Good morning and welcome to the July 7th Musing.

It was a boat ride I had been waiting to take since my fascination began…

Speaking of boats…

A friend was telling me that he races boats.

He must be a very fast swimmer.

and

What do you call a boat full of dentists?

A tooth ferry

…

It was indeed a ferry that took me out to the monument.   The USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor.

I have been a student of the War in the Pacific since childhood. My father, though only a senior in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked, quickly thereafter earned his Navy wings and flew Grumman F6F Hellcats off of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier against Japanese forces.

Though I was interested in learning about the path of my father’s engagements, this event at Pearl, which brought the US into the Second World War, was a centerpiece of my fascination. And the centerpiece of the centerpiece was the bombing and sinking of the Arizona.

Sitting on the bottom of the harbor, just below the water’s surface, the ship is a watery tomb for approximately 1,100 sailers. Single drops of oil continue to “drip” from the ship, floating upward to color the water’s surface in a slow steady beat of reminder of the solemnity of the place and the event that deposited the ship at the harbor’s bottom.

As our ferry approached the memorial I was readying to give honor. To pay tribute. To be silent before them, above them, as I peered from the memorial toward the ship below.

I was ready…but they weren’t…”they” being the majority of my fellow visitors. What I had anticipated would be a shared “ceremony” of hushed whispers, silent reflection, somber viewing of everything present, was highjacked, commandeered, stolen…

The vacuum of silence I anticipated was instead replaced with loud voices, jovial chatter, and a general oblivion to any solemnity the place should have inspired. If I closed my eyes I could have just as easily envisioned the disinterest of a group who somehow had been misdirected onto a tour of say, old farm implements.

Do they not know where they are? Do they not understand what happened here?

Following my paying respect at the memorial, I sat discouraged on the return ferry, feeling I had been robbed of being able to experience the “experience.” Half a century wait for a once in a lifetime event…still meaningful, but not all that I had hoped.

…

That is interesting and, yes, disappointing Rod, but what is your point?

Over the span since my visit, I continue to be struck with how cavalier the majority of the visitors had been. To visit a solemn place, yet unprepared to do so.

But perhaps I am not guiltless of my own irreverences. In fact, I know I am not. It is one thing to act disrespectfully at a memorial for the dead. But what about somewhere much more solemn.  Holy.  Thrice Holy.   I confess that I often, in prayer, approach the throne of the Living One* with my own attitude of disrespect.

• I show up unprepared to be there
• I show up irrelevant to the place I’ve entered
• I show up disinterested

And it is of the highest offense.

James warns…

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 
Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
James 4:8-10

Or consider this warning from the author of Hebrews…

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29

Reverence and awe.    It is what our God is due.    It is what we owe.

We all fail before this standard of reverence. But we need not despair…

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9

So what is the point? It is to remind us to be mindful of Where we are and Who we are worshipping. And remember too, the Holy One is the gracious One as well.

“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16

Yes, let us be eager to confidentially approach our God, through the work of His Son Jesus Christ, but let us do so thoughtfully, and solemnly.

Rod

S.D.G. – 14

For a more detailed explanation of how God calls us to approach Him, not only in prayer, but also corporate worship, see the following from Ecclesiastes 5 https://countrysidebible.org/sermons/20220626a-128780

*Revelation 1:17–18