs describes the favor of a king “like dew on the grass” (19:12). Isaiah compares dew to the resurrection of our bodies (26:19). God declared in Hosea, “I will be like the dew to Israel, which will blossom like a lily” (14:5). Blessings descend to us, but we ought to receive them together. We are blessed individually and collectively. What dew and oil have in common is that they are both flowing down. David focuses on the source and direction of these blessings. They come down from above upon God’s people. “Unity” is a gift of grace, and “Life forevermore” is the ultimate blessing, salvation. When we live together in harmony as God’s people, we get a foretaste of eternal life. We are part of a “forever family”. As we look around our church we see people with whom we are going to spend eternity in heaven. Why not get to know them better now? If we want a bit of heaven on earth, we can start now by uniting with fellow believers every way we can.
" See you in church"
Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je-wFV4M9MU