Today's Scripture Reading (October 13, 2025): Psalm 115
Several years ago, I attended
a Hindu worship service. The service was not unlike a Christian service. There
was a worship time, a brief teaching time, and even a time of something akin to
the Lord's Supper, as the congregation was invited to partake of some of the
fruit that had been brought as an offering to the gods.
Of course, the significant
difference was "the gods." The front platform area was filled with various
gods being worshiped. And other gods occupied some of the multiple nooks down
the side of the sanctuary area. Gods were everywhere; some of them I was
familiar with, like Ganesha, the elephant-headed god revered as the remover of
obstacles and the possessor of wisdom and assistance for new beginnings. But
many of them I didn't know. Even with all of these gods, I also knew that not
all of the gods were present in the room, only the ones who meant something to
the gathering congregation.
I have also attended Eastern
Orthodox services, with all the saints and icons that contain images of the
saints and depict the faith. The various statues in these churches take a
little getting used to for a Protestant like me.
As Protestants, we often look
down on these faiths, which have so many various objects of worship, but we are
also not immune. A friend of mine tells the story of visiting a church that had
a photocopier located at the front of the sanctuary. The photocopier had died
several years earlier, so there was no practical use for the piece of office
furniture; it just sat at the front of the room where the church worshipped.
There was a storage room on the other side of the wall from where this
photocopier was being kept, or perhaps it is a better description to say
'displayed.' So, one day, my friend decided to move the photocopier into that
room. The following Sunday, he suffered from the fallout of the congregation.
The photocopier had been donated to the church by a parishioner who had also
passed away, joining the donated photocopier in its demise. As a result, before
the service could begin, the ushers moved the photocopier back into its place
of honor. Does that qualify as an icon? I don't know.
Most of our churches do have
an icon, although it is so ever-present that we seldom even recognize its
presence. What is this icon? It is the cross that hangs at the front of the
sanctuary. That "plus sign" identifies most of our churches as
Christian.
But the worship places of
Judaism were unmarked. There was no representation of Yahweh, the Jewish God.
All the other gods had images, such as the elephant head of Ganesha, but not
Yahweh. Any image had been prohibited in the Ten Commandments. "You shall not make for yourself an image in the
form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below"
(Exodus 20:4). This lack of an image meant there was no place where Israel
could point and say, "Here is my God." In fact, Judaism and
Christianity were both considered pagan and atheistic because they possessed no
image of their God.
As a
result, the nations taunted Israel, asking them where their God was. And the
Psalmist subtly prays that God would reveal to the nations where their God was
through His actions. Because what else would the nations really need to see?
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
Psalm 116 & 117
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