Matthew 2 1-12: Staying Focused on Worship: Lessons from the Magi

Morning All:

Greetings from Nicole. I hope this message reaches you well. Yesterday, I waded in with my first reflections on Matthew. And it did indeed bless me so I'm pressing on. However, I just bit off a little portion of Matthew 2 and will engage the rest of the chapter in future installments.
In the interest of space, I have also left out the scripture reference, but have a link to BibleGateway.com where you can reference the texts.

And just as the first chapter of Matthew got all up in my business, chapter 2 was no different---this time the matter was worship.

Now, worship is an interesting subject as I have struggled in this area. In the spirit of keeping it real, I get bored and with church, weary of the regimentation and the passionless liturgies in some spaces, the well-worn theatrics at times, the patriarchy, the ageism, the disconnect between how are elders believe they should be treated by young folks (and how they act TOWARD young folks), the classism.

SOMETIMES, the Black church can feel like Black college life (whether you are at predominantly white or black institution) with everyone clamoring for the attention of its
most elite members/organizations--- all the while taking our focus off the purpose of our time there. So--- with all these distractions--- I have not been not afraid to church-hop to ease my church-related ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder or Allowing the Devil Dominion---my newly coined phrase).

However, recently, I have prayed to the Lord to do a new thing in me. I've stopped asking the Lord to make church different, but asked the Lord to MAKE ME DIFFERENT IN CHURCH. Because while I was staying home (or trying new churches with more sedate worship styles), I couldn't shake the feeling of being out of fellowship, out of the will of God, and more vulnerable to spiritual attacks. So, yeah, while I could justify my frustrations and sitting out for several months, I was suffering and it showed in my attitude, increased level of frustration, inability to manage my emotions well... and I missed worshiping with the saints.

And so the Lord---in his merciful decision not to leave me where he found me yet again--- has poured out fresh renewal in my worship experience. So, in recent weeks, I have entered the doors of the church WITH MY MIND FOCUSED ON WHAT THE LORD HAS FOR ME THERE---not chit-chattin', or worshiping inauthentically, or looking at my neighbor and sayin' blah, blah, blah just cuz the Pastor said so...naw, naw, naw, I have come in the door with a more earnest desire to hear HIS voice and instruction for my week.

And in so doing, the Lord had given me blessed encounters to fellowship with teenagers; had me in a pool of tears on my knees praying over predatory lending practices IN CHURCH; and even got me blessed in a wildly distracting service at home in Chicago just because the choir directors were committed to worshiping in spirit and in truth...and went on and did so. So the Lord has has refreshed my worship experience wherever I have worshiped of late---be it my Jacksonville or Chicago church homes. Hallelujah!!!

So, again, in this effort to make the word relevant for my real everyday experience, the text got in my affairs again with an important reminder. The Magi offer key lessons for how to stay focused on worship. The text opens with them coming from the East to find "the one who has been born King of the Jews". Now here, I was struck by the fact that they didn't wait for the child to come to them. They got up and had the good sense to know that they needed to make their way to the child, to where the child was and worship him. A welcome reminder for those moments when I think I can get it done in the bed by sleeping in on Sunday.

The second point of interest is that the Magi didn't have an obstacle-free path to worship. Just as soon as they were situated to press their way to the Christ child, here comes Herod wanting to call a meeting and instructing them to search for the child so that Herod could then worship him.

I'll stop here because on too many occasions I have watched folk distract other from pressing into the worship experience. Uh, Mrs. Church Lady, can I talk to you about next Tuesday's bake sale or uh, Bruther Churchman, let me just get wit' you for a moment to talk about the car wash. Or folks chattin' and walking and up and down the stairs...and takin' others off their game.

And yet, as we MUST DO what the Magi did: press on and press in and get to the place where they could worship the Baby Christ in spirit and in truth. They greeted Mary, but worshiped Christ... and then presented him with the best of their gifts. I need not say any more about the fact that leaving that faithful tithe and offering IS WORSHIP as the Magi delicately remind us.

So, when you are having those moments of church frustration, remember the Magi. Despite the distractions, stay focused on getting in the presence of the Lord for worship, remember that leaving your tithes and offerings are indeed worship and leave the Lord's presence ready to take of different route altogether to serve HIM best.

Be well, today!

---Nicole