Clear Glass, Not Stained Glass
Before We Gather by Zach Hicks
| Scripture
Read Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14
| Devotion
In another devotion, we contrasted the subtle yet cosmic difference between worshiping God versus worshiping worship. Today’s devotion is another way of looking at the same issue. What we want to say, right at the beginning, is that God intends everything that happens in worship to be transparent. God has a goal in worship. That goal is to draw all of creation back into the joyful bliss of his glory though union and communion with him.
In the book of Numbers, Moses recounts a harrowing episode in the middle of God’s deliverance process. The Israelites had yet again grown “impatient on the way” (Num. 21:4). They grumbled and complained, once again revealing their lack of faith in God and trust in his promises to provide, protect, and deliver. Their faithlessness was met with a severe mercy (loving discipline) intended to soften their hard hearts and press them back into dependence on God. So the Lord sent serpents. But just as God’s law is always accompanied by his gospel, just as his judgment is intended to lead us to his grace, so God provides a way out. Moses was instructed to fashion an artifact-a bronze snake on a pole-to serve as a “transparent” means through which God’s people could receive healing and salvation. And it worked.
Generations later, though, in a little throwaway line in the book of 2 Kings, we see what happened over time to the bronze snake. What was once a means of God’s saving work, what was once a vehicle for worship, became an object of worship. The text tells us that King Hezekiah “broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan)” (2 Kings 18:4). Somewhere along the way, Israel stopped looking through the bronze snake to God the Healer and Redeemer, and they started looking at the bronze snake as their healer and redeemer. The snake ceased to be transparent.
There’s a helpful analogy here as we transfer these thoughts to our worship gatherings: worship should be “clear glass, not stained glass.” Think about the function of each type of glass. A clear glass window is intended to be looked through. A stained glass window is intended to be looked at. A clear glass window channels light so we might see more clearly what is beyond it. A stained glass win- dow harnesses light to magnify itself. (And by the way, this isn’t a knock against stained glass windows. We’re playing in the land of metaphor!) Just like the bronze snake, it’s dangerous when the vehicles for worship become objects of worship.
Where are the dangers in our worshiping community? What are the sacred cows of our worship services? Is it the music? Is it the liturgy? Is it the actions and behaviors of the ministers and worship leaders? Is it the artful delivery of the preacher? Is it the beauty of our building or the sophistication of our technology? A good litmus test here is asking the question, What are people saying when they walk out of the service? “Wow, that preacher really can preach!” or “Isn’t the liturgy just beautiful?” or “Wasn’t the choir’s anthem magnificent?” or “Isn’t our worship band the best?” Ultimately, we hope people are saying none of these things. If the elements of our worship services are transparent, people walking out of a service will be exclaiming. “Isn’t Jesus beautiful? Hallelujah, what a Savior!” Clear glass, not stained glass.
And what are we ultimately looking at through the clear glass? Where should all this point? Jesus tells us in a clandestine meet- ing with an Old Testament scholar. Jesus declared to Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). To “lift up” is certainly a worship phrase, but in John it has a specific meaning. Jesus was foreshadowing that moment when he would be lifted up on the cross for the sins of the world (John 8:28; 19:16-30). Just as every book of the Bible ultimately leads us to the cross, so every element of worship should do the same. The only thing beyond the clear glass is a view to Calvary’s hill. So today, as we turn to prayer, we aim all our sights on that goal.
| Prayer
Aim your prayers in this direction:
- Pray that every aspect of worship-the music, the technology, the prayers, the architecture, the accoutrements, the leadership-would be clear glass through which everyone will see Jesus high and lifted up.
- Pray for the Holy Spirit to graciously identify those things in your worship life and in your church’s worship life that have become stained glass, that he might lead you to greater dependence on and trust in God alone.
- Pray for the people in and around the worship experience- those welcoming and greeting, those with specific duties of worship preparation and maintenance to be used by God to till the soil of people’s hearts to be ready for the Spirit to sow the seeds of the gospel in them throughout the worship service.