Numbers 16:46-48 Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.’ So Aaron took it as Moses had ordered, and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped.
Aaron was the first priest for the people of Israel. When a plague struck them, he got right there in the middle and did what priests do. He atoned for the people, he prayed for the people, he got in the middle of the muck and mire and helped. One way that we often think about the priestly role is to stand in the middle, between the people and God. The priest stands in the middle and mediates the conversation: translating, if you will, between God and the people.
In the Christian era, we think of the whole church as standing in that priestly role. You, church, are priests. You are priests standing in the middle between God and the whole world. Your job is to stand there in the middle, like Aaron. Your job is to stand there in the middle with plague and fire and yucky stuff (technical biblical term) going on all around you, and pray. For whom are you praying today?
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at 7 for Holden Evening Prayer at the home of Stan and Dotty Shearer. Call the church office at 847-991-2080 for directions. Then, celebrate Pentecost this weekend (Saturday at 5 and Sunday at 9) by wearing red.
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