Psalm 50:1-6 / "The Church Without Christ"

It seems that, once again, I've let myself go too long without posting a blog. It's almost spring break, and I got caught up in classes, work, and the final production stages of my band's EP. I really have no excuse, but at least I'm writing now! The break should provide some good down-time to relax, read, and meditate on the Word (as well as giving me a great opportunity to have fun with friends and take on some more creative projects!).

This morning, as I got up for my 8 AM Ear Training class, I was thinking about how I wanted to start my day right and let it be centered on God. As I considered what it meant to worship a Creator who is outside of time and always with me, I thought of a passage from Psalm 50. This excerpt from a "Psalm of Asaph" is an awe-riddled song of praise to the Masterful One who spoke our world into being. It urges us to realize what a Mighty God we serve,a nd to respect and honor Him. It's a truly great and inspiring piece of poetry -- I've been turning to the Psalms more and more lately, and I always find incredible truths and brilliant, beautiful words within their text.

Psalm 50

A psalm of Asaph.

1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.

2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.

3 Our God comes and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.

4 He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:

5 "Gather to me my consecrated ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.
Selah

Before ending this blog, I wanted to say a few more things. As I've said before, I'm in the midst of reading "Searching For God Knows What" by Donald Miller. Last night, I read about the need for Christ as a constant part of our lives, not as a figurehead for our own agendas or politics, but as the Perfect, Compassionate Savior who lived and died in order to bring salvation to mankind.

Flannery O'Connor, who may very well be my all-time favorite author, wrote a novel called Wise Blood in which a young man named Hazel Motes decides to start "The Church Without Christ," an organization in which the individual selects his own personal interpretation of the Bible as Gospel Truth. Guilt and sinfulness need not exist, and Jesus can be whatever you'd like him to be -- especially if you'd rather he didn't exist.

The book shows this "Church Without Christ" to be not only a ridiculous sham, but a frighteningly realistic picture of how we often attempt to conform the Word and Being of God to our own desires. I don't won't to live as if I'm in such a Church. I need to be constantly confronted with my own fallenness, my desperate need for my precious Savior.

The God who exists beyond our time and space, who summoned the earth into being with the word of creation, is very much alive. His Son, who interacts with us through the Living and Holy Spirit, is the one hope for our sinful and selfish souls. It is only through the death of our old selves that we can be restored. It is only through Christ's resurrection that we may learn to truly Live.

"Our God comes and will not be silent."