Liturgy: What Does He Want?

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
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48
Psalm 119:33-40

This week’s liturgy is contributed by Tim Gibson, Executive Vice President:

“What does HE want?”  With those simple words, I triggered one of the roughest spells in one of my most valued relationships. What’s worse, I should have known better, but I didn’t think it through before I said them.  
 
It was a normal afternoon in the organization I led that served as a think-tank for the largest Major Command of the U.S. Air Force. We were the go-to problem solvers for anything from speeches to conferences to congressional engagements. I had just hired a new direct report and was thrilled he was joining us. I knew him to be a man of great integrity, intellect, and real-world experience. I considered him a friend and, in many aspects, a mentor.  
 
He was on the other end of the phone and I thought I’d have a little fun by pretending to be annoyed that he was calling. I knew he’d hear my comment, but thought he knew me well enough to understand my words were insincere, a harmless joke. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He understood them to represent how I really felt about him when he wasn’t around, and knew there were others in our team who just heard me use them.
 
This week’s liturgy Scripture tells us precisely how to avoid misunderstandings like this. The passages link together beautifully, describing how we are to interact with each other in community. Given the story above, I am particularly convicted by God’s word in Leviticus, “You shall not be a talebearer among your people” and, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself:  I am the LORD.” While it wasn’t my intent at the time, I had given my friend the impression that I did not respect him and that I did not have his back when he wasn’t present.
 
Fortunately for our relationship, he is a mature Christian who was willing to confront me privately, in grace and truth, letting me know the impact of my words and asking me straight up if that was truly how I felt. Corinthians reminds us, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness,” and while I don’t consider myself wise, I was certainly caught in a mess of my own design. I explained what I had intended, asked for his forgiveness, which he graciously extended immediately. More than that, he told me that his heart was good toward me and would always be. Those are not words one typically hears in the hyper-competitive world in which he and I worked. Since that day more than 15 years ago, I have never had cause to wonder if what he told me was true.
 
The scripture readings this week provide broad guidelines for doing life together well, personally and professionally. They apply to countless choices we make and, when we’re at our best, influence those choices daily. I know I need to pray the Psalmist’s prayer daily: “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies.” My community will surely benefit if I do.