Sacrifice

I’ve asked my friend to play and sing one of her evangelical praise songs for  Sunday’s service.  It’s a fun, bouncy song, and I think joy should be part of a worship service.  But I’ve also been thinking about the words,  the sacrifice of praise.  Why should our our praise and gratitude be a sacrifice?   Shouldn’t praise be spontaneous, like gratitude and kindness?    Unless the sacrifice of praise means that we are agreeing to give up some of the negative things in our lives like our resentments, our grumpiness, our judgmentalism, etc?  

So, if we are making a sacrifice of praise as part of calling ourselves to awareness of this God we claim to worship, what are we agreeing to give up?  After all, when we make a sacrifice, we are giving up something we value for something of greater value, and when it comes to God and our understanding of faith, that question becomes very profound. 

When we are alcoholics or drug addicts, we give up our right to keep using drugs and alcohol.  This winter, my doctor challenged me to give up coffee and caffeine.  It’s taken me almost 6ix months to recover from the positive effects I experienced with caffeine.  I loved the way it made me feel.

So, what are we willing to give up for our sacrifice of praise?   One of the tenets of Christian Nationalism is placing the good of the United States on a par with God.  According to Tim Albertson, country comes first, and Scripture is interpreted through the lens of what is good for white Christians only. I grew up steeped in Mennonite history in which our forefathers and mothers died excruciating deaths because they refused to fight against the”Arab hoards” or put the rights of kings and their government above their faith in a loving, forgiving God.   I treasure the concept of separation of church and state.  But how many Americans place the 2nd amendment before following the teachings of Jesus?    From my perspective, what modifies the insanity surrounding guns for anything other than idol worship?  Doesn’t the first of the Ten Commandments tell us to have no other Gods before HIm?

Each Sunday, we begin our service by calling us to worship.  Since we are a talkative group, that is not always easy,  But is  Sunday the only day we are supposed to worship? Do we have to go to church to do that?   Certainly putting God first creates some real challenges for us if we are to praise and worship God on a daily basis..  How can I praise God, for instance, if I have hatred and resentment in my heart? If I am blaming someone else for my unhappiness>  If I turn away from another’s need because I want to get my nails done instead?

My sister-in-law just went into an amazing continuing care facility, but the cost is high, given all the perks and services that are included.  Do I begrudge her that?  If she runs out of money, do I have an obligation to help pay for her care?  What about the people I don’t know who also have great needs? We have a personal care home in our little town that is barely making ends meet and offers only the most basic care for its residents.  If I make the sacrifice of Praise, do I need to contribute to help improve their experience?   Haven’t we made low taxes one of our gods, so much so that we put low taxes before the ‘scriptural mandate to help the stranger, widow, orphan, etc?   How dare we sing our songs of praise when we care so little about the lost and forsaken?

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, and accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.   Tasking,  as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his will so I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever in the next.