So Much Noise (Ezra 3:13)
Friday, October 4, 2024
Psalm 80
Ezra 3:9-4:6
Colossians 2:8-15
Observance: Francis of Assisi, friar and preacher (d. 1226)
Recently at our church our rector decided to shift us into the 20th century and say the Angelus in modern English. It’s not that we are opposed to a decent “thee” or “thou”, but each service has it’s own “feel”, and it just fits better this way. Even so, our choir still is only about fifty-fifty when it comes to whether the angel declared “to” or declared “unto” Mary, and once you’ve started with the older version you’re committed for the whole thing.
When the returned exiles got to work rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, there was a great noise when the foundation stone was laid. The younger generation were overjoyed – they had heard all the stories and legends from their parents and, hope beyond hope, they were to be the first generation of the new temple. Meanwhile, their parents, having known the splendour and majesty of the original building, were dismayed at how pathetic the new building was to be by contrast. Something in worship had changed, and the response to that change ranged across the whole spectrum, from joy to misery. And there was “so much noise”.
We are getting ever closer to the point where we are to pick up our sword and our trowel and start rebuilding the mighty walls of the holy city of Jerusalem. There will be occasions of great rejoicing and others which will challenge us greatly. For seventy years nothing had happened in Jerusalem, and now that the new generation are finally able to get to work, the previous generation are upset that it is not the same as it used to be.
Remember, however, that fundamentally it is still the same. It is still a house of the Lord. There will still be true worship of the true God. They are singing the Psalms as prescribed in the scriptures. And all this is happening because God wants it to happen. The difference in the temple is actually minor when compared to all the fundamentals that are still holding true.
When we see change in the church, we need a great level of wisdom and discernment. Much of our worship is the same as how the first generation of Christians worshipped, two thousand years ago. Much, however, has changed, some for the worse, and some for the better. What do we need to change? What do we need to keep? What has changed that we should have kept? What have we kept that we should have changed?
Lord of the generations, thank you for including me in the line of your faithful people. Set my heart aright that I may worship you as you desire, and not according to my own fanciful whimsy.
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