Worship Wednesday - Holy Crap

First Worship Wednesday

I figure for the first Worship Wednesday, I should give a brief introduction. For the most part, this blog is about my struggles, and as God steps in, I will give Him the praise. But I want to keep the telling of my experience as real and relatable as possible - especially for those who have a bad taste in their mouth for religion.

So far, it is with great restraint that I have kept from offering Bible verse after Bible verse, Christian saying after Christian saying, Spiritual revelation after Spiritual revelation. I've wanted to speed through the steps to speed up my own healing, but for both you, the reader, and for myself, I want to take things slow, in order - line upon line, precept upon precept, principle upon principle.

On the other hand, I wanted to dedicate at least one day a week outside of Friday night Celebrate Recovery meetings and Sunday morning church, to the Worship of the Highest Power - Jesus Christ.  So here is week 1 of Worship Wednesday.

Holy &$%#!

When most of us think about worship, we think about the songs that we sing in the beginning of church services. Later during the service, we are told that tithing is also worship. We are told that service is worship, and giving up ... pretty much everything is worship.

Years ago, I heard a friend constantly saying, "Holy Cow!" - a lot! She said she was curbing her foul language as a form of worship! Ironically, I was in deep study of "Killing Sacred Cows" - a somewhat cynical view of religious Christian beliefs that were neither Biblical nor helpful. So, needless to say, before accusing my Christian friend of being a closet Hindu, I went to the Bible to see what God says on the subject.

Holy Word!

Before I continue, I really thought my first Worship Wednesday would be about music I loved - songs that really moved me during nights at Celebrate Recovery.  Considering I've been opening myself up to all the crap I've been denying, a light-hearted song is what I wanted. But God seemed to have a purpose for my problems...

In the book of Leviticus, God goes into great detail of how a sacrifice should be performed:

But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD - Leviticus 1:9

But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. - Leviticus 1:13

And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD - Leviticus 3:3-5

And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away, as it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,...  - Leviticus 4:8-11

If you've never slaughtered an animal, the details of the required sacrifice may turn your stomach.  However, if you can picture the process of the sacrifice, you'll realize that instructions were given to remove all of the entrails, the fat, and in Leviticus 4:11, specifically the "dung".

Holy Crap! 

"An offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD" is how the Bible explains the burning off of the crap - of your crap! All of those things that is a waste of what you have put into your life - God wants you to get rid of it and burn it - a sweet savour unto the LORD.

Jesus says, "if you are there at the alter and there realize [you are full of crap]" - well, you can read Matthew 5:23-25 to see what it really says.  But as you can see from the book of Leviticus, the prescribed sacrificial worship is actually taking your crap, looking at it, and giving it to the LORD. 

So, before you sing your first hymn, before you reach for your purse, before you partake of the Body of Christ, remember the LORD sees the burning off of those things you really don't want as a sweet savour!

Ask yourself: Do I have some crap I am dealing with? Is it worth holding on to or pretending it's no big deal? Or should I gather it up, take a good last look at it, and give it to God?

Now! We're here to worship!