The Pastor's Sermon - Lent III, March 11, 2012

Disclaimer: At the request of a few of the congregation, I’m ‘publishing’ the text of my sermon ‘as written.’ I cannot guarantee that I will deliver the sermon ‘as written.’

• I am the LORD your God
• Worship... worship is the topic of the day. In our brief look at the seven spiritual words put forward by our National Bishop, Susan Johnson, we separate prayer from worship as being two different things. Not everyone sees it that way.
• To many worship is not a necessity. That goes first and foremost for God. That's right; our worship is not necessary to God. God does not need our praise, like some insecure leader who requires “yes-men” and sycophants around all the time to remind him of his importance. God is sufficient in God-self and does not need this.
• Worship is something WE need. Worship fulfills a deep-seated desire in the human person to recognize and acknowledge that there is something or someone beyond us or greater than ourselves.
• This is a quote from the Christian writer, Eugene Peterson:
• We are surrounded by a way of life in which betterment is understood as expansion, as acquisition, as fame. Everyone wants to get more – to be on top – no matter what it is the top of that’s admired. There’s nothing recent about the temptation. It’s the oldest sin in the book. The one that got Adam tossed out of the garden and Lucifer tossed out of heaven. What is new about it is the general admiration and approval it receives.
• True worship drives home the point that we are not the be-all-and-end-all of the universe. Note once again what is the first commandment of the Ten:
• I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them...
• I submit to you this idea, one I received from a Jewish rabbi of my acquaintance: the primal sin of humanity, of every last human being, is not so much finding other gods to worship but making of ourselves a god whose will must be obeyed and who must be praised at all times.
• Worship works against this. We are not the center of worship. In worship, we look beyond ourselves.
• In Bishop Susan's letters, she emphasizes the communal nature of worship. Worship includes prayer, but it has at it's base a communal understanding both of the nature of worship and the nature of the worshipers.
• Communal worship reflects the communal nature of the Christian life. We are not individuals without a connection, but we are a people joined together by the grace of God.
• At worship, we often pray by joining ourselves to others at prayer, praying through them, joining their words to our silence and using their words in our silence.
• Even in situations where a Christian is by him-or-her-self because of some necessity while the community worships, they may be by themselves, but they are never alone. They are still joined to the entire Body of Christ, because they are not separated from the grace of God in Christ.
• The communal nature of the Church is nothing new. It is, in fact, as old as the history of the Church. From the very beginning, the Church has understood itself as a community of people in Christ. The Jewish people, our ancestors in the faith knew this to be true for themselves and as the Church grew out of the earliest people of God, we inherited this understanding and we hold it to this day. It is opposed by attitudes and the individualism of our contemporary world, but it still holds true.
• This community understanding in worship and in theology -which we won't go into today- in one of the things that set Christians apart from what is around them. We are always a part of a people, so we live as a people in Christ and we worship as a people in Christ, even if we find ourselves alone. Worship then is deepened by an attitude telling us that we pray as a part of a larger whole, even if we find ourselves alone, for somewhere, right at that time – like even now – Christians are at prayer.
• In her editorial regarding worship, Bishop Susan asks and recommends that every person make a commitment to worship. It seems rather silly to speak to you about that; It really is “preaching to the choir.” Everyone here is committed to worship on some level or another. No one would be here otherwise. Still we need to take her recommendation to heart. There are ways to participate even more fully. Increased attendance might be one way. Going from worshiping one Sunday a month to two Sundays a month, from attending only on the biggest festivals to attending monthly would be a commitment to worship.
• Increased involvement, such as taking part in more ministries or more frequently. is another way. One could read at worship or serve as usher, sing one more hymn at worship, or read over the readings before coming to worship. (That's quite easy to do since the upcoming week's reading from scripture are all listed on the back pace of the Celebrate sheet.) Helping to prepare the altar or the space inside the church and even making coffee and bringing goodies for the coffee hour all enhance the entire congregation's experience of worship.
• Even something as simple as a commitment to pay better attention at worship makes for better worship.
• No matter what we commit to do in our worship, it is sure that our God is with us, simply in remembering what Jesus said: 'For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’
• I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol,.. You shall not bow down to them or worship them