This is day 10 - day 9 is not missing, but
it IS being re-tooled to add in some recent events. All new stuff
starting around number 14 or 15...
Magnificat: esteem greatly; praise, extol
(Source: William Whitaker's Words)
How
often do you use extravagant language? I know I don't hear a lot of it,
except in commercials or spam emails. The words we tend to use in daily
life seem to be of a smaller scale, don't they? "And I was, like,
really? And she was all like, yeah. And I was like, whoa. And she was
like, yeah."
Thus
endeth the deep conversation. And yes, I've found myself saying "like"
in that context. I've also taken to using the word "dude," which no
self-respecting 52 year old should be caught uttering.
But, as I totally lack self-respect, I guess it's fair game for me.
Just kidding. At least, in this present life, I mean.
Texting
seems to be leaking into our conversation and condensing everything
into the correct length for a Twitter feed or a Facebook status and
making it seem to be the norm. We pare back, we consolidate, we boil
down, we cut to the chase, get to the bottom line, cut out the middle
man, and damn the torpedoes - full speed ahead! We git 'er DONE, dude!
Uff da.
Extravagant
language becomes suspicious - trying to truly praise someone is saved
for an awards presentation or is considered flattering or buttering them
up.
"Buttering them up." Sounds like the prep for Christmas dinner. Or Christmas baking. Or Christmas breakfast.
Can you tell I'm a little hungry?
When
Mary comes to visit Elizabeth, there's a passage we call the
Magnificat, or the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55). And you won't find any
economy of language there, no pulling back, no wondering what Elizabeth
will think, no attempt to preserve dignity. When Mary lets loose with
praise, she brings it!
Sorry... Mary brought it. I dump it.
The
sad thing is when our language conservation extends to the One who
truly deserves all the extravagance we can muster. He is worthy of all
of the depth and breadth the limits of language can push against, and He
deserves every bit of honor and praise we can wring out of mere words.
Yet, as with much of our daily conversation, we dial it back. If we ever
do let fly with the kind of praise our soul would bring forth, people
look at us as if either we just stepped out of the Way Back Machine from
the distant past, or as if our elevator no longer reaches the top
floor.
("And the things that he said made the people assume there wasn't too much left in the upper room." - my favorite line from Jesus Freak, DC Talk)
We
were watching a DVD with our worship team at church, featuring an
interview with Bob Kauflin, when, as he was talking about worship, he
said this about our God:
"He is exquisite."
Bob
said this short phrase with such love, such passion, that it stopped me
in my tracks. When have I ever used that kind of language to describe
my Lord? When have I ever heard that kind of language outside of a
diamond commercial, thus producing feelings of guilt that I've never
actually given my beloved the gift that she really desires, the one that
shows I really do care, the one that every kiss begins with?
Why
doesn't that kind of language come immediately to my lips when speaking
of my Father? What happened to me that dialed my expression back to
zip, so that to try and communicate the depth of my love for Him in
deep, deep language seems clumsy, archaic, or just plain dumb? I mean,
if I were to stand up in church Sunday morning, and start shouting
"Holy, holy holy is the Lord God Almighty! The whole earth is full of
His glory!", well, just imagine the kind of response that would bring.
*imagining*
*chuckling*
*shuddering*
*snickering*
As
you might imagine, I have mixed emotions about it. (And for the record,
my dear First Cov family, no amount of double- or triple-dog daring is
going to persuade me to give it a go.) But in Isaiah's vision, we're
told of the beings that spend night and day crying that to each other in
the presence of God. In Revelation, we're told that the living
creatures cry something similar and, when they do, the 24 elders drop to
the ground and worship, laying their crowns at His feet.
And
we're not talking an old English language thing here... Read some of
those passages in The Message or the NLT, and you get the same sense of
no-holds-barred, full-tilt, all-in, total-access, no-punches-pulled,
full-contact praiseapalooza.
Go here with me for a bit, kids...
Imagine
your gang from Sunday morning busting out in the sky over a bunch of
guys in flannel bathrobes holding sticks and hanging out with sheep. And
the mighty host of your own congregation bursts out in:
"Glo, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, ri-a, in excelsis Deo!"
Did the shepherds fall down at that mighty wall of sound? Or did they stand there, checking their watches? Um... sundials.
Is
our praise extravagant? Do we launch into it with all our hearts, with
our whole beings, and with all the resources and language we can muster?
Do we let fly with everything, holding nothing back for the sake of
what the people next to us might think or (more correctly) what we think
or imagine the people next to us might think?
(Cal's
honest response: I am guilty of sometimes not putting my whole heart
and being into worship. At other times, I make the folks at First Cov
grin from ear to ear, as the artist formerly known as the Fat Man dances
with his bass, grooving with all groovedness.)
He
IS exquisite. He IS worthy. And when He came to this world in human
form, the praise that burst forth from the angels put the shepherds on
their faces. But it didn't stop there. They went, they saw the child,
they worshiped. And I'm quite sure their worship wasn't limited to
"Whoa, dude." The Magi, when they arrived, worshiped the child. Again, I
don't think we're talking about some basic King James phrases here - I
think that when they saw God incarnate, deep and heartfelt worship was
the only response they could make.
And
nothing has changed between now and then. Except, of course, our level
of distraction has gone way up, while our level of comfort with
expression has gone way down. Our concern of status and what people will
think has hit critical mass, while our level of abandon to love and
praise is in the basement. We've drawn back, closed up, shut down,
toughened up, and somewhere along the way lost our sense of wonder when
we consider our Father God.
Do
you, like me, need to get that wonder back? This is a great season to
find it. Look at all the children around you, wide-eyed and eager. See
the lights, hear the music, remember the story. Wonder surrounds us
during the Christmas season so what a great time to start seeing the
rest of the year with the eyes of a child!
Advent
is about preparation - preparing for the arrival of the King. For me,
it's also about preparing to walk with Him every day of this new year
and beyond. And I think part of that preparation has to be about praise -
learning to worship Him with my whole being. Just as people will bust
out in Christmas songs with total abandon, praise should flow out of me
just as readily, anytime, any season. No holding back, no worries about
what others will think, no other thought than offering myself to my
Father.
In short, I ought to be ready at all times to knock a bunch of shepherds off their feet. With praise. Just so we're clear.
Magnificat: esteem greatly; praise, extol
"Whenever
the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him who sits on
the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall
down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives for
ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
'You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for You created all things,
and by Your will they were created
and have their being.'"
Revelation 4:8-11 (NIV)
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