Author: Jim Meredith

Jim Meredith is a retired U.S. Army Colonel who was born in Marion, Indiana in 1934. He holds degrees from Wheaton College (IL) and the University of Cincinnati. He completed 31 years of military service, including two combat tours in Viet Nam. He retired in 1987. Following lengthy Pentagon service and attache duty in Greece, his final assignment was as Department Chairman on the faculty of the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA. Following retirement, he was initially involved in government relations activities in Washington, D.C. Thereafter he became President of the American National Metric Council, Board Chairman and Executive Director of Military Community Youth Ministries and then Director of International Expatriate Ministry for Young Life, retiring in 2001. Jim lives in Colorado Springs with Barbara, his wife of nearly 65 years. They have been blessed with four children, nineteen grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Jim is an active retreat leader and speaker.

God Welcomes All Worship of His Son

Jim Meredith

Dear Trekker,

I awakened early this morning (a few days after Easter) with the words of the song Majesty on my lips. I hope you know them:

Majesty, worship his majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise.

Majesty, Kingdom authority flow from his throne unto his own; His anthem raise.

So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus, Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King.

Majesty, worship his majesty. Jesus, who died, now glorified, King of all Kings.”

There is something about the happenings of the first Easter which should blow mankind away! As a result, the Easter person has his or her eyes fixed perpetually on Jesus, “the author and perfector of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus clearly demonstrated by his life, death and resurrection that the “old order” of created, earthly life and tombification was over, once and for all. He raised Lazarus from the dead a few days before He himself escaped death’s tomb by divine Holy Spirit resurrection. He finished off the pall of death as we know it. “The perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written (Isaiah 25:8) will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where O death is your sting?” (I Corinthians 15:54, 55). Jesus’s own words also foretold this: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). The tomb burst open by the power of the Spirit of God, and Jesus’ resurrection haunts every man to life or death ever after.

Brennan Manning says it well, “Easter is not just another day on the weary road of time. It is the day of days, the feast of feasts, the center of the Gospel and our whole Christian religion.” Now He lives no more to die. And because He lives, we too shall live!”

Now trekker, be sure of one thing! The resurrection is the most stupendous, wonderful, matchless event in the history of mankind. This occurrence stands alone! There has been nothing like it, nor will there ever be. It is the lifeline that joins history with eternity. When this is understood, accepted and believed through the Holy Spirit touch, lives are transformed forever.

A close longtime friend sojourned with us last week. He has remained single throughout his life, dedicating himself to ministry and the furtherance of the gospel. At 75 and retirement coming up on the horizon, I looked at him, called him by name, and said, “You are on the glide path to eternity.” He liked that. Just imagine stepping on shore and finding it heaven, and touching a hand and finding it God! Just imagine breathing new air and finding it celestial! Just imagine waking up in glory, and finding you’re home!

All of this only because He arose! But a caution is in order! Manning (again) says it well, “If the central saving act of Christian faith is relegated to the future with the fervent hope that Christ’s resurrection is the pledge of our own, and that one day we shall reign with Him in glory, then the risen One is pushed safely out of the present. In other words, the resurrection needs to be experienced as present risenness.” Powerful words indeed are these! And to experience the risenness of Christ daily in our lives, we need to discipline ourselves to Godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). There is no more godly training for risenness than the act (or acts) of worship.

Now I want to jump back a few weeks in my life…I was having breakfast with a dear friend, a committed believer in Christ who has accepted and lives Christ through Catholic traditions. He is energetic, innovative and generous. His sail is set! He will persevere with Jesus, as he would say, “come hell or high water.” And he is obsessed with Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. For you Protestant trekkers, that means “continuous thankful worship” (my translation). I hope that resonates with you! It should! Could there be anything more precious and prescient to the believer?

“Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration” for our Catholic brothers and sisters is a most desirable form of worship whereby members of a given parish unite in spending committed hours of adoration before the “most blessed sacrament”, 24/7. This is primarily a lay movement of the Catholic Church. My friend has initiated a Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration movement in his local Catholic parish. My… he was excited and committed as he relayed all of this to me.

My faith resonated with his; God was ministering to him through the power of His Spirit; my friend was living out his faith. (As he spoke of these worship practices foreign to one of Protestant background, I was strongly moved to encourage him and not dismiss his experience or seek to “correct his theology.” See Hebrews 2:12, 13 and 10:25.) I told him that morning I was moved to write about PEA (as it is referred often), but if I was to write about such, I needed to experience it for myself. And so I did, a few days later, with my friend. It was a time of worship, focus, thanksgiving, and silent praise for an hour in the routine of the day. I was blessed.

Now, why do I relate this little narrative to you? Each is made to worship something or someone. Worship is a part of DNA. I believe that all worship of God’s Son, in any form we settle upon in this earthly pilgrimage, is welcomed and pleasing to Him! May we realize, trekker, God primarily does not expect correct theology. He desires worship! So called correct theology down to the last jot and tittle, aside from being impossible to gain, usually leads to judgementalism and non-relational, Pharisaical thinking. We must remember, God forgives each of us our theology, too! God longs simply for us to return to him. He wants us, our devotion, our love, our adoration, our affection, our thankful praise. Without these, worship is hollow! Without worship, our faith is effete, meaningless and quite misleading.

There is a higher power in this world, trekker. It is the resurrected Jesus, seated now at the right hand of the Father. Every day He is risen. Every day He lives in His ascended glory. If we lift Him up in prayer and practice worship in the midst of daily routine, not only will He draw all men to Himself (John 12:32, 33), He infuses life into us through His Spirit…forever. This is the “good news.” This is what surely must evoke our worship, now and always.

Let’s be about worship. Let’s encourage others to worship in their understanding of worship. And let’s remember… Man looks on the outside; God sees the intentions of the heart (I Samuel 16:7). And David, though imperfect as we, sought the heart of God in worship (Psalm 27:4).

Worshipping Jesus with you my friend,

Jim Meredith