Liturgy: “Practicing Faith”
Just as we need to spend quality time at the piano to really know our music, we need to spend time with God reviewing truths in Scripture and spiritual lessons we have learned.
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
Exodus 32:1-14
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
This week’s liturgy is contributed by Christine Pulliam Melamed, adjunct instructor in music:
In Exodus 32 we see how “quickly” the Israelites turned away from God and to idol worship so soon after being rescued from the Egyptians. God’s initial response is wrath, but Moses appeals to God on their behalf and points to the covenant God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses prefigures Christ as he advocates for the people and stands “in the breach,” as it says in Psalms 106, to turn away the wrath of God. Moses fills the gap that Israel’s sin has created between the people and God.
These passages in Philippians 4 are among my favorite in the Bible. I love the exhortation in verse 9 – “practice these things,” since it’s what I tell my piano students all the time. So it’s not just me—the Bible says you need to practice too! Just as we need to spend quality time at the piano to really know our music, we need to spend time with God reviewing truths in Scripture and spiritual lessons we have learned. It is so easy to unlearn something important, just as we can forget to play a piece that we worked on in our lesson because several days went by without practicing it.
Similarly our hearts stray when we neglect to spend enough time focusing our attention on the Lord. Like learning to play the piano, we cannot fake our walk with God or take short-cuts. My students sometimes begin a lesson by offering the disclaimer or apology of not practicing enough, but I can tell when someone didn’t practice.
It actually takes a lot of faith that spending time working at the piano will bring results, but I always see growth when students put in effort. Even so, practice does not make perfect. Spiritually we are always falling short of God’s standards of righteousness, and like Israel, we are forgetful and easily set up idols so soon after a deliverance from God. We must remember Christ is not only our Savior for eternity but also for our daily lives when we need grace and help in weakness.