10-27-19

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS

October 27, 2019

Scripture: Esther 4:12-14

When they told Mordecai Esther’s words, he had them respond to Esther: “Don’t think for one minute that, unlike all the other Jews, you’ll come out of this alive simply because you are in the palace. In fact, if you don’t speak up at this very important time, relief and rescue will appear for the Jews from another place, but you and your family will die. But who knows? Maybe it was for a moment like this that you came to be part of the royal family.”

Thought for the Day: Today, we begin a new Worship Series entitled, The Design Stage. Each week, we will look at an essential characteristic of the Christian Life, and how we might deliberately draw it into the design of our unique lives. It doesn’t matter if you are creating a house or a dress or piece of furniture, the design phase is so important. If you want specific elements included in the final product, leaving it to chance is not a wise choice. On this Sunday, we will look at the specific characteristic of humility. One of the lesser recognized characters in scripture is Esther, yet she is a Rock Star (one of my go-to phrases when speaking of someone who is making it happen). She is a strong and confident individual. Don’t get me wrong, I imagine her a bit anxious as she decided to confront the king on behalf of her people. Some might not describe her actions as being an example of humility, but she channeled her strength to let go of any self-serving options. In that decision, she chose to serve the ways of God by putting others ahead of herself. Some might have looked at the situation and thought it was a 50-50 possibility of success, or maybe 80-20. In Esther’s case, I don’t believe she measured it in terms of possible success. She was going to be 100% faithful, and that was going to occur because she humbled herself before God and relinquished any attempt to protect herself. That’s humility, yet at different points in history, people of faith have tried to remove the Book of Esther because it did not specifically mention the name of God. I wonder if that is because people want to think of faith as simply speaking the name of God, and don’t like the challenging examples of the Esthers who allowed their humble and sacrificial living to point to God without ever mentioning the divine name.

Prayer: Provide me strength of heart and mind, O God, as I lean into that strength by choosing the way of humble living. I won’t pretend that it’s easy or glamorous or even rewarding in earthly ways. But I shall trust that living as Jesus lived that maybe you’ll be able to use my life for something pretty spectacular in this world. Amen.

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