Wiggling sacrifices

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 
-Romans 12:1
Remember that plague scene in Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail when they bring the wheelbarrow through town shouting "bring out yer dead!" and this one guy throws another guy on the pile, who pipes up in protest, saying he's not dead yet... 

The SPAMALOT musical version is even more entertaining. It's morbid, but also hilarious. And it's one of the reasons I'm thinking about living sacrifices this morning. 

The other reason is that my friend Nate and I spent Sunday morning discussing foundational understandings of what worship really is and if it's even relevant anymore in God's Church. Spoiler: We decided that it is indeed valuable, but we have to let it become bigger and broader than singing a few mass produced songs for 15 minutes on a Sunday. Worship involves opening ourselves up to give attention and value to God's goodness everywhere. "Worshipy" stuff like chord progressions and stirring choruses can be nice, but if we're not more expansive, we'll get bored and miss how Jesus can transform us through worship. 

In the Old Testament, worship was deeply connected to sacrifice. Animals and crops were burned on an altar, representing something valuable given to God. It wasn't just about sin and substitution and atonement (that was in there, but sacrifices went way beyond that). It was saying: here's what's valuable to me, and I'm going to give it to God. Hopefully that will appease God's anger, or help God forgive me, or give me rain for my wheat fields. Honestly, this really wasn't different from most other religions at the time.

Ok. Fast forward through a whole lot of generations and a lot of prophetic challenges to the sacrificial system, and we find a God that is increasingly revealed to be more and more like Jesus. The prophets tell us that God isn't actually looking for a medium rare steak in order to be happy. God wants mercy instead. And then Jesus himself stands in the role of the final sacrifice and as the New Testament Church is birthed, the entire sacrificial system begins to break down once and for all. It was time to change how we see all of this. 

This is the back story to the Apostle Paul encouraging the early Christians to see themselves as "living sacrifices." The image can be incredibly formative if we sit with it. 

My friend Nate mentioned the old joke about how the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep wiggling off the altar. And that's true. But we also acknowledged the beauty of living sacrifices is that exact same reason. They get back off the altar. 

Instead of us giving/killing/devoting something "out there" that proves love and devotion to God, we are invited into the weekly/daily/hourly/minutely?? process of offering ourselves fully to God... and then getting back up and walking away changed. 

This is worship that is full of both "spirit and truth," to use the wording that Jesus once chose.

Spirit because we are trusting God to receive us as we breathe deeply and say, "I am yours." Spirit because there is a dying in that moment, and a resurrection too. Spirit because rather than ending our life, we experience a new mystical rebirth. 
Truth because a living sacrifice doesn't just say a prayer and then go back to hating their neighbors. Truth because those moments of surrender lead to days of fresh, faithful action. Truth because the world around us will see that a life of worship leads to a life of tangible love. 

To choose to offer our entire lives to God is a way of life more beautiful than any single "act of worship" to God. It leads to mercy, compassion, justice, forgiveness, freedom and more. It's the path to eternal life with Jesus. I love that an hour on Sunday can be a catalyst for that for many of us. But let's wiggle off the altars so that it can happen for the other 167 hours of the week too. You're not dead yet! You're a living sacrifice! 

So may you be on the altar daily, knowing that little deaths lead to abundant lives. When your offer yourself to Jesus, may you find yourself infused with life and grace, rather than drained of it. And may you then wiggle off the altar, ready to love boldly, trust fully, and see clearly the Kingdom of God around you. 

Jesus, bring me back to life today. 

Peace,
Keith