"Seven Habits of Discipleship: Worship"
Gen. 15:1-12, 17-18; Ps. 27; Phil. 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35
Rev. Ryan Jensen, Associate Pastor
February 28, 2010
Today our Seven Habits of Disciples series turns to the habit of worship. Getting straight to the definition, the Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms defines worship as, “The service of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and petition directed toward God through actions and attitudes.” As is the case with many definitions, this one at the same time, answers one question and opens up others. Worship is something that involves our actions and attitudes. I wondered to myself, “Actions and attitudes, like what?” What does this mean for Presbyterians who receive a look when feeling compelled to participate during the sermon with an affirming, “Amen” or an encouraging, “Help him Jesus”? How do we bring our actions and attitudes into worship?
Actions I think I understand. Scanning through the church bulletin, we find several examples. Together, we act in saying our prayers and creeds. We act together in music and song. We stand and sit at certain times. After this sermon, we will act in making vows to those who will join our church membership. But what about those attitudes? What would we have our new members know about our worship that is directed toward God through our attitudes? Turning to a quote from the book that our officers read in preparation for yesterday’s planning retreat, we find this: “Passionate spiritual communities increase in attendance because members and visitors cannot help but talk positively about their experiences with others.” According to the author, our attitudes are to take on passionate characteristics. And if this spiritual community is passionate in our worship, then all of us will share an experience that we just can’t help but talk about. While I think I understand what the author is getting at, I nevertheless find myself concerned with his language. Do we really consider worship to be an experience? In our efforts of evangelism, do we tell others to come to church to have an experience?
Personally speaking, I would describe a visit to Wal-Mart as an experience. It’s an experience in which a person is pulled into a black hole of low prices. During the Winter Olympics, athletes have experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. While on vacation, I had a sandwich on Fat Tuesday called the Hogzilla. A hoagie bun filled with bratwurst, pulled pork, bacon and cheese is an experience. So how does worship stack up against those things? Surely worship offers something more, doesn’t it?
This is where I am going to go a little “old school” with you in delivering a three point sermon from this point forward. Addressing the first, today’s text from Deuteronomy instructs us to set aside a day for rest so that we remember that it is God who delivers us from slavery with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Unlike the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt, we have our own set of circumstances. We are slaves to institutions, careers, routines, and schedules. We are slaves to a world that works counter to many if not most of the things that Christ teaches. We are slaves to fear and anxiety. We can even become slaves to the pursuit of experiences that make us feel good about ourselves. This is where God interrupts all of this in saying STOP. Stop and rest. Stop and remember that hard as you may try, you cannot save yourselves. Stop long enough to remember that you are no more important than your son, daughter, or servants. Even your livestock deserve a rest from what you would have them do. Remember that God is the one who creates, redeems, and sustains.
All of this was once easier to do, wasn’t it? Most of you remember some form of the blue laws that once enforced our religious standards by keeping stores and other places closed on Sunday. Furthermore, no one would dare schedule a soccer or baseball practice on the Lord’s Day. By default, there just was not much to do, other than go to church and gather together for a good Sunday dinner. As we are well aware, that world is long gone. That said, God’s commandments to worship and rest nevertheless remain. Perhaps now more than ever, the habit and practice of worship remains vital to whom we are as a worshipping community. Unlike experiences that tend to focus on ourselves, worship reminds us that God is at the center of our efforts. Making a habit of worship, we remember that we are slaves to sin and that the Lord our God delivers us from that sin with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. When we join together for the prayer of intercession, we remember that there are those among us who battle with illness and struggle with grief and loss. When we meet around the communion table for the Lord’s Supper, we remember what Christ has done for us in the past, is doing in the present, and promises to do in the time to come. Worship is remembering. Worship is also more than that.
Turning to the second point, the Gospel of John tells an interesting story about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Between the two, there is a conversation about living water and the fact that the Samaritan has been claimed by five different men. After that exchange, the woman confesses to Jesus, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” She then makes the point that her people worship on one mountain whereas the Jews worship on another. It seems as though she wants to be clear about the place where she can find both living water and a relationship with God that will last. Jesus tells her that neither mountain is of importance. Jesus says that a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks. So yes, remember to set aside a time to worship. But when you do meet to offer praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and petitions toward God through actions and attitudes, do so in spirit and truth. This, I think, is what that author meant when he spoke of experiences.
Unlike anything else, worship is that which makes us feel something mysterious and something other than ourselves. When the word of God is revealed to our hearts and minds, we awaken to God’s power; we understand something that before was hidden. More specifically, when we witness the baptism of a child or adult who becomes sealed into God’s grace, something very powerful takes place. When Jesus was baptized, we are told that the heavens were opened up and that the Spirit of God descended like a dove. Couldn’t we say that we sometimes feel the same when participating in the sacrament of Baptism? Couldn’t the Spirit be the force that causes our eyes to water and our hearts to become strangely warm?
A few months ago, this church offered a Service of Wholeness and Healing. As a minister, it was very powerful and humbling to take part in that service. Several who came forward for healing also expressed that it was unlike anything that they had ever felt before. We of course have no way to measure the work of the Holy Spirit, but I would say that there are moments when this sanctuary is overflowing with it. The service of Wholeness and Healing was, in my heart, one such moment. Surely this would be what it means to worship the Father in spirit and truth. There are other times, however, when we might become like the Samaritan woman, asking wrong questions or misunderstanding things altogether. Perhaps we can become concerned with things other than those of spirit and truth. This mountain or that one? This sanctuary or that one? Does the worship space really matter?
Yes, up to a point anyway. Last week there was an article on ESPN’s website that described the gymnasium of a certain university. The columnist wrote, “The walls, presumably, were once yellow but now sit on the color spectrum somewhere between dirty mustard and old oatmeal. Three-quarters of the seats are old wooden bleachers that have seen a few decades worth of derriere wear and tear. The lighting would be welcome in prison.” Fortunately, this is not the case with our sanctuary. Current members as well as the countless saints who have gone before us have worked very faithfully and diligently to create and maintain a space that does not resemble that gymnasium. This sanctuary is unlike any other and offers a worship space that lends itself favorably to the return of members and visitors alike. It would indeed be difficult to ask anyone to adopt a habit of discipleship in a space where the walls are the color of old oatmeal.
But in the pursuit of spirit and truth in worship, there are certainly pitfalls. The constitution of our denomination cautions, “Careless or disorderly worship is both an offense to God and a stumbling block to the people.” The Book of Order goes on to caution that anything that goes on to draw attention to itself – whether that be a person or a flower arrangement – is idolatrous and not worthy of worship. So it is that your worship leaders draw a fine line. If we are too stern and too rigid, we bore you to sleep and turn worship into a dull experience. And if we are too animated? We risk turning ourselves into idols and worship therefore turns away from God. As church members, we can also find ourselves in this strange middle place when considering what it is that we should do. Do we pattern ourselves after other churches that are growing, or would we lose ourselves and our members in trying to become something that we are not? It’s a tricky issue and leaves one asking, “What is one to do?”
While Laura was in the grocery store the other day, I sat in the car and scanned through the AM stations in search of college basketball scores. I never found a sports station but did come across several stations devoted to preachers who were looking to get the word out. One in particular caught my attention. Her message was this: “Get yourself into a holiness church.” She sounded very passionate and very sure of her message so I listened on. Get yourself into a holiness church. The preacher said that she had an aunt who was Baptist but that when she wanted to receive a laying on of hands and be healed, that she did not go to her own Baptist church but to that of a holiness church. I admit that I don’t know what she meant by a holiness church, but it seems to me that a holiness church is one that both seeks and trusts in the holy Spirit that guides it. The officers of this church spent a good part of the day yesterday doing just that.
Elders and Deacons met at Baytreat yesterday to discuss areas of hospitality, mission, worship, stewardship and faith development. It was not a day to pat ourselves on the back but rather a day to discern areas where improvement is needed. During Lent, this church is taking part in a church wide study and sermon series. These things are neither simple lip service nor are they things that we are doing just for the sake of having something to do. With consideration to our mission statement, this congregation is faithfully seeking to glorify God so that we will be able to become joyful disciples of Jesus Christ. It is, after all, Jesus Christ who is spirit and truth and as he says, he will show us all things.
The example of our officers yesterday brings me to the third and final point. When we meet in worship to remember God, and when we become joyful disciples, and when some form of spirit and truth is revealed to our heart and minds, there will be something in us that becomes changed. Our habitual worship will lead us to become different people. Yes, we will still be sinners and still completely reliant upon God, but we will also overflow with the Spirit and as a result, we might just feel compelled to respond. This is where things become a little fun, a little messy, but all the more meaningful. It’s like that moment where Dr. Seuss’ Grinch has a heart that grows three times in size. For us, it is a series of moments when our hearts grow in size and spirit. More of what we do becomes a reflection of the God that we remember and the truth that we follow. Because we develop glad and joyful hearts, we devote ourselves to each of the seven habits. Because we feel that we have a gift that cannot and should not be kept to ourselves, we share it freely with others. We move beyond experience into a passionate life of discipleship that is so much greater. Is it a life without difficulty or speed bumps along the way? Not even close. But going it alone will never compare living our lives with God at the center of who we are. This is but one of the many things we affirm when we join together to worship the Triune God.