THE WAYS WE WORSHIP
+ EXODUS 3 + PSALM 97 + ACTS 9 + MATTHEW 17 +
On most Monday evenings during the summer I can be found on the golf course with another pastor. When we started golfing, we were hoping to be able to get a good group of men to come out and golf together each week. But what has really happened has been that the two of us have had many evenings together to dream the dreams God is giving us for our churches. To share with one another. To encourage one another. To support one another. To help each other ask hard questions and come to the even harder answers.
About midway through the summer he said to me. “You know, I really think my church needs to start seeing itself in terms of ministry instead of in terms of worship.” We talked about that idea for awhile, and this series on which we are about to embark, is my response to his idea.
It is not just his idea. “Missional” is all the rage these days in pastor’s seminars – and journals and magazines and books. There is a big push for the church to be redefined in terms of the Mission of God. This is a big step because for the last 2000 years the church has been defined in terms of the Worship of God, but now we are being asked to leave that identity behind in favor of something else.
My response, both to my friend on the golf course, to my fellow missional pastors, and to you all today, is that where the church is failing in its mission, it is because the church is failing in its worship. Where the church is thriving in its mission, it is because the church is thriving in its worship.
Worship, you see is the heart of the church. The heart sends the nutrient and oxygen rich blood out to the body to do its work, and then the depleted blood is brought back into the heart to be renewed and sent out again. If the body is weak, the first place you look is the heart. If the body is unable to do its work, you look at the heart. If the body is tired, or constantly out of breath, often the heart is the problem. The heart is not the whole point of the body. But without the heart, the body ceases to exist.
Worship functions in a similar way. Without worship, there is no ministry. Without worship, in fact, the body, ie the church, ceases to exist. It is in worship that the people of God are gathered to experience God’s presence, to be transformed by God’s grace and to be united in God’s mission. Each of these three things is built on that which precedes it. The encounter is the causes the transformation. The transformation causes the uniting. Without the encounter there is no transformation. Without the transformation there is no uniting. And so, if there is not worship, there is no ministry. No worship, no mission. Mission and ministry simply cannot exist apart from the worship of the church.
Each of the three readings we read this morning serve to illustrate this point directly. Whether its Moses, or the Disciples, or Saul, their ability to go on with the ministry they are given depends of their experience of God’s presence and the transformation that it brings. Lets take Saul. Saul is a devout Jew who is devoutly anti-Christian. He looks for reasons to persecute Christians and when he cannot find a good reason he makes one up. Paul, on the other hand, is a devout Christian who is devoutly committed to spreading the gospel. Not only does he love Christians, but he loves Jews and Gentiles and wants them both to know the love of Christ that he has encountered and that has so transformed his life.
So how is it that Saul became Paul. Simple. Saul encountered the risen Lord on the road to Emmeaus. The result of Saul’s divine encounter was radical life transformation. When a person is transformed the way Saul was, the only possible option is to be united in God’s mission of salvation for all the world. Without the encounter there is no transformation. Without the transformation there is no unification.
When we gather as a church every Lord’s Day morning, we expect the pattern to be the same. We come together expecting to experience God’s presence among us. We don’t know how God’s presence will be experienced, but we come in faith expecting that experience none the less. Sometimes, God’s presence comes as a still small voice, whispering in the wind. Sometimes, God’s presence comes riding the bolts of lightning and booming with the claps of thunder. Sometimes God’s presence is found in a handshake, or in a hug, or in a prayer. We just never know where God’s presence will be revealed to us.
That is why attitude and behavior are so important. If we are truly expecting Almighty God, the creator and redeemer of the universe to show up here, then surely we won’t let ourselves become distracted by the temptation to chit-chat with one another instead of praying to God. Surely we won’t come to worship casually, as if we were going to a football game or a civic club meeting. This is worship, isn’t it? We are expecting God to be here, aren’t we? Have you noticed how many times the concepts of “reverence” and “awe” have come up this past summer in our scripture reading? That is how we are to approach God in worship! Reverence and awe must be descriptive of both our attitudes and our actions as we come together expecting to experience God.
In our divine encounter, we expect to be transformed by God’s grace within us. This is what being a “holiness” church is all about. It is about life transformation. It is about believing that we can never experience God and come away unchanged. It is about believing that yes, our sins need to be – and can be thanks to Christ – forgiven, but also that our lives need to be – and can be thanks to Christ – transformed. It is not enough to be forgiven, we must be changed, we must be transformed. God, through the divine encounter, transforms our hearts and transforms our lives. Our attitudes change. Our actions change. The words we speak to one another change. The way we think changes. Our values change. Our priorities change. Our whole life changes as we are transformed into the holy people God created us, and calls us, to be. As we experience his holiness, we too become holy. As we experience his love, we too become love – transformed by God’s grace through our divine experience of God’s presence.
In our gracious transformation, we expect to be united with Christ in God’s mission of salvation for all the world. When we are transformed by God’s love, we can’t help but being a people who love the world in radical and surprising ways. I am reminded of a favorite story of mine told by Tony Campolo. I know I’ve told it before, but you’ll forgive me for telling it again. He was waiting for the subway one day when a bum sat down beside him on the bench. The bum took a sip of coffee and then offered one to him. He said to the bum, “Sir, I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid I can’t take your coffee. Not to be rude, but I have quite a lot; you seem to have so very little. I can buy my own coffee. Please, you enjoy your coffee.”
The bum looked him in the eye and said, “You are right. I have very little. All I own is what you see here. I have no home, no clean clothes, just what you see here. But I do have this cup of coffee. It was given to me by a store owner. Usually I am given very bad, very cold coffee. And I am grateful for even that. But today I was given a piping hot cup of the very best coffee I’ve ever tasted. I may not have much, but I know that when you are given something this good, you just have to share it.”
When we experience God’s presence – when we are transformed by God’s grace – we, like that bum and his coffee, realize that when we are given such a wonderful gift, our only appropriate response is to share it. And so like Moses, like the disciples, like Paul, we find ourselves the recipient of God’s most wonderful gift. As recipients of God’s great grace, we have no choice but to want to share that gift with others. To tell our neighbors the great news. To love our neighbors just as we have been loved. To be united together in the mission of God to bring salvation to all the world.
Over the next many weeks we are going to be looking at what it means to be a church defined by the Worship of God. More specifically, we are going to be looking at the ways we worship. A recent book on current issues in Protestantism contained a chapter on Protestant worship. That chapter is going to form the outline for this series. In it, the author suggested that within Protestantism there are three predominant views of worship. Every person worships best in one of three ways. Every one of you here fits in one of these three categories. Either you worship best through song and congregational singing; or you worship best through scripture and the preaching of the Word; or you worship best through sacrament and the celebration of God’s grace.
Traditionally, the same could be said of every congregation. Every church, then, approached worship by emphasizing its singing, or its preaching, or its sacraments. Typically the charismatic types (Assemblies, Foursquare, etc.) were know for their musical emphasis; the mainline types were known for their preaching emphasis (Methodist, Presbyterian, etc); and the high church types (Lutheran, Episcopalian, etc) were known for their sacramental emphasis. But I would contend that the days of such simple and clear categorizations are behind us. A church fully enthralled in the mission of God is going to have to be a church fully enthralled in the Worship of God through song, scripture and sacrament. A renewed focus on the mission of God can come only by a renewed focus on the worship of God. A revitalization of the church’s ministry can come only by a revitalization of the church’s worship.
It is that simple. If we want people to be involved in ministry, we have involve people in worship. If they never experience God’s presence, they will never be transformed by God’s grace. If they are never transformed by God’s grace, they will never be united in God’s mission. It really is that simple. If we want to create a culture of ministry in which everyone ministers, we begin by creating a culture of worship in which everyone worships – whether in song, scripture or sacrament.
To the Glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
About midway through the summer he said to me. “You know, I really think my church needs to start seeing itself in terms of ministry instead of in terms of worship.” We talked about that idea for awhile, and this series on which we are about to embark, is my response to his idea.
It is not just his idea. “Missional” is all the rage these days in pastor’s seminars – and journals and magazines and books. There is a big push for the church to be redefined in terms of the Mission of God. This is a big step because for the last 2000 years the church has been defined in terms of the Worship of God, but now we are being asked to leave that identity behind in favor of something else.
My response, both to my friend on the golf course, to my fellow missional pastors, and to you all today, is that where the church is failing in its mission, it is because the church is failing in its worship. Where the church is thriving in its mission, it is because the church is thriving in its worship.
Worship, you see is the heart of the church. The heart sends the nutrient and oxygen rich blood out to the body to do its work, and then the depleted blood is brought back into the heart to be renewed and sent out again. If the body is weak, the first place you look is the heart. If the body is unable to do its work, you look at the heart. If the body is tired, or constantly out of breath, often the heart is the problem. The heart is not the whole point of the body. But without the heart, the body ceases to exist.
Worship functions in a similar way. Without worship, there is no ministry. Without worship, in fact, the body, ie the church, ceases to exist. It is in worship that the people of God are gathered to experience God’s presence, to be transformed by God’s grace and to be united in God’s mission. Each of these three things is built on that which precedes it. The encounter is the causes the transformation. The transformation causes the uniting. Without the encounter there is no transformation. Without the transformation there is no uniting. And so, if there is not worship, there is no ministry. No worship, no mission. Mission and ministry simply cannot exist apart from the worship of the church.
Each of the three readings we read this morning serve to illustrate this point directly. Whether its Moses, or the Disciples, or Saul, their ability to go on with the ministry they are given depends of their experience of God’s presence and the transformation that it brings. Lets take Saul. Saul is a devout Jew who is devoutly anti-Christian. He looks for reasons to persecute Christians and when he cannot find a good reason he makes one up. Paul, on the other hand, is a devout Christian who is devoutly committed to spreading the gospel. Not only does he love Christians, but he loves Jews and Gentiles and wants them both to know the love of Christ that he has encountered and that has so transformed his life.
So how is it that Saul became Paul. Simple. Saul encountered the risen Lord on the road to Emmeaus. The result of Saul’s divine encounter was radical life transformation. When a person is transformed the way Saul was, the only possible option is to be united in God’s mission of salvation for all the world. Without the encounter there is no transformation. Without the transformation there is no unification.
When we gather as a church every Lord’s Day morning, we expect the pattern to be the same. We come together expecting to experience God’s presence among us. We don’t know how God’s presence will be experienced, but we come in faith expecting that experience none the less. Sometimes, God’s presence comes as a still small voice, whispering in the wind. Sometimes, God’s presence comes riding the bolts of lightning and booming with the claps of thunder. Sometimes God’s presence is found in a handshake, or in a hug, or in a prayer. We just never know where God’s presence will be revealed to us.
That is why attitude and behavior are so important. If we are truly expecting Almighty God, the creator and redeemer of the universe to show up here, then surely we won’t let ourselves become distracted by the temptation to chit-chat with one another instead of praying to God. Surely we won’t come to worship casually, as if we were going to a football game or a civic club meeting. This is worship, isn’t it? We are expecting God to be here, aren’t we? Have you noticed how many times the concepts of “reverence” and “awe” have come up this past summer in our scripture reading? That is how we are to approach God in worship! Reverence and awe must be descriptive of both our attitudes and our actions as we come together expecting to experience God.
In our divine encounter, we expect to be transformed by God’s grace within us. This is what being a “holiness” church is all about. It is about life transformation. It is about believing that we can never experience God and come away unchanged. It is about believing that yes, our sins need to be – and can be thanks to Christ – forgiven, but also that our lives need to be – and can be thanks to Christ – transformed. It is not enough to be forgiven, we must be changed, we must be transformed. God, through the divine encounter, transforms our hearts and transforms our lives. Our attitudes change. Our actions change. The words we speak to one another change. The way we think changes. Our values change. Our priorities change. Our whole life changes as we are transformed into the holy people God created us, and calls us, to be. As we experience his holiness, we too become holy. As we experience his love, we too become love – transformed by God’s grace through our divine experience of God’s presence.
In our gracious transformation, we expect to be united with Christ in God’s mission of salvation for all the world. When we are transformed by God’s love, we can’t help but being a people who love the world in radical and surprising ways. I am reminded of a favorite story of mine told by Tony Campolo. I know I’ve told it before, but you’ll forgive me for telling it again. He was waiting for the subway one day when a bum sat down beside him on the bench. The bum took a sip of coffee and then offered one to him. He said to the bum, “Sir, I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid I can’t take your coffee. Not to be rude, but I have quite a lot; you seem to have so very little. I can buy my own coffee. Please, you enjoy your coffee.”
The bum looked him in the eye and said, “You are right. I have very little. All I own is what you see here. I have no home, no clean clothes, just what you see here. But I do have this cup of coffee. It was given to me by a store owner. Usually I am given very bad, very cold coffee. And I am grateful for even that. But today I was given a piping hot cup of the very best coffee I’ve ever tasted. I may not have much, but I know that when you are given something this good, you just have to share it.”
When we experience God’s presence – when we are transformed by God’s grace – we, like that bum and his coffee, realize that when we are given such a wonderful gift, our only appropriate response is to share it. And so like Moses, like the disciples, like Paul, we find ourselves the recipient of God’s most wonderful gift. As recipients of God’s great grace, we have no choice but to want to share that gift with others. To tell our neighbors the great news. To love our neighbors just as we have been loved. To be united together in the mission of God to bring salvation to all the world.
Over the next many weeks we are going to be looking at what it means to be a church defined by the Worship of God. More specifically, we are going to be looking at the ways we worship. A recent book on current issues in Protestantism contained a chapter on Protestant worship. That chapter is going to form the outline for this series. In it, the author suggested that within Protestantism there are three predominant views of worship. Every person worships best in one of three ways. Every one of you here fits in one of these three categories. Either you worship best through song and congregational singing; or you worship best through scripture and the preaching of the Word; or you worship best through sacrament and the celebration of God’s grace.
Traditionally, the same could be said of every congregation. Every church, then, approached worship by emphasizing its singing, or its preaching, or its sacraments. Typically the charismatic types (Assemblies, Foursquare, etc.) were know for their musical emphasis; the mainline types were known for their preaching emphasis (Methodist, Presbyterian, etc); and the high church types (Lutheran, Episcopalian, etc) were known for their sacramental emphasis. But I would contend that the days of such simple and clear categorizations are behind us. A church fully enthralled in the mission of God is going to have to be a church fully enthralled in the Worship of God through song, scripture and sacrament. A renewed focus on the mission of God can come only by a renewed focus on the worship of God. A revitalization of the church’s ministry can come only by a revitalization of the church’s worship.
It is that simple. If we want people to be involved in ministry, we have involve people in worship. If they never experience God’s presence, they will never be transformed by God’s grace. If they are never transformed by God’s grace, they will never be united in God’s mission. It really is that simple. If we want to create a culture of ministry in which everyone ministers, we begin by creating a culture of worship in which everyone worships – whether in song, scripture or sacrament.
To the Glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
posted by EF + at 11:28 AM
4 Comments:
I don't know. I used to espouse that worship was primary and everything else was secondary. But I was involved with a few churches where the corporate worship was very good yet our 'heart' was getting clogged. It was easy to motivate people to worship, but not to serve.
I am not intending to play the locution/semantic game here. If we are truly worshiping, we are serving. Yet to gauge what true worship is a journey I do not care to venture again. Could it not also be said that if we are truly serving that we are also worshiping?
I really do not like reducing what makes church the church. The church is a community of faith that loves and learns to love together. Worship and serving are both ways to express love and learn to love.
My memory is lacking right now, but I believe that the root word for worship is service? Should not the two be interchangeable? While reading your points/stories of worship, I really felt that most could be equally said about service.
I'm using the word service instead of missional, but I feel like missional is more of a buzz word for service. It kind of distinguishes what service is... at least that is how I understand it.
Anyhow, thank you for challenging me.
Eric, I think you knocked this one out of the park! McVey, you are right--service and ministry is an expression of worship. I can completely see where you are coming from. But I might be inclined to think that in your previous experiences of worship the congregations had a disconnect in seeing that worship is the slingshot for mission. It could also come from the view that worship is separate from mission.
It's funny--back in the 90s having a MISSION statement was the buzz. Yet I wonder how many churches that formulated one actually use it to drive the mission/action/ministry/service/worship/community/formation of their congregation.
We have to hold worship and mission together. Eric, I like how you united all three dimensions of worship (song, sermon, sacraments). That goes in a way with the three streams: charismatic, evangelical, historical (liturgical). In light of Wesley, you are on to something here.
Eric...I don't know if you're right or wrong. I really don't. But I do know that I've made a decision that the worship gathering is all that North Street has right now. A faithful few will show up to "other" stuff, including the missional-type activities that we might plan. But for the most part, our church community is limited to an hour and a half on Sunday mornings. So it's where we're beginning to review and understand our mission. My hope is that by being as intentional as we can be in our gathering of worship, it might shape and form who we are throughout the rest of the week.
...in many ways...I'm not sure what else to do. The worship gathering is all we've got.
Thank you.
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