Have you ever had someone come into your church and name an atmosphere that you felt intuitively, but hadn’t yet found words to articulate?
It can be a profound gift.
This happened to me last year. We had invited a wise and gifted leader who helps coach churches around theology and worship, to come and spend the weekend with us. He attended our weekend gatherings and also spent some time speaking with our music teams and worship leaders. On the Sunday night, we gathered around a fire pit in my back yard with some of our elders to hear his impressions of our church and reflect on how we could grow.
He said one thing that stuck with me.
“I want to try and name an atmosphere in your church that exists not only among your leaders and musicians, but in your people as a whole. I have been to plenty of churches that have good worship and strong preaching. I would include yours with them. But there is something else in the air that I smell beyond your preachers and musicians. It’s in your people.”
I could barely contain my curiosity. “What do you smell?”
“I smell the aroma of expectancy.” he replied.
We have often read the account of Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who poured out perfume worth a year’s wages on Jesus’ feet. She was chided by Judas for wastefulness, but Jesus jumped to her defense, replying , “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial.” (John 12:7)
I am arrested by John’s description of this act of worship. “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (John 12:3) The word fill here means to be fill completely, so as to intoxicate. It is the same word that the apostle Paul uses when he exhorts the church in Ephesus, “Do not get drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit.”(Eph 5:18) There is something more going on in this house than the mere smell of expensive perfume. It is the intoxicating aroma of worship. Mary’s worship gives off the scent of adoration and expectation that pleases Jesus and offends Judas. In fact, Mary’s worship was a prophetic act pointing to Jesus’ death and resurrection.
I wonder if churches like ours, that place a high value on being gospel-centered - that is, we want all of our preaching, worship, community life and mission to maintain the centrality of the gospel - are also putting a high value on being gospel-scented?
In other words, do our churches carry the scent of unbridled devotion and expectation for the presence of Jesus in our midst? I have been in too many churches that take pride in theological depth and orthodoxy but the aroma of their worship is one of stale stoicism and even judgmentalism towards any act of worship that is overly demonstrative. Dare I even say it, more like Judas than Mary?
I carry deep conviction about gospel centrality in our churches and our worship. But if we understand that in the gospel we have been forgiven lavishly by Jesus, it should surely result in us loving lavishly? When we get that, it will change the scent of our churches. They will be filled with the aroma of the presence of Jesus.
(AN EXCERPT FROM "A FIRE BY NIGHT" : Becoming a people of God's presence)
