Saturday Synaxis

(An Elizabethan-era prayer engraved on the outer wall of Westminster Abbey)

How To Be a Celebrity

* Note: I wasn't able to do a new scene of The Quest for the King this week, invested as I am in the revision and re-issue of my Hidden Kings Trilogy, among other things. So in lieu of that, here's a new piece that I wrote for a devotional column in my local newspaper.

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be a celebrity? Most of us, I think, have dallied with that fancy at some point, imagining what our lives might look like if we were rock stars, movie stars, or all-star athletes. Everyone has a desire to be recognized and appreciated.

Most of us also know, however, that the actual lives of celebrities are probably not as glamorous as they are portrayed to be. The stresses of living in the unforgiving public eye and of keeping up with the pressures and daily decision-making of fame and fortune appear to wear heavily on them. It may in fact be a blessing to not have to bear the burden of being a celebrity in our particular society.

Did you know, though, that there’s a way of being a celebrity that carries with it none of the stress, exhaustion, and disenchantment that so often accompanies the lifestyles of our public idols? The etymology of the word “celebrity” suggests that it refers to “someone who is celebrated.” There’s a verse in the Bible that describes a reality in which we—you and me—are the objects of celebration. It comes in Luke 15:10, where Jesus says, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

Essentially, this means that when we simply say “yes” to the offer of unending grace in Jesus Christ, there is a celebration that breaks out in heaven because of us. In fact, the Bible says in many different places that you are indeed a “celebrity” in God’s eyes—you are accorded the highest imaginable status simply for being who you are: made in the image of God, the object of God’s thoughts and joy and love. The great 20^th-century pastor and writer A. W. Tozer once noted that we often give too much thought on how happy we will be when we finally reach the bliss of heaven; what we should give equal attention to, says Tozer, is God’s joy in having us there. The God of the universe delights in you; he thinks about you; and he longs for you to come to him. And when you respond to the outstretched offer of his love, there is such a party in the courts of the living God that it would put all the fêtes and bashes of Hollywood to shame. It is a far greater thing to be celebrated by the Maker of all things than to be noticed by the passing fancies of this world. So come to Christ, and be the celebrity you were born to be.

Photo of the Week

O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

- Psalm 63:1

Quote of the Week

"Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy--then we need an hour."

- Francis de Sales, 17th-cent. Roman Catholic clergyman and author of Introduction to the Devout Life

Saturday Synaxis

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace 

According to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles

And to be the glory of thy people Israel.

- The Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:25-32), from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

Photo of the Week

The season of singing has come,

The cooing of doves is heard in our land...

Arise, come, my love;

My beautiful one, come with me.

- Song of Solomon 2:12-13

Quote of the Week

"Most men are ambitious of the honor of great business, and power, and preferment; they covet it, they court it, they compass sea and land to obtain it; but the ambition of a Christian should be carried out towards quietness."

- Matthew Henry, late 17th-early 18th cent. British pastor and the author of one of the most influential Bible commentaries in history

(Painting: "A Quiet Nook," by Albert Fitch Bellows, 1869)

Saturday Synaxis

O Lord our God, make our hearts obedient to your divine will; turn our eyes away from vain things, so that, free from the world's attractions, they may always look on your glorious beauty. For you are our God, the God of compassion and salvation, and we glorify you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever, to the ages of ages. Amen.

- from Praying with the Orthodox Tradition

Photo of the Week

The healing of His seamless dress is by our beds of pain;

We touch Him in life's throng and press, and we are whole again.

- Verse 5 of the hymn "Immortal Love," by John Greenleaf Whittier

Quote of the Week

"Suffering is not the worst thing that can happen to us. Disobedience to God is the worst thing."

- An anonymous 2oth-cent. Vietnamese Christian who had undergone persecution for his faith

(Painting: "The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian," by Carlo Crivelli, c.1490)

Saturday Synaxis

(Fresco of the Trinity, Jesuit church in Vienna, c.1705, © Hubertl / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, send me your Spirit, O God; instill the wisdom of your Holy Spirit into my heart; protect my soul and body, every limb in my body, every fiber of my being, from all possible harm and all traps the Devil may set for me and every temptation to sin. Teach me to give you thanks, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

- Euchologium Sinaiticum

Glimpses of Grace: The Prophecy of Judah's King

(Note to readers: This is the last "Glimpses of Grace" post from the book of Genesis. I'm planning on taking a break before continuing the series into Exodus. In the meantime, I'll be posting a series of memoir-essays in the Thursday slot about my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land.)

(Click here for all previous "Glimpses of Grace" studies)

In Genesis 49, we have a series of prophecies made by the dying Jacob over his twelve sons, the patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. Thus far Genesis has been mainly concerned with the character and story of only one of them--Joseph--but in this chapter another son, Judah (who heretofore had not really been a laudable character in the brief events narrated about him), earns a surprising spotlight. Of all the prophecies rendered, Judah's is the most startling (Gen. 49:8-12), not least because it speaks of a future kingship for his tribe.

So what is the content of this prophecy? In verse 8, we see that Judah is prophesied as receiving praise, victory over enemies, and the submission of his brothers. Then in verse 9, a famous image is introduced: "like a lion"--here we have, for the first time, an allusion to the "Lion of Judah." (And, of course, this would come to be one of the titles that the early church ascribed to Christ as the Messianic King.) The end of that verse says, "and who shall rouse him?"--clearly a reference to the obvious dangers of waking a sleeping lion, but early Christians also saw in this phrase a hint of Christ's resurrection.

It's in verse 10 that this passage takes a dramatic turn: the specific promise of an enduring kingship, with one particular Messianic figure in mind: "The scepter will not depart from Judah...until he to whom it belongs shall come." Indeed, the royal house of Israel was reckoned through the tribe of Judah from David's time onward. But the phrase "until he to whom it belongs shall come" is one that presents a tantalizing, multilayered set of prophetic possibilities. Christians and Jews alike have both seen in this phrase a promise of the Messiah: that one day someone would come to whom the whole line of Judah's kingship had always been pointing. Christians, naturally, believe that Christ fulfills that role in its entirety: he is both David's heir and David's Lord, the King of kings. But that particular phrase ("he to whom it belongs") is also a tricky one to translate; most modern translations will note several different possibilities. Another potential rendering is one that says, "until he to whom tribute is due shall come," or, more evocatively yet, "until he who is the gift offering shall come"--if that latter reading is correct, then we have a powerful foreshadowing of the role of the Messianic king as a sacrificial victim. Still other translations will attempt to render the Hebrew more directly, by simply saying "until Shiloh comes." If this reading is correct, it is rather more opaque, but certainly no less poetic and compelling. One possible interpretation would be that it is a reference to the physical location known as Shiloh, which appears most prominently in the Old Testament as the spot where the Tabernacle was placed upon the Israelites' entry to the promised land in the book of Joshua. Thus "Shiloh" would seem to refer to the actual presence of God among his people in the physical space of the land of Israel. If that reading is true, then this turn of phrase seems to indicate that the Messianic king from Judah's line will also be, in some sense, the abiding presence of God in the midst of his people. Whichever way you read that haunting line of "until he comes," it seems to point to Christ, either as the King of kings, as a sacrificial offering, or as "God with us."

And it doesn't end there. Verse 11 speaks of this Messianic king of Judah "tethering his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch"--a prophecy that is apparently literally fulfilled during Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his subsequent teaching of the church as the branches of his vine. Verse 11 also says that he will "wash his garments in wine." That might seem a little odd--washing in wine will not really succeed in washing anything; it will simply leave stains. But if Christ is in view here, then we have a fulfillment of this line that makes perfect sense, for it is through the blood of Christ that we are washed clean from our sins. Here, as in the New Testament, wine is taken as an allusion for blood, and so we have a prediction that the Messianic king will offer cleansing through the shedding of blood. To whom could this be pointing but to Jesus?

Photo of the Week

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

- Matthew 5:3

Quote of the Week

(A quote in honor of the resumption of a new school year):

"Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously."

- G. K. Chesterton

Saturday Synaxis

I am no longer my own, but Thine.

Put me to what Thou wilt,

Rank me with whom Thou wilt;

Put me to doing, put me to suffering,

Let me be employed for Thee or laid aside for Thee;

Let me exalted for Thee or brought low for Thee;

Let me be full, let me be empty;

Let me have all things, let me have nothing;

I freely and heartily yield all things

To Thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Thou art mine, and I am Thine.

So be it. And the covenant

Which I have made on earth,

Let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

- from Celtic Daily Prayer