The title above is taken from an article found in the Arizona Daily Star, written by Stephanie Innes. From that source also comes the following unbelievable information…
At Tucson’s largest Episcopal church, St. Philip’s in the Hills, the creators of an alternative worship service called Come & See are bucking tradition by rewriting what have become prescribed ways of worship. For the faithful, that means God isn’t referred to as “him,” and references to “the Lord” are rare. “Lord” has become a loaded word conveying hierarchical power over things, “which in what we have recorded in our sacred texts, is not who Jesus understood himself to be,” St. Philip’s associate rector, Susan Anderson-Smith, said. “The way our service reads, the theology is that God is love, period,” St. Philip’s deacon Thomas Lindell added. “Our service has done everything it can to get rid of power imagery. We do not pray as though we expect the big guy in the sky to come and fix everything.”
What amazing “theology” is this? From what book has this group been reading? Why, the very idea that the word LORD should “become a loaded word conveying hierarchical power over things!” How could we have misunderstood this word all of this time until we now are given a true understanding of what God really meant by Ms. Anderson-Smith? It is my prayer that none of us will be reading out of her new dictionary!Perhaps one of the sources of a proper understanding of the word LORD would come from the revealed will of Almighty God (our Lord)! Consider for example, Paul’s inspired words from Philippians 2:9-11…
Philippians 2:9-11… Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
We cannot use that word LORD lightly and please God. There is coming a day when every soul who has ever lived will learn the true meaning of the term, LORD. Every soul that has ever lived will, in fact, recognize the hierarchy described so clearly in Scripture. Every knee will bow before Jesus!
We are quite shocked that there would be even a small group, let alone, Tucson’s largest Episcopal Church, that should decide they will stop using the word LORD. Of course it is well within the purview of man-made churches to use whatever vocabulary pleases them and to define words in whatever ways they might desire. However, for those of us who seek to please the God of the Bible, we must do better than that!
When I use the term LORD, to describe Jesus Christ, I am recognizing that I must yield my will to His will. I am saying that I recognize the greatness of my Savior. I am willing to obey His commands and follow His will in my life. The Bible teaches us, too clearly for anyone to miss, that in order for Jesus to be my Savior, He must first be my Lord.
While none of us might be so bold as to come forth with open and out loud statements to the effect that we will no longer think of Jesus as LORD, we might challenge ourselves with the thought: AM I TRULY YIELDING TO HIS LORDSHIP IN EVERY ASPECT OF MY LIFE? Is there some area (TINY as may consider it to be) in which I have determined to maintain my own control? Can I receive instruction from the bold and FALSE ideas suggested in the article cited?
DRL NOTE: Last Lord’s Day we heard a wonderful sermon from Steve Waller during the morning assembly and received an interesting photo-report of his work at the evening service. I failed to get the RECORD button pushed properly on my recorder and did not get the Sunday morning message recorded. I did get a clear recording of the report on the Indonesia work. If you missed it, you can listen to it at: http://LemmonsAid.WordPress.com It will be marked: SPW-2007-Report inside the box on the upper right of the page.
Remember: Workers Together with God, Each 2nd Sunday Night
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