Perspective Matters; Ezra 3

May the mumbling commence!

It is all a matter of perspective.  It depends upon your perspective how you react to something new.  It matters where you come from and how long you’ve been around.  Read from Ezra 3:10-13 –

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel.  With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:

"He is good; his love to Israel endures forever."

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.  But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.  No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. 

When the new foundation for the Temple of the Lord was laid by the returning exiles, there was great celebration – especially from those who did not remember the former temple.  The Levites lead in a psalm of praise: “[God] is good; His steadfast love to Israel endures forever.”

But those who were older and remembered the former Temple of the Lord wept aloud.  They wailed because they remembered the former glory of the Temple that Solomon built.  With the young and the old there is opposite reactions to the building of the new Temple of the Lord.  Who was right?  I truly do not believe that one was right and the other was wrong.  It is all a matter of perspective. 

Let me explain.  Those who were younger knew only the exile, where there was nowhere magnificent to gather in the Name of the Lord.  They had nothing to compare the dimensions and splendor to.  Anything would have been an improvement.  They looked at the newly laid foundation and imagined how it would look completed. They were overwhelmed the by size and grandeur that would be raised up from the ground.

On the other hand, those who were older remembered the glory of the Lord in the Temple.  They looked at the newly laid foundation, and they imagined how it would look when it finished.  It must not have matched their memories of the glory of the Temple built by Solomon.

One gave a great shout of praise; the other gave a great weeping wail.  But the song of praise to the Lord brought them together.  Those on the outside looking in could not distinguish the sound of the praising from the sound of the wailing.  Both sounds were loud and carried a far distance.  If told, these outsiders would not understand the source of the disagreement.

Sometimes, we, as churches, need to listen carefully to the perspective of outsiders.  Sometimes, outsiders can see more clearly what is going on than those on the inside.  Outsiders are not encumbered with past history of the church.

We must remember these valuable lessons when we think about our spaces for worship and when we think about how we worship.  We must hold loosely our preferred way of worship – even as we explain the stories behind our preferences.  We must hold our preferences loosely so that we might be able to listen to the preferences of those different from us – and the stories behind those preferences.

Let us live into a flexible way of worshiping.  As long as the center of the praise and worship remains on Christ Jesus, little else matters.  So let us lay aside the swords and shields of the worship wars so that we might worship the Lord with all the beautiful differences that each of us brings to worship.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out