I was eavesdropping on a conversation yesterday that made me smile and caused me to think about three scriptures I love.
Yesterday we pulled the Rez Week supplies out of storage and had a team of people helping repaint all of the boards. There was a group of women painting the boards and I overheard them talk about why they love Rez Week. They said they loved the idea of Christians from all different campus ministries coming together for one week. They said they loved meeting new people and seeing friends that they normally don’t see very often since they are a part of different churches/ministries.
The joy they were describing was spoken (or sung) thousands of years before Rez Week. It was captured in in Psalm 133, one of the “Psalms of Assent” that was sung by the many tribes of Israel when they made their way to Jerusalem three times a year to unite in worship.
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! Psalm 133:1
God Commanded United Worship
Three times a year God asked the twelve tribes of Israel to unite in worship. Though some tribes lived hundreds of miles from Jerusalem and traveling was much more difficult in that day, God still expected them to take time to worship together and to bring gifts to sacrifice!
Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed. Deuteronomy 16:16
God’s Pleasure in Unity
I don’t believe there is such a command for us. We can’t say because God asked the twelve tribes to do this, He is also calling the Church to do the same thing three times a year. I am very confident, however, saying that it is in God’s heart. He would not have commanded Israel to do it if it was not in His heart. God is pleased when we unite together. Jesus prayed that we would.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20,21
Our Pleasure in Unity
Where God finds pleasure, we’re sure to find it too. That’s why the psalmist would write “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” I envision a set of families from the tribe of Asher (the furthest walk) coming over a hill and looking down on Jerusalem and thinking or praying “how good and pleasant it is.”
That’s what these girls were describing yesterday. There is a tangible joy that comes over students when they round the corner of South Mall and see hundred and hundreds of students from many ministries taking a week to worship, pray, fellowship, and share the gospel together.
If you’re in Austin, come share in the pleasure of Rez Week. See more at http://vimeo.com/62175226
Justin Christopher is the national campus director for Campus Renewal Ministries and the author of Campus Renewal: A Practical Plan for Uniting Campus Ministries in Prayer and Mission. He facilitates CRM’s Partnering Campus Project and also gives leadership to the Campus House of Prayer and the missional community movement at the University of Texas.
