The Lord Standing By The Altar (Amos 9:1)

 


Friday, July 26, 2024


Psalms 65; 70

Amos 9:1-6

Romans 3:9-20


Observance: Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary


The Lord Standing By The Altar (Amos 9:1)


Having spent time in a number of different Anglican churches, I must say that the idea of an “altar” is not the same in all places. Some Anglican churches will have an altar bedecked with linen, groaning under the weight of candles, hidden behind incense smoke and surrounded by fresh flowers. Others are less of an altar and more of a table, with not much to distinguish it from its surroundings other than a rustic wooden cross. Most Anglican churches sit somewhere in between these two extremes; but the extremes exist, too.


There is something valid in both of those expressions. On the one hand, the Lord is holy and unsearchable in his wisdom; the invisible Creator Spirit who upholds all things with ease and perfection, and we humans are mere creatures, approaching in humility and wonder. On the other hand, the Lord is ever-present, a friend and a teacher, welcoming us to come and eat with him. You can tell a lot about what a Christian community loves most about the Lord based on what the altar looks like.


Today, Amos has had a vision of the Lord standing by the altar. In Amos’ time, the altar was the place one went to in order to demonstrate their humble love for the Lord by presenting a sacrifice. For the Lord to stand there and pronounce a terrible judgement is, to be crass, more than a bit of a rude shock. But the people had brought it upon themselves; as we have read in the past week, they presented sacrifices but their heart wasn’t in it. And they wanted to get out of the place as quickly as possible so that they could go back to making money.


We are looking to build this kingdom of heaven, and one of the things we need to make sure we get right is our worship. Every Sunday we come before a physical altar to ask the Lord to speak words of comfort and loving forgiveness to us. But the Lord is with us during the week, too. Whatever we have done during the week we bring in our spirit to church on Sunday. This Sunday, we will all come before the altar of the Lord in worship. Are we spending this week in joyful anticipation of that moment? And when we stumble into sin, are we bringing it straight to God, so that his words to us on Sunday will be words of encouragement and loving forgiveness?


Lord God Almighty, you are awesome in your mystery and wonderful in your close presence. Lead me through this week with a sense of joyful anticipation for what we will do together this Sunday.

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