Did you ever think, for even a minute, that you would go to church in your bathrobe? Maybe you are someone who has been going to church online for a while, but for most of us this is nothing short of shocking and new – and not always in a good way.
Really though, its been encouraging to hear from those who are enjoying our services and interacting online during worship, and I am so glad that you are here with us, right now, online – even if you are watching after the live premiere! Just by your presence, you are helping the church of Jesus Christ realize that there are things that God can do through us that we never even imagined.
There are also some who are worshiping with us just by reading printed liturgy that we’ve mailed to them or reading the posted sermon online. That may not be what we typically think of as worship, but it truly is – or at least it can be.
If nothing else, it raises the question, “What does it mean to worship God, and why does it matter?” That’s what we’ll be talking about today, and it’s important to note that this is part of a larger discussion about what it means to be the church – for we are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it, Amen?
We started this conversation a few weeks ago with the realization that the foundation we are building on is the expectation that there is a God, and it’s not us. Since we are not God, we sometimes get things wrong. God still loves us and has given us Jesus to help us get things right, and God calls the church to invite everyone into a right and good relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.
That’s a good place to start, right? From there we acknowledged that there aren’t any optional parts to the story. If we have been reconciled to God – if we are in a good, right, and loving relationship with God – we can’t help but work on our relationships with others and with all of God’s good creation! We are here, as God’s people, because God has called us out, and God has invited us to make safe spaces in the world where love can grow and connect, soul to soul.
Worship is the most natural expression of our connectedness through God, but it also stands as a constant invitation into deeper connectedness with God and with one another. It’s a way that we can fulfill what the Westminster Confession of Faith calls our “Chief End” as individuals – to glorify God and enjoy God’s presence, forever.
I have to admit, that’s a good and sound theological statement, but taken out of the context of salvation it does make God seem a little narcissistic, doesn’t it? Even with the idea of salvation, it seems a little one-sided that God would create us just to have someone praising God all the time.
I think that’s why the exodus story has always been an important part of Jewish and Christian theology and storytelling. In today’s Old Testament reading we are reminded that God not only hears the cries of God’s people, but promises to do something about it. When God does, the way that they will know it God is because they will worship God. Again, that sounds a little self-fulfilling.
I did it and you will know it is me when you give me credit. The difference here is that God’s actions are pretty undeniable in this story, and God’s actions result in liberation. Worship of God, on a fundamental level, is about giving thanks for our liberation from the way that our sinful nature separates us from God and one another. Worship that is real and good and true celebrates the salvation of God and prepares us to live as God’s people. Now, that’s the tricky part.
We do have a tendency toward going our own way. Even when we do meet together physically for worship, we have a tendency to come and go with the same enthusiasm that we give to any other show. I remember one friend telling me about a member that constantly complained about the hymns or the prayers. It was always something. Then one day he asked the person, “Yes, but how did you experience God’s presence today?” and the man never complained again.
The thing is, at its core, the act of worship is an intentional act of centering your life around the fact that there is a God, and it’s not you. It’s not me. It’s not this building or this pipe organ. God is not a thing at all. God is the reality of love that holds, binds, thinks up, and gives meaning and purpose to all that is, was, and shall be.
You may think it’s silly for me to say that we have to be intentional about centering our lives around the fact that we aren’t God, but that’s why we read the passage about Jesus clearing out the money changers in the temple. This story is shared in all four gospels, so it’s obviously pretty central to our shared proclamation about Jesus. In the other three gospels, Jesus does it after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but in John’s gospel he does it at the beginning. It’s like the way we confess sin at the beginning of worship. Jesus came to clear out the temple that had become centered on the acts of worship instead of the reality of worship!
I can’t help but wonder if that’s not the opportunity before us today. Now, I’m not suggesting that this congregation has been unfaithful in our practices. We have not been selling doves on the lawn to fund my private jet. I’m saying that we, as a people, have been given some time to cry out. We, as a people, have been given some time to clear out our hearts, to make space for the expectation of God’s saving grace, and to look forward to our own liberation!
While it may be that the current state of quarantine is what we long to be released from, I would say that there are some bigger fish to fry. The problems of inequality that persist are simply more evident in times of crisis. Certainly, we long to gather together physically. We long to hug and shake hands, and sometimes we do it in rebellion of the fact that we aren’t supposed to be doing it.
Even so, the real issue is not whether or not we can worship. The real issue is whether or not we are leading worship filled lives. Certainly, it is imperative that we have some form of communication and some shared experience of God’s grace and mercy so that we know that we aren’t just doing what pleases us as individuals. Part of being God’s people is finding ways to give glory to God together that truly center us around God’s grace and mercy and prepare us to respond to it.
We do that best when we are together, whether online or not, but maybe this is a time when we are being challenged to do it everywhere and always. Maybe this is a time in which we are being challenged to recognize how much value we place on the things that drive our decisions and how many of them compete with God for the center of our decision-making processes.
The idea of clearing out of things that compete reminds of the fact that in the coming week, we are going to be redecorating our kid’s rooms. When we started talking about it, they actually decided to switch rooms! I couldn’t believe it. Each of them talked about the way that the things in their rooms were important to them at one time, but as they grow these things do not have the same meaning anymore.
Their rooms are certainly not temples, but cleaning them out reminds me of the task that we are called to in worship. Everything in those rooms has to come out, and the rooms will be set with a new priority. The same is true for you and for me, and in this time that we have been given, we do not have to wait on anything or anyone to do it.
Together we maintain the practice of orienting our lives around God, but every moment of every day – and every chance encounter – offer us the invitation of God’s love. Let us, then, as God’s people, do everything as an act of celebration of God’s liberating love and as a means of creating space for others to experience it.
Then our songs will ring true. Then God’s actions will be undeniable! Then our lives will center around unbroken praise of the one who is worthy because that one is the source of freedom, liberty, and justice that is truly intended for all people everywhere. I pray that it may truly be so, as we live worship filled lives together, apart, and all to the glory of God. Amen!
Really though, its been encouraging to hear from those who are enjoying our services and interacting online during worship, and I am so glad that you are here with us, right now, online – even if you are watching after the live premiere! Just by your presence, you are helping the church of Jesus Christ realize that there are things that God can do through us that we never even imagined.
There are also some who are worshiping with us just by reading printed liturgy that we’ve mailed to them or reading the posted sermon online. That may not be what we typically think of as worship, but it truly is – or at least it can be.
If nothing else, it raises the question, “What does it mean to worship God, and why does it matter?” That’s what we’ll be talking about today, and it’s important to note that this is part of a larger discussion about what it means to be the church – for we are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it, Amen?
We started this conversation a few weeks ago with the realization that the foundation we are building on is the expectation that there is a God, and it’s not us. Since we are not God, we sometimes get things wrong. God still loves us and has given us Jesus to help us get things right, and God calls the church to invite everyone into a right and good relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.
That’s a good place to start, right? From there we acknowledged that there aren’t any optional parts to the story. If we have been reconciled to God – if we are in a good, right, and loving relationship with God – we can’t help but work on our relationships with others and with all of God’s good creation! We are here, as God’s people, because God has called us out, and God has invited us to make safe spaces in the world where love can grow and connect, soul to soul.
Worship is the most natural expression of our connectedness through God, but it also stands as a constant invitation into deeper connectedness with God and with one another. It’s a way that we can fulfill what the Westminster Confession of Faith calls our “Chief End” as individuals – to glorify God and enjoy God’s presence, forever.
I have to admit, that’s a good and sound theological statement, but taken out of the context of salvation it does make God seem a little narcissistic, doesn’t it? Even with the idea of salvation, it seems a little one-sided that God would create us just to have someone praising God all the time.
I think that’s why the exodus story has always been an important part of Jewish and Christian theology and storytelling. In today’s Old Testament reading we are reminded that God not only hears the cries of God’s people, but promises to do something about it. When God does, the way that they will know it God is because they will worship God. Again, that sounds a little self-fulfilling.
I did it and you will know it is me when you give me credit. The difference here is that God’s actions are pretty undeniable in this story, and God’s actions result in liberation. Worship of God, on a fundamental level, is about giving thanks for our liberation from the way that our sinful nature separates us from God and one another. Worship that is real and good and true celebrates the salvation of God and prepares us to live as God’s people. Now, that’s the tricky part.
We do have a tendency toward going our own way. Even when we do meet together physically for worship, we have a tendency to come and go with the same enthusiasm that we give to any other show. I remember one friend telling me about a member that constantly complained about the hymns or the prayers. It was always something. Then one day he asked the person, “Yes, but how did you experience God’s presence today?” and the man never complained again.
The thing is, at its core, the act of worship is an intentional act of centering your life around the fact that there is a God, and it’s not you. It’s not me. It’s not this building or this pipe organ. God is not a thing at all. God is the reality of love that holds, binds, thinks up, and gives meaning and purpose to all that is, was, and shall be.
You may think it’s silly for me to say that we have to be intentional about centering our lives around the fact that we aren’t God, but that’s why we read the passage about Jesus clearing out the money changers in the temple. This story is shared in all four gospels, so it’s obviously pretty central to our shared proclamation about Jesus. In the other three gospels, Jesus does it after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but in John’s gospel he does it at the beginning. It’s like the way we confess sin at the beginning of worship. Jesus came to clear out the temple that had become centered on the acts of worship instead of the reality of worship!
I can’t help but wonder if that’s not the opportunity before us today. Now, I’m not suggesting that this congregation has been unfaithful in our practices. We have not been selling doves on the lawn to fund my private jet. I’m saying that we, as a people, have been given some time to cry out. We, as a people, have been given some time to clear out our hearts, to make space for the expectation of God’s saving grace, and to look forward to our own liberation!
While it may be that the current state of quarantine is what we long to be released from, I would say that there are some bigger fish to fry. The problems of inequality that persist are simply more evident in times of crisis. Certainly, we long to gather together physically. We long to hug and shake hands, and sometimes we do it in rebellion of the fact that we aren’t supposed to be doing it.
Even so, the real issue is not whether or not we can worship. The real issue is whether or not we are leading worship filled lives. Certainly, it is imperative that we have some form of communication and some shared experience of God’s grace and mercy so that we know that we aren’t just doing what pleases us as individuals. Part of being God’s people is finding ways to give glory to God together that truly center us around God’s grace and mercy and prepare us to respond to it.
We do that best when we are together, whether online or not, but maybe this is a time when we are being challenged to do it everywhere and always. Maybe this is a time in which we are being challenged to recognize how much value we place on the things that drive our decisions and how many of them compete with God for the center of our decision-making processes.
The idea of clearing out of things that compete reminds of the fact that in the coming week, we are going to be redecorating our kid’s rooms. When we started talking about it, they actually decided to switch rooms! I couldn’t believe it. Each of them talked about the way that the things in their rooms were important to them at one time, but as they grow these things do not have the same meaning anymore.
Their rooms are certainly not temples, but cleaning them out reminds me of the task that we are called to in worship. Everything in those rooms has to come out, and the rooms will be set with a new priority. The same is true for you and for me, and in this time that we have been given, we do not have to wait on anything or anyone to do it.
Together we maintain the practice of orienting our lives around God, but every moment of every day – and every chance encounter – offer us the invitation of God’s love. Let us, then, as God’s people, do everything as an act of celebration of God’s liberating love and as a means of creating space for others to experience it.
Then our songs will ring true. Then God’s actions will be undeniable! Then our lives will center around unbroken praise of the one who is worthy because that one is the source of freedom, liberty, and justice that is truly intended for all people everywhere. I pray that it may truly be so, as we live worship filled lives together, apart, and all to the glory of God. Amen!
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