Isaiah 43:18-20 "More on the Meaning of Worship" (Part 2)

 You are welcome to use parts of this sermon, but if you do, please attribute them properly! 

         In a moment, I am going to ask you to think about what church was like for you growing up, particularly if you grew up or had a young family in the 1950’s and early 60’s.  If that is before your time, I will try to fill you in on a few of the details.

         Perhaps you came from a Catholic family, and so you ate fish sticks on Friday – every Friday – and you attended mass in Latin because if you did not attend mass, you were on the road to sin and perdition.  You memorized the Baltimore catechism and did not find out until decades later that being an altar boy was not always everything it was cracked up to be.  

         Or perhaps you grew up in a mainline Protestant church – Methodist, Presbyterian, or Congregational.  Your Sunday School grade alone had 20 - 30 kids.  You sat in the balcony on Sunday morning and looked down on a sanctuary where every seat was filled and on Easter every man was dressed in his Sunday best and every woman wore a flowered hat.  You listened to the preacher lecture, the organ boom, and the choir perform. 

        Or perhaps you grew up in a more evangelical atmosphere.  You went to tent meetings and revivals.  You watched as dozens of men and women came forward for altar calls every week, and you sang with great gusto about being washed in the blood of the lamb. 

         Whatever your experience, however, there was a sameness to it.  It was an anchor of sorts and a source of comfort.  So take a moment now – and whole long minute – and remember what church used to be like…..

         Then one day, out of the blue it seemed to you, things changed.  Suddenly the priest was facing you and speaking English.  Nuns were playing guitars.  Looking down from the balcony, you saw more and more empty pews with every week that went by. 

         Easter hats and Sunday best gave way to baseball caps and T-shirts that said “Windham Soccer.” And the sameness was gone, and the comfort was gone.  It was like the rug was pulled out from under you.

         And yet, you were just expected to go along with the liturgical dancers and praise bands – as if all that change was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  And that was hard. 

         And it is still hard – not so much the change itself as the transition from what has been part and parcel of who many of you were as church people to whatever it is that the church will become.  And it is hard because you never really had a chance to say goodbye to the old, to grieve at its passing, to acknowledge that for the time that you were growing up, for the most part, it was good. 

         That is part of what I want to say this morning – that, for the most part, it was good.  Even though the church will not look or be that way again, it was good.  In that time and in that place, it worked. 

         And it is OK if a part of you wishes it could be that way again.  It is OK to grieve for what once was – as long as you do not become entrenched in that grief and longing, as long as you do not complain and grumble in the parking lot about how the church is changing.  Because, you see, the other part of what I want to say is that with God, with Christ, it is all about change.  

“Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago.  Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already—you can see it now!”

        That is what the Prophet Isaiah said.  And look at those Old Testament characters, Abraham and Sarah – both in their 90s and enjoying retirement when – oops! - Sarah gets pregnant, and the two of them leave all that was familiar to travel to a new place and, in the process, to beget a nation.  And Jesus?  Well, everyone who came in contact with him seemed to change: The blind saw all the colors of the rainbow, the lame danced, and lepers were rubbing elbows again with family and friends.

         It is ironic, you know.  When it comes to advances in medical technology, we embrace them.  No more leeches for us!  

         And diets? We are all over the latest ones that US News and World Report rank orders when it is not rank ordering colleges and universities: The Flash Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, the Flexarian Diet, the Ornish Diet.

         However, when it comes to worship and church – when it comes to good health and food for the soul – oh, we resist transformation, we resist the new. 

         Why can’t the organ play every hymn?  Because many of our hymns are based on folk tunes and were never meant to be played on an organ. 

         "Why does the choir have to play drums with that hymn?" we bemoan.  Because African music is meant to be played with drums. 

         Why do we have to sing African music? We are Americans, after all.  Because the Christian church is not an American church, it is a global church of which we are a small but integral piece. 

         Why does the preacher have to talk so much about money and justice and peace and poverty?  Because money and justice and peace and poverty lie at the core of Jesus’ gospel. 

         Why can’t church be like it used to be?  Because our God is a God of Transformation, our God is a God of Change.  That is what we discovered and affirmed last week.

         And so that notion brings us, for the second week now, to the vital worship grant for which we are applying through the Calvin Institute of Worship.  The seven of us on your Worship Grant Team will be putting together a proposal over the next couple of months outlining a year long congregational study of worship that will include the tools we will need to experience worship in new and vital ways and the resources it will take to share our attempts at meaningful worship with the broader Raymond community.

        We believe that developing well-planned worship that engages our diverse congregation is one of our church’s responsibilities.  We also believe that such worship should be designed to potentially engage the larger community, especially (but not exclusively) those men and women and families who are seeking a place to reflect on their own sense of spirituality. 

         It is not an easy task that your Worship Grant Team has taken on.  You see, we understand that engaging the larger community is difficult because those on the outside do not have the same emotional attachment to music and style and worship as those on the inside do.

         This grant program encourages folks like us to explore what meaningful and vital worship could look like.  Now some of you will find that prospect exciting, and others will find it absolutely terrifying. If you fall into the latter category, hopefully I can put your mind at ease by answering a few questions.

         If we are awarded this grant, will we be throwing out all the old?  Of course not! There is such value in ritual and tradition.  If we are awarded this grant, will every service be new and different?  Absolutely not!  If we are awarded this grant, will there be opportunities to learn more about worship?  Will we be able to reflect on what we have known and loved about worship and what we might someday know and love as well?  Yes!  If we are awarded this grant, can we have a hand in creating worship here at church?  I hope so!

         Right now though, your Worship Grant Team needs your help as we continue to reflect on what makes for vital worship, for meaningful worship, for worship that touches not only your intellect but also your very soul.  Last week we asked you to respond to two questions.  This week, we have two more questions.

         Now, I know we preachers do not usually let the congregation talk in church (after all, worship is the preacher's show, right??  Ha, ha - just kidding!), but I am going to ask you this morning to look to your neighbors – to people sitting near you – and form little groups of 3, 4, 5 people and talk about these questions for 8-10 minutes.  Please introduce yourselves if you do not know one another. Write down your thoughts as you discuss.  Someone will then collect your responses. 

         The questions are:

           1.  1.   Why do you worship?  What is the purpose of worship for you?

    2.  When during worship do you feel closest to God?

          The questions from last week are on the backside of the insert as well.  If you were not here, the Worship Grant Team would still love to have your input, so feel free to write your responses to those questions as well – even if you need to leave the insert in the baskets after worship.

by Rev. Nancy Foran, Raymond Village Community Church (U.C.C.), Raymond, Maine