Gathering in God - About Our Worship Together

Gather in God   

Kathryn Boardman

Message for First Presbyterian Church, Cooperstown, NY  2/14/16

Prayer

Help us to be bold and brave when we spend time with you. Help us to listen with open hearts and minds. For, it is not just with the words we say or the things we do, but that we say and do these things with our hearts. Amen.       

-      Based on D365, Week of 2/8/16

-       

Welcome to a new church season! 
Our stoles and paraments (the hangings on the lectern) have turned to purple to remind us of the penitential season we have entered.  This past Wednesday many people worldwide marked the beginning of the season of Lent by participating in Ash Wednesday services. We hosted such a service here with our Methodist brothers and sisters this week. During the service, we joined in the traditional practice of humility by the marking of ashes on our foreheads. This smudge of ashes from last Palm Sunday’s palm branches remind us that we are creatures of God, created by God and moving back to God after this earthly life. 
Our scripture readings and prayers today focus on this season of reflection, prayer and, for some, intentional practices that draw us closer to God in healing and service. It is a quiet journey toward the high drama of Holy Week and mystery of the Easter Resurrection of Christ. Coupled with Christmas, which is the earthly beginning of the Easter story, Holy Week and Easter are the hinges of Christian life. They are also the times when worship services have the highest attendance.
Often, a part of this congregation’s Lenten observance are opportunities to participate in a study series, special prayer time, or mission activity. Sometimes, like this year, there might be a topical sermon series during Sunday worship.  This season our sermon time will focus on our worship- what and why we do what we do on Sunday mornings and other special services.  We will look more closely together at how our worship is organized, where the Reformed worship traditions come from that we share, how we participate in worship, and what we might expect to do, be or feel as a result of our participation. Today, I have the pleasure of beginning this exploration with you by looking at the very first elements in a typical Sunday worship service.
First, a little grounding from Scripture. In our Lectionary readings, we heard today about the temptations of Christ and the thank offerings of the Hebrews. One of the temptations for Christ was to focus his service in powerful ways for the devil, Satan, or his own powerful self-service. This might sound something like “Going to the Dark Side” in Star Wars.  In rejecting this invitation, Christ quotes from the Commandments known to him and all faithful Jews of his time:

Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world. The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want. Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”

Luke 4:5-8

Michelle Phillips, a writer for an on-line daily devotional wrote about these scripture passages in this way:

Power. I miss the days when my first thoughts about the word “power” went to people in funny spandex jumpsuits and giant robots… Unfortunately, the word now makes me think about greed, status, and dishonesty.

Our world is filled with messages that sound a lot like Satan’s temptation in this scripture: “Worship (or vote for) me, and I will fulfill promises. Worship (or buy) this newest gadget, and it will improve your life. Worship (or fill in the blank), and you will be better than anyone else.” Satan wants Jesus to bow to him and put God aside.

When we seek power, we tend to put all things ahead of God. Our lives become overloaded and filled with stuff and status. That’s when we realize we have no time or energy for God.

Be strong, strive to be a better person… but don’t allow that idea of power to take over your life. Stop and evaluate the things that are important to you and reflect: did God make the cut?

-Michelle Phillips

Worshiping God alone, is what God requires of us.
Worship – the “work of the people” is central to our life as Christians in the Presbyterian Church, and in most branches of the Christian family.  Expressions of Christianity formed during and after the Reformation, like the Presbyterian Church, place a strong emphasis on congregational participation.  Singing together, praying together, listening and thinking together for God’s Word to us, and being together. Private prayer and devotion, which many find a helpful practice during Lent, is important, too.  But, the gathering of the church as the body of Christ and fellowship of believers in worship is at the core of our spiritual and service-based lives.
As part of a description of this congregation written by Rev. Elsie this week in a seminary student hosting application, our worship was characterized as:

Central to our life together is our worship. We proclaim God’s liberating, reconciling Word as the heart of our worship; we are intentional about drawing from the gifts of music and the arts in our worship and education.

And so, we gather.  We gather in and with God.

Our gathering process begins before we leave home.  We make a decision, or have it made for us, to get up, get dressed, get out the door and show up. It often said, “showing up is half the job.” In this case, we hope that this showing up is intentional and something we look forward to, rather than a dreary chore or guilt-ridden obligation.

Being together as we center on God’s gifts and Christ’s teachings for support, healing, social interaction, fun, growth, accountability and mission is a privilege, responsibility, and a gift. Being together as we thank and praise God for abundant gifts, seek healing and understanding in the Scriptures, and learning from Christ’s examples for how to live our lives can create a lasting spiritual and emotional bond. We are the body of Christ and we are Christ’s hands, when we work in worship and when we work in this world.

In the July/August 2015 issue of Presbyterians Today, a young pastoral resident at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago published a short article called “Why We Show Up.” She shared her exploration of why millennials come to church at Fourth Presbyterian. The recurring answer that she heard to her question of “why” was “they show up for each other.”

…through grief and joy, through uncertainty and growth, and through the rocky transience that so defines their stage in life.

She observed them worshiping, eating and spending a lot of time together time over a Holy Week/Easter Sunday period. She noted that they acted in a way not unlike the house churches of early Christian communities. “They were anchored to each other and their faith by a common love that will not let them go.” “It is,” she observed, “the love of Christ reflected, and it is marvelous to witness.”

I suggest that this marvelous witness is true of all ages in our worshiping congregation, too. We show up for each other, anchored by a common love that will not let us go.

What happens once get arrive at church?

We are greeted by friendly and helpful ushers who provide us with the bulletin, our map for the worship journey.  They might also help us with hearing assist devices, or lap robes, or seat cushions, or finding the restrooms, or locating specific people, or finding a place to sit.  The choir gathers for some quiet time before worship in the back of the church or their red chairs in the Chapel. Peter plays a musical Prelude. We peruse the bulletin, look at the picture on the front, and, perhaps read the opening prayer or quotation that helps us focus on sharing God together and sets the tone for the service.

What else goes on?  What do we do? What are we expected to do?  

These questions, and those about when announcements take place, are probably the most discussed and discerned- over questions by worship committees everywhere. (This has been true since I began playing services as a teenager, and remains true today. It doesn’t matter what the denomination or church it is.) 

Should we joyfully greet and converse with our neighbors and the people for whom we show up?  Should we have mini-committee meetings?  Should we sit quietly in our seats and reflect on the service ahead, be led to a different mood and place by the music of the Prelude. Should we pray? Should we scan the bulletin and read the printed announcements and calendar? Should we write a check to the church for the offering? Should we compose a grocery list?

Yes.

Yes, to all of these is usually what actually happens.

To be sure, this is a time of delicate transition from the bustle of showing up, to gathering with community and God, to entering into worship.  It is a great merge from a quick moving entry ramp to a slower moving, multi-lane shared roadway of settling in.

But how do we do it?

My recommendations, and probably those of our Worship Team, are for us to use the entry tools provided to help make this transition. And, these are a part of the weekly ordo, or order of our worship.

Peter carefully selects, usually quiet Prelude music, to set the mood and foreshadow the worship experience to come. This music is not designed to be restaurant, Dr’s Office or grocery store background music.  Nor is it party music that encourages people to talk over it. (Not even on Easter!) The pieces are selected to reflect the Scripture readings and sermon focus of the worship service. If we allow it, this music can calm us, settle us in and prepare our bodies, minds and spirits to participate in worship. In fact, worship actually begins with the Prelude.

Then, in our congregation, we break this mood just a bit to briefly share the mission and work of the congregation. This is more than just activity announcements or a verbal bulletin board. These announcements reflect the mission and work of our congregation in our community and the world.  Sometimes, they are often about the social and spiritual life of this body of Christ. Here we offer the activity gifts of our congregational life and work to worship to be brought forward for prayer and setting personal priorities.

The Introit sung by the choir brings us back to the focus of the Scriptures and focus of the worship that day.  Like Peter’s Prelude, the text and the music are carefully chosen to set our hearts and minds in the direction of the messages of that day’s worship.

The rest of our service of worship flow from these opening moments, as we will discover though this Lenten sermon series.

And, before we leave the topic today, I’d like to close by revealing some of the mystery about how this all happens each week: communication, team work, reading, prayer and knowledge of materials and technique.

We have a very strong and congenial staff planning team and creative, hardworking Worship Team.  Elsie, Peter, Betty and I are in frequent contact about elements of our services each week. We have staff meetings about once a month. We take cues from the Session, Worship Team, Rev. Elsie, the Revised Common Lectionary readings and seasonal prayers.  We also communicate and share ideas about sermon and reading selections that are special and perhaps part of a topical series. We phone each other, talk in person, and email- a lot. Betty keeps electronic drafts of the coming bulletins before our eyes as they evolve throughout the week. There is a lot of planning, but there is also flexibility.

All our best plans must be flexible to accommodate when people can’t show up on a particular Sunday, or something happens at the core of our community life that requires our focus, or the Spirit moves us in a different direction. And, like the ashes on one’s forehead, occasionally, we are reminded of our human frailty when we miss something in the communication chain. (Hopefully, those don’t impact the congregation’s worship experience too negatively.) 

Individually, and as a group, I can confidently say that we are very fortunate and grateful for such creative and committed colleagues who are passionate about enabling carefully crafted worship experiences.  It is a gift to us. The worship preparation is our gift to the congregation.

Please join me in prayer:

What a privilege it is to gather together to worship you, Lord.

God of grace and mercy, forgive me when I choose myself, things, or status over you. Help me to put into perspective the things I want versus the things I need. Help me to see: I need you! Amen.

Thank you for showing up and worshiping together.        

.