Liturgy: “We Will Dwell In the House of the Lord Forever”

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 Scripture readings:
Psalm 23
John 10:22-30
Acts 9:36-43
Revelation 7:9-17

This week’s liturgy is contributed by Prof. Joshua Hershey, Assistant Professor of Science and Philosophy:

October 7th, 2011 was one of the happiest days of my life. That was the day Janelle and I adopted our daughters. (see photo above) I can’t describe the joy we felt, knowing that these precious little girls would be part of our family forever. We also felt tremendous relief: no one could take them away from us. As foster parents, we had known that at any moment our children might be taken somewhere else, perhaps to an unsafe home, and we would have no legal right to do anything about it.

Everything changed when the judge brought down her gavel at the end of our court hearing that sunny autumn day. The adoption was finalized, and our foster family was transformed into what we like to call a “forever family.” When our attorney asked the girls if they knew what adoption meant, our youngest daughter (3 years old at the time) exclaimed: “We can stay with mommy and daddy forever and ever!”

This week’s scripture readings remind us that we too are being adopted into a forever family. We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever! Meanwhile, as we wait for the adoption process to be completed, we are like sheep in the care of a good shepherd. Jesus leads us to a place where our needs are met, comforts us in times of darkness, and makes every predator flee. Our shepherd is able to rescue us from enemies no earthly shepherd can defeat—even death. No one can snatch us out of his hands.

Jesus is our shepherd; yet in the passage from Revelation 7, he appears to us as a lamb, humble and gentle. Verse 17 uses both metaphors at once: “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (ESV)

As I reflected on that verse, I remembered something that happened just a few weeks before adoption day. On the morning of September 21st (I wrote down the date so I wouldn’t forget), our oldest daughter announced “I had a good dream last night.” She was 4 years old at the time, and had been in our home for almost a year, but she continued to suffer frequent nightmares. I couldn’t recall any occasion when she said she had a good dream. I said “That’s great! What did you dream about?” She replied: “I dreamed that God was holding me. And there was a lamb with us.”

It was more than a dream. God really is holding us, and one day we will meet that lamb in real life—more real than the life we experience on earth. We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.