Liturgy: Grit for Glory

What is the King’s Liturgy? King’s Liturgy defines our experience together as a Christian community. It outlines the rhythms we celebrate with the Church at large: Scripture readings, Sabbath habits, and celebration of Holy Days and historical events.

This Week’s Lectionary Readings
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45
Psalm 130

This week’s liturgy is contributed by Chris Cragin-Day, Assistant Professor of English and Theater:

Martha was trying her best to accept her brother’s death. She was trying to act mature, to believe that Lazarus’s death was God’s will. She was trying to be strong. Strong enough to  bear the pain of such a great loss. And she was trying not to be angry at Jesus, who was supposed to be Lazarus’s friend, who was supposed to love them, who could have saved him. She had already decided she would bury her anger, strengthen her resolve, endure. I imagine that Martha was the kind of person who, at some point in her life, had already decided that she was willing to suffer for her Lord. That that was the way she would prove her love for Him. That it was also the way she would become righteous. Martha was not at all expecting this: (verse 40) “Jesus said to her, ‘Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of  God?'” Boy did she. 

I’m an MK (missionary kid) and I was taught to be tough. The stakes were high. We lived in China, a communist country where the mistakes we made, even as children, could get people imprisoned or even killed. I learned very early that the Christian life was not an easy life. That Christians, the ones worth their salt, had grit, a stay-to-it-ness that allowed them to endure anything. Even though I now live in a country that espouses freedom of speech, I think I still live my life like one wrong move and the boogie man will get me. And hurt me. And somehow, my being tortured by the boogie-man will glorify Christ. It’s a weird theology. And I know it’s wrong. The truth is, I shouldn’t be looking over my shoulder for the boogie-man, I should be looking ahead, expecting that at any moment, around any corner, I will see the glory of God. And it will astound me. I will stand dumbfounded, awed by that glory, just as Martha was when Jesus raised her brother from death. That’s the true Christian life. That’s the power to which we are privy.