Though I said yesterday we were touching on #5 of the accent points for considering the life of the church, today is actually the move into #5 - again from "Mandate to Difference" by Walter Brueggemann.

The poetry (of Isaiah 56:7) anticipated inclusive worship in the Jerusalem temple, and evokes the now-familiar phrase, "a house of prayer for all the peoples." We may identify three remarkable aspects of this conclusion to the poetry.
First...The centrality of prayer constitutes a total reconfiguration of human life in the world as life is now to be lived "before God."
Second, the temple is "for all peoples," specifically including the aforementioned foreigners and eunuchs.
Third... It is usual in the phrase, "house of prayer for all peoples," to mean a place where all peoples come to pray... It is possible, however, to read it as a place where prayer is said on behalf of all peoples, that is, a petition and intercession cohere with the inclusiveness of YHWH's rule.

It is so important to stay aware of how worship before God places our whole life "before God." Here we find how our coming together and praising God is vital to how we see ourselves when we are in all the other days of our lives. We are not people simply moving through life on our own, we are people who life as though our God is pulling us into God's Reign of shalom. That is why it is so important that our worship be utterly inclusive. We are all...not just some...not just the right ones...but rather, we are all being pulled into God's future. The bounds of that "all" is literally beyond us because it is so easy to limit our outreach and our inclusiveness. And yet, I find this third point to be so important. As we all know, it is not easy to be together with those who are not like us. Simply look at how our politics divide us and turn us sour toward others. And yet, in this house of prayer for "all" we are being pulled into consideration of those with whom we would not choose to spend our time. It is within that prayerful embrace - even from a distance - that we begin to be a part of the promise of shalom. It is in that prayerfulness for all that we each step closer to one another. And then....who knows what will take place.

Connection: Worship shapes us. It may not at times inspire or be exciting. Therefore, we must remember to be responsible to put ourselves into that time together and then take time to remember what was done in worship as we now face the next day of our lives in this week.

Lord of All, how often we would yearn for there to be peace among all your people. As we gather for worship, remind us again and again that we are the instruments of this peace and it is within the vision of our worship that we begin to see ourselves as these instruments within your Reign. Amen.