Bully’s Blog

or The Devil’s Marshmallow
or Dominion by Stealth

I listened to a White Horse Inn podcast recently, titled Boredom and Entertainment.

Compared with an action-packed movie, most people would probably characterise the ministry of the word and sacrament as “boring.” So in order to reach out, should churches make their services more entertaining? Joining the panel for this discussion is Richard Winter, author of Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment…

A story is told of children left in a room, each alone with a marshmallow on a plate. Each child was told that if they wait to eat it until their interviewer returns, they will receive an extra one. The kids who waited turned out to be more successful in every area of life. Both Winter and the panel, however, failed to connect this to the Garden of Eden. The Sunday School teacher at our church made the connection straight away.

The panel does makes some keen observations. One is that this world and everything in it is designed to grow to maturity slowly. That is the way things are, so this modern compulsion to make everything ’special’ and ‘entertaining’ constantly falls flat. We want glory and we want it now. But like any shortcut Satan offers to the kingdom, it is a counterfeit of the real thing.

They relate this to youth groups which continually attempt to outdo the excitement of the last event with something more exhilarating and outrageous. It is noted that the youth ministries that are paring things back to basics and just studying the catechism (even Baptists!) have tripled their attendance because they are working with the grain of the world instead of against it. This is the path to true greatness.

I hope your life isn’t always like Groundhog Day, but to some extent, that is how life basically is. Daily life is a discipline that prepares us for eternity. Jordan notes that sleeping and waking, evening and morning, is a symbol of death and resurrection—every day.

Every day is a new opportunity for Dominion, and thus follows the pattern laid down in Genesis 1 (Creation), Exodus 25-31 (the Tabernacle), Leviticus 23 (Feasts) and in the Slavery to Sabbath narrative throughout the Bible (Dominion). It is eating the elephant one bite at a time, reclaiming the Land from the Sea one day at a time.

Genesis - You wake from sleep

…..Exodus - You go to work

……….Leviticus - You are given instructions

……….…..Numbers - You work under instruction. 
……………Your faculties are tested

……….Deuteronomy - The work brings you 
……….prosperity and wisdom

…..Joshua - You return home

Judges - You eat and rest

All this makes greater sense to me of some of King Solomon’s statements in Ecclesiastes. He’d experienced all that Israel’s best youth pastors could thrill him with, but finally discovered the hidden, simple power in Groundhog Day.

Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.  (Eccles. 9:7-9)

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.  (Eccles 12:13-14)

Jesus is conquering the world not through political rallies, or even gospel ones; not through any dramatic action or newsworthy miracle. He turned Jacob’s 70 into a nation over a quiet 400 years. He brought the Gentile empires to harvest time over another quiet 400 years (at least as far as the Bible is concerned). He is slowly conquering the kingdoms of this world, and will continue to do so, until all His enemies are under His feet. It doesn’t make the headlines, but every day, in every way, His kingdom is undermining, cracking, destroying and replacing this world like tree roots under a derelict building.

Every human day follows the heptamerous Covenant pattern. Every human day follows the Tabernacle pattern. Every day is thus an opportunity to measure out the heavenly blueprint upon the earth. This is what “Thy kingdom come” actually means. Maturity is understanding that small decisions echo in eternity; conversations around the dinner table with your kids topple godless empires.

Jesus knows the hidden power of Groundhog Day. It is humble, faithful perseverence in the small things, beginning with Word and Sacrament.