Texts: Hebrews 10:10 – 23 and Matthew 9:27 - 10:1
This week I read an article that a friend of mine wrote. She says that “(we) need the courage to allow (our) hearts to break open, not apart.” She believes the skill of compassion helps us exercise our hearts so that they are supple rather than rigid. A supple heart can break open while a rigid heart will break apart.
This is important because we are called to a profound ministry. All of us. According to 2nd Corinthians, “we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making God’s appeal through us; we entreat (others) on behalf of Christ, (to) be reconciled to God.”
We are the bearers of the good news on behalf of Jesus. Being reconciled to God through Jesus means that we are in a good relationship with God. It doesn’t mean that we never lose our footing. It does mean that we stay in communication with God. We don’t give up, walk out in a huff, or give our past any power to break us apart from the God that loves our souls.
Being reconciled to God also means that God is in good relationship with us. God sticks by us; won’t leave in a huff when we make a misstep; and does not bring the past up to us. This is the good news of which we are ambassadors. There are many people that we encounter every day who wonder if God loves them or if they have what it takes to be in relationship with God. Our answer is a resounding yes to both of these questions. Yes! God loves you, whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey. Yes! You have what it takes to be in relationship with God because what it takes is accepting the grace of reconciliation. This is a profound and powerful ministry. It isn’t coercive. It isn’t needy or fearful. It is simply sharing the yes that you have been given with others who are looking for a yes. It is also reminding yourself of the yes that you have been given.
In Hebrews, the tenth chapter, we are told that God’s laws are in our hearts, and that we can approach God “with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” We are exhorted to “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for God who has promised is faithful.” Our “true hearts” are crucial because God’s law is written there. Holding fast to our confession of hope is also crucial. These things are important if we are to have supple hearts … hearts that are broken open to receive the calling of God to love people and share the hope of the good news with them.
It is so easy for our hearts to become broken by the need we see and the sadness we hear. Our hearts can also become broken by the discouragement we feel, both from within and from without. In our story in Matthew we hear the Pharisees saying, "By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons." I can see how hearing that might be very discouraging. But the story continues, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. It’s almost as if he is saying, “Casts out demons by demons? Really? Well watch this.”
It’s clear, however, from the next sentence that his true motivation wasn’t in reaction to the Pharisees. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Harassed and helpless. These were the people Jesus was drawn to. These were the crowds to whom Jesus ministered. In Jesus’ stead, we are to be ambassadors to these same crowds of people – the harassed and the helpless. Sometimes that means reminding the person sitting next to you of the hope they have in Christ. Sometimes it means talking to someone you have never met before. How can we be these ambassadors and not end up with broken hearts over the pain and suffering of others?
The writer of the letter of Hebrews tells us, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” In the Gospel of Matthew we read Jesus’ words, “’The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’ Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” This takes a lot of commitment by us. And it takes having a steady foundation. Jesus is called the cornerstone for a good reason.
So how do we keep our hearts from breaking and yet keep our hearts broken open? Anne Howard, the author of the article I read, quoted Parker Palmer from his new book. Healing the Heart of Democracy.” In it he says, “a heart that has been consistently exercised through conscious engagement with suffering is more likely to break open instead of apart. Such a heart has learned how to flex to hold tension in a way that expands its capacity for both suffering and joy.” (p. 60)
This might seem counter-intuitive. How can conscious engagement with suffering keep a heart from breaking? I think the answer lies in the word “conscious.” We can’t expect to fix all the suffering. That just results in constant failure which is heartbreaking. We can attend to the suffering, and pray and work for greater love, mercy, and justice, but we can’t expect our efforts to fix everything. As Christians we can engage suffering while standing on our cornerstone, from a place of hope and unwavering faith.
Recognizing our own suffering – being conscious of our own condition and how Jesus, in his suffering, has opened up the way for us to be reconciled to God, gives us the capacity to engage the suffering of others with a heart broken open by compassion. Conscious engagement of our own suffering and redemption can fill our hearts with gratitude and hope. From this sure foundation we can reach out to others in a different way. Compassion can flow from our hearts that are broken open rather than the guilt of not being able to do enough or the judgment that we or those we see suffering are not good enough.
We can sit with suffering – our own and that of others – and have supple hearts when we see suffering for what it is, a condition of life that is difficult, painful, and in need of mercy and grace as well as loving action. Judging suffering does not break open our hearts. Being afraid of suffering does not break open our hearts. Sitting in compassion with suffering will break open our hearts.
It’s not as hard as it sounds. It does take a certain amount of patience, an assurance of faith, a firm foundation, and the boldness to feel in a conscious way. It also helps to remember that we have a Messiah who knows our suffering first hand. Jesus, our cornerstone, took on the struggle of being human. We do not have to bear suffering alone. We can let compassion well up within us knowing that we are supported by the love of Christ and the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Let your roots of faith sink deep down into the redeeming love of God in Christ. Because you have received compassion, you can share compassion. If your life is in tumult, set your focus on the compassion that Jesus has for you and those like you. Compassion flows from him to the harassed and the helpless. And as many laborers as he can find, he sends.
From a place of full assurance of faith it is easier to gently open your heart. I think it is much more difficult for a heart to break apart when it is already open. You will feel the pain of those suffering, but it will be a pain that rests on the faith of hope.
When Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few it was immediately after compassion filled his heart for a crowd that was harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The disciples he summoned were to be likewise filled with compassion. They were given the authority and the charge to heal and help. If we are laborers, then I believe it is to labor with compassion for the sake of healing. It is from the foundation of our own reconciliation with God that we can best open our hearts and be the laborers that we are called to be.
There is so much suffering … the harvest is plentiful.
As we are called, let us reach out and sit with those who are suffering. In full assurance of faith, because of the immense love that Jesus has shown to us let us gently break open our hearts.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Why Come To Church (part 4) - Worship
2 Kings 5:1 – 19a
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." 8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, "Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!" He urged him to accept, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, "If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. 18 But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count." 19 He said to him, "Go in peace."
Naaman was a successful man. He had the respect of those in positions above him as well as those in his household. I imagine he must have been a good man in many ways or the young girl who was his wife’s servant, who was taken captive from the land of Israel, wouldn’t have wanted him to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman was also a man of hope. When he heard of an opportunity to be healed, he looked into it immediately. Naaman was successful, but his future did not look good. At some point his leprosy was probably going to get the best of him. He was already suffering but as the disease progressed his disfiguring skin sores would become worse, his nerve damage would increase, and eventually he would become debilitated. It is no wonder that Naaman eagerly sought out a healing, even from a rival nation and a prophet of a different God than his own.
The king of Israel suspected Naaman’s request was a trick to create a grievance that would lead to a war between the two nations. The Israeli servant girl did not tell Naaman to go to the king, though. She told him to go to the prophet. From Elisha’s perspective this was an opportunity to show the Arameans “that there is a prophet in Israel." Elisha called for Naaman, but when he got to his house, Elisha sent a messenger instead of coming out himself. Plus, there was no showy magic or sacrifice offered. The messenger just told Naaman to "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." Naaman was offended. How dare Elisha not come out to meet him! Naaman said, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!” This is Naaman … not some common person. Naaman, the mighty man of war, commander of the Aramean army and favoured by the king of Aram. Was Elisha just telling him that he was dirty and needed to take a bath? How insulting! The rivers of Damascus are far superiour to those in Israel And besides, Naaman came with treasures to lavish on the person who would heal him. If he came with treasures, certainly he should get better treatment than this.
Naaman’s servants convinced him to go ahead and give this a try. And so Naaman washed seven times in the Jordan river and after the seventh time he came out with the skin of a young boy. His leprosy was healed. Were it not for the young servant girl and for Naaman’s servants, he would never have known the healing power of the God of Israel. Were it not for the ordinary river in which Naaman washed, he may never have attributed his healing properly to the God of Israel. Had Elisha come out with his hands waving and calling on the name of God, Naaman might have given credit to Elisha rather than to God. If Elisha had told Naaman to do some heroic act or to wash in some pristine river, those actions or the river might have been given the credit for Naaman’s healing. But it was an ordinary river and the instructions were given by the messenger of the prophet. It had to be. Naaman could only give credit where credit was due. "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel,” he proclaimed.
Naaman become a convert to the God of Israel. He wanted to worship God but at the time there was a belief that gods exercised their domain over a local area. So he asked Elisha if he could take two mule-loads of earth back home with him. This way he would be worshipping the God of Israel on Israel’s soil. Naaman wanted to worship the god who healed him. He wanted to pour out his appreciation and express his adoration for the one revealed to him as the only god in all the earth. He did have a concern. In spite of his revelation, he had a job to do. Part of his job was to bring his master into the house of the god Rimmon where they would both worship. Naaman asked Elisha if he could be pardoned for performing this part of his job. Elisha said to him, "Go in peace." If Naaman was bowing down before Rimmon with his body but not his heart, Elisha knew it wasn’t real worship.
The prophet Isaiah understood the same thing about the worship that the people of Israel performed to the God of Israel.
Isaiah 29:13, 14 The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.
(The Message) Psalm 51:15 – 17 Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise. Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.
Worship is heart-driven and heart-felt. Naaman’s pride had been broken and his heart melted within him. The prophet Isaiah is burdened with grief that the people’s heart is far from God, even when they lift up their voices in praise. The Psalmist begs for God’s praise to be released from within.
We come to church to worship God. Our Sunday morning meeting time is called a worship service. In our prayers, praises, and songs first and foremost we are to draw our hearts near to God. Our worship is not our order of service; it is our adoration, thanksgiving, and openness to love. Our acts of worship bring together the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. This is one way to experience the intersection of the temporal world and the transcendent world, just like we talked about a couple of weeks ago.
Our next reading is from The Book of the Revelation written by John of Patmos. He begins in the first chapter by telling us that he was “in the spirit on the Lord's day.” This is his account of the revelatory vision that he was given. In chapter 4 of this vision he writes this:
Rev 4:1 - 11
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE Lord GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME." 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Our worship of God – our adoration and praise – comes from a heart that is open to love, filled with humility, and has a desire to draw close to the Divine Beloved. Our worship needn’t be shame based. In other words, we don’t worship Jesus because we think we are wretched and miserable creatures. That seems to me to be a less than exuberant expression of adoration. When we prepare our hearts to give our devotion to God, we should remind ourselves of the glory of God, of God’s magnificence. We don’t praise because we are so awful. We praise because Jesus is so good!
When we worship we can see our own brokenness. That might be scary. But our broken heart can and needs to worship God. When we worship we can see our needs and our shortcomings. We are wonderfully and amazingly made by the God of whom the elders fall down to worship in The Book of the Revelation. We are not always shiny and perfect. But, we are created by the will of Jesus and in Jesus we have our life. This is the declaration of worship that the elders are making. Something like this is also said in The Book of Acts 17:28, "In God we live and move and have our being”
We come to church to worship together. I believe our souls become stronger when we worship. Our adoration for God doesn’t have to fade away during the week. We can honor God during the week by drawing near with our hearts no matter what we are doing. This then will also strengthen our worship time when we come together Sunday morning. Worship is an opportunity to break through our own brokenness and reach toward the wholeness that God offers in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We open ourselves up to God’s healing touch, to a deepening of our souls, and to richer understanding of God’s beauty and glory.
In times of trouble, our worship can lift us up even if our circumstances don’t change.
In times of joy, our worship can help us express the depth of our joy.
In times of everyday ho-hum, our worship can fill us with purpose and motivation.
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." 8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, "Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. 15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!" He urged him to accept, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, "If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. 18 But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count." 19 He said to him, "Go in peace."
Naaman was a successful man. He had the respect of those in positions above him as well as those in his household. I imagine he must have been a good man in many ways or the young girl who was his wife’s servant, who was taken captive from the land of Israel, wouldn’t have wanted him to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman was also a man of hope. When he heard of an opportunity to be healed, he looked into it immediately. Naaman was successful, but his future did not look good. At some point his leprosy was probably going to get the best of him. He was already suffering but as the disease progressed his disfiguring skin sores would become worse, his nerve damage would increase, and eventually he would become debilitated. It is no wonder that Naaman eagerly sought out a healing, even from a rival nation and a prophet of a different God than his own.
The king of Israel suspected Naaman’s request was a trick to create a grievance that would lead to a war between the two nations. The Israeli servant girl did not tell Naaman to go to the king, though. She told him to go to the prophet. From Elisha’s perspective this was an opportunity to show the Arameans “that there is a prophet in Israel." Elisha called for Naaman, but when he got to his house, Elisha sent a messenger instead of coming out himself. Plus, there was no showy magic or sacrifice offered. The messenger just told Naaman to "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." Naaman was offended. How dare Elisha not come out to meet him! Naaman said, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!” This is Naaman … not some common person. Naaman, the mighty man of war, commander of the Aramean army and favoured by the king of Aram. Was Elisha just telling him that he was dirty and needed to take a bath? How insulting! The rivers of Damascus are far superiour to those in Israel And besides, Naaman came with treasures to lavish on the person who would heal him. If he came with treasures, certainly he should get better treatment than this.
Naaman’s servants convinced him to go ahead and give this a try. And so Naaman washed seven times in the Jordan river and after the seventh time he came out with the skin of a young boy. His leprosy was healed. Were it not for the young servant girl and for Naaman’s servants, he would never have known the healing power of the God of Israel. Were it not for the ordinary river in which Naaman washed, he may never have attributed his healing properly to the God of Israel. Had Elisha come out with his hands waving and calling on the name of God, Naaman might have given credit to Elisha rather than to God. If Elisha had told Naaman to do some heroic act or to wash in some pristine river, those actions or the river might have been given the credit for Naaman’s healing. But it was an ordinary river and the instructions were given by the messenger of the prophet. It had to be. Naaman could only give credit where credit was due. "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel,” he proclaimed.
Naaman become a convert to the God of Israel. He wanted to worship God but at the time there was a belief that gods exercised their domain over a local area. So he asked Elisha if he could take two mule-loads of earth back home with him. This way he would be worshipping the God of Israel on Israel’s soil. Naaman wanted to worship the god who healed him. He wanted to pour out his appreciation and express his adoration for the one revealed to him as the only god in all the earth. He did have a concern. In spite of his revelation, he had a job to do. Part of his job was to bring his master into the house of the god Rimmon where they would both worship. Naaman asked Elisha if he could be pardoned for performing this part of his job. Elisha said to him, "Go in peace." If Naaman was bowing down before Rimmon with his body but not his heart, Elisha knew it wasn’t real worship.
The prophet Isaiah understood the same thing about the worship that the people of Israel performed to the God of Israel.
Isaiah 29:13, 14 The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.
(The Message) Psalm 51:15 – 17 Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise. Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.
Worship is heart-driven and heart-felt. Naaman’s pride had been broken and his heart melted within him. The prophet Isaiah is burdened with grief that the people’s heart is far from God, even when they lift up their voices in praise. The Psalmist begs for God’s praise to be released from within.
We come to church to worship God. Our Sunday morning meeting time is called a worship service. In our prayers, praises, and songs first and foremost we are to draw our hearts near to God. Our worship is not our order of service; it is our adoration, thanksgiving, and openness to love. Our acts of worship bring together the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. This is one way to experience the intersection of the temporal world and the transcendent world, just like we talked about a couple of weeks ago.
Our next reading is from The Book of the Revelation written by John of Patmos. He begins in the first chapter by telling us that he was “in the spirit on the Lord's day.” This is his account of the revelatory vision that he was given. In chapter 4 of this vision he writes this:
Rev 4:1 - 11
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE Lord GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME." 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Our worship of God – our adoration and praise – comes from a heart that is open to love, filled with humility, and has a desire to draw close to the Divine Beloved. Our worship needn’t be shame based. In other words, we don’t worship Jesus because we think we are wretched and miserable creatures. That seems to me to be a less than exuberant expression of adoration. When we prepare our hearts to give our devotion to God, we should remind ourselves of the glory of God, of God’s magnificence. We don’t praise because we are so awful. We praise because Jesus is so good!
When we worship we can see our own brokenness. That might be scary. But our broken heart can and needs to worship God. When we worship we can see our needs and our shortcomings. We are wonderfully and amazingly made by the God of whom the elders fall down to worship in The Book of the Revelation. We are not always shiny and perfect. But, we are created by the will of Jesus and in Jesus we have our life. This is the declaration of worship that the elders are making. Something like this is also said in The Book of Acts 17:28, "In God we live and move and have our being”
We come to church to worship together. I believe our souls become stronger when we worship. Our adoration for God doesn’t have to fade away during the week. We can honor God during the week by drawing near with our hearts no matter what we are doing. This then will also strengthen our worship time when we come together Sunday morning. Worship is an opportunity to break through our own brokenness and reach toward the wholeness that God offers in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. We open ourselves up to God’s healing touch, to a deepening of our souls, and to richer understanding of God’s beauty and glory.
In times of trouble, our worship can lift us up even if our circumstances don’t change.
In times of joy, our worship can help us express the depth of our joy.
In times of everyday ho-hum, our worship can fill us with purpose and motivation.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Why Come To Church (part 3) - Fellowship In Our Faith
So far we have talked about coming to church in order to Celebrate God and to highlight or mark times in our lives. This Sunday we are celebrating World Communion Sunday and we are starting our regular collection for our Neighbors in Need offering. The focus today is outward. Why do we come to church? For Fellowship In Our Faith.
There are two stories in the Book of Acts that caught my attention this week. They are stories of Paul’s travels.
Acts 16:11 – 15
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 20:2 – 12
When Paul had gone through those regions and had given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas; but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days. On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him." Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.
It is true that we have a personal relationship with Jesus and that we pray directly to God. Even so, we are not alone in our faith. We congregate every week to celebrate our faith together. We join our voices, minds, hearts, and spirits in praise and worship to God. We have more than just our personal relationship with Jesus and individual idea about God – we have a communal relationship and understanding. Jesus gathered people together. He sent out the twelve to do great miracles, but then after they returned, according to the Gospel of Luke, he “appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Whenever they entered a town and its people welcomed them, they were to eat what was set before them; cure the sick who are there, and proclaim that, "The kingdom of God has come near.”
In order for Jesus to send out 72 people there had to be at least that many who were following him.
Jesus references the Kingdom of God over and over. The kingdom of God is like this and like that. In the old testament and the new testament, there is an expectation that people of faith want to gather together. Last week we read the teaching that the Sabbath is made for us humans, not us humans for the Sabbath. Likewise, church is meant for those who gather together as a community of faith. We don’t gather together as a community of faith for the sake of the church. The church supports and strengthens our faith walk. There is a church because we want there to be a church. We want to be in relationship not only with God, but with each other.
Coming to church should offer us support in our faith, in our families, and in our lives. Not just the act of coming to church on Sunday, but the relationships that we develop which last throughout the week. As people of faith we have a particular way of looking at life and dealing with situations. Church is our network of support to help us be who we feel called to really be, especially when faced with obstacles or temptations to go with the flow rather than living into our core values of love, compassion, mercy, and generosity.
In our first story about Paul it says, “On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.” Paul and his companions expected there to be a place of prayer on the Sabbath. There was no church steeple to beckon them. They knew the habits of the people and they wanted to gather with them. Paul took on the role of a teacher, as he often did. But afterward Lydia offered fellowship to Paul and his companions, asking them to stay at her home. We don’t know how long they stayed with Lydia and her family, but it was long enough to forge strong relationships.
If we continued reading that chapter we would hear the story of Paul and Silas in jail. After some pretty amazing things happen, the story ends in verse 40, “After leaving the prison they went to Lydia's home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.” Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s home – the home of their friend and sibling in faith. The others of their fellowship gathered in Lydia’s home upon hearing of Paul and Silas’ release. Together they encouraged these sisters and brothers in Christ, and then left for Thessalonica.
In our second story we see that once again Paul is encouraging believers before he leaves for his next destination. Place after place, when they arrive at their destinations they continue their pattern of meeting on the first day of the week to break bread and fellowship in the faith. When Paul holds his all night session it is because he can’t stay long with this group of believers. He wants to share everything with them that he can. Paul’s goal is to build a strong foundation so that when he leaves they are equipped to continue.
Paul doesn’t just set up communities of faith and forget about them. He keeps in touch via letters and sending messages. He lets them know where he’s been and what he’s doing. He also lets the communities know what is going on with each other. He tells them to pray for each other and to be generous when there is need.
Those of you in this building, look around. (Those of you listening on the radio, close your eyes and envision yourself here in this building.) We need each other. We need to love each other and talk to each other about our faith. We also need to lift up our eyes and see our neighbors in need – those in our city and those all across the world. And then we need to lift up our spirits and remember that we are siblings in Christ with believers everywhere. The connection is real. The fellowship we share is real.
Paul laid the foundation for so many communities of Christians. All the work that Paul and the other apostles did live in the churches that gather today. We do not believe in isolation. We do not worship in isolation. And we do not break bread in isolation.
As we prepare our hearts for the sacrament of Communion, let us recall Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter. He says that we are to “discern the body.” This has a double meaning. We are to bring to mind the body of Jesus. We are also to bring to mind the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the church … the whole church. There are several references to this metaphor. Among them are:
Romans 12:4 & 5, “For as in one body we have many members; and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
And
Colossians 1:18, “Jesus is the head of the body, the church.”
We are members, one of another. Today we celebrate partaking of the body of Jesus as Christ’s body throughout the world. We have many articles from various places on our Communion Table. Clothes, plates, crosses, drinking vessels and more. We will also be hearing various language translations of the words of institution. Open up your hearts to one another and receive the blessing of being in a worldwide fellowship of faithful Christians.
There are two stories in the Book of Acts that caught my attention this week. They are stories of Paul’s travels.
Acts 16:11 – 15
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.
Acts 20:2 – 12
When Paul had gone through those regions and had given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas; but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days. On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him." Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.
It is true that we have a personal relationship with Jesus and that we pray directly to God. Even so, we are not alone in our faith. We congregate every week to celebrate our faith together. We join our voices, minds, hearts, and spirits in praise and worship to God. We have more than just our personal relationship with Jesus and individual idea about God – we have a communal relationship and understanding. Jesus gathered people together. He sent out the twelve to do great miracles, but then after they returned, according to the Gospel of Luke, he “appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Whenever they entered a town and its people welcomed them, they were to eat what was set before them; cure the sick who are there, and proclaim that, "The kingdom of God has come near.”
In order for Jesus to send out 72 people there had to be at least that many who were following him.
Jesus references the Kingdom of God over and over. The kingdom of God is like this and like that. In the old testament and the new testament, there is an expectation that people of faith want to gather together. Last week we read the teaching that the Sabbath is made for us humans, not us humans for the Sabbath. Likewise, church is meant for those who gather together as a community of faith. We don’t gather together as a community of faith for the sake of the church. The church supports and strengthens our faith walk. There is a church because we want there to be a church. We want to be in relationship not only with God, but with each other.
Coming to church should offer us support in our faith, in our families, and in our lives. Not just the act of coming to church on Sunday, but the relationships that we develop which last throughout the week. As people of faith we have a particular way of looking at life and dealing with situations. Church is our network of support to help us be who we feel called to really be, especially when faced with obstacles or temptations to go with the flow rather than living into our core values of love, compassion, mercy, and generosity.
In our first story about Paul it says, “On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.” Paul and his companions expected there to be a place of prayer on the Sabbath. There was no church steeple to beckon them. They knew the habits of the people and they wanted to gather with them. Paul took on the role of a teacher, as he often did. But afterward Lydia offered fellowship to Paul and his companions, asking them to stay at her home. We don’t know how long they stayed with Lydia and her family, but it was long enough to forge strong relationships.
If we continued reading that chapter we would hear the story of Paul and Silas in jail. After some pretty amazing things happen, the story ends in verse 40, “After leaving the prison they went to Lydia's home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.” Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s home – the home of their friend and sibling in faith. The others of their fellowship gathered in Lydia’s home upon hearing of Paul and Silas’ release. Together they encouraged these sisters and brothers in Christ, and then left for Thessalonica.
In our second story we see that once again Paul is encouraging believers before he leaves for his next destination. Place after place, when they arrive at their destinations they continue their pattern of meeting on the first day of the week to break bread and fellowship in the faith. When Paul holds his all night session it is because he can’t stay long with this group of believers. He wants to share everything with them that he can. Paul’s goal is to build a strong foundation so that when he leaves they are equipped to continue.
Paul doesn’t just set up communities of faith and forget about them. He keeps in touch via letters and sending messages. He lets them know where he’s been and what he’s doing. He also lets the communities know what is going on with each other. He tells them to pray for each other and to be generous when there is need.
Those of you in this building, look around. (Those of you listening on the radio, close your eyes and envision yourself here in this building.) We need each other. We need to love each other and talk to each other about our faith. We also need to lift up our eyes and see our neighbors in need – those in our city and those all across the world. And then we need to lift up our spirits and remember that we are siblings in Christ with believers everywhere. The connection is real. The fellowship we share is real.
Paul laid the foundation for so many communities of Christians. All the work that Paul and the other apostles did live in the churches that gather today. We do not believe in isolation. We do not worship in isolation. And we do not break bread in isolation.
As we prepare our hearts for the sacrament of Communion, let us recall Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter. He says that we are to “discern the body.” This has a double meaning. We are to bring to mind the body of Jesus. We are also to bring to mind the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the church … the whole church. There are several references to this metaphor. Among them are:
Romans 12:4 & 5, “For as in one body we have many members; and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
And
Colossians 1:18, “Jesus is the head of the body, the church.”
We are members, one of another. Today we celebrate partaking of the body of Jesus as Christ’s body throughout the world. We have many articles from various places on our Communion Table. Clothes, plates, crosses, drinking vessels and more. We will also be hearing various language translations of the words of institution. Open up your hearts to one another and receive the blessing of being in a worldwide fellowship of faithful Christians.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
