The Great Ends of the Church: The Maintenance of Divine Worship
Sermon Text for April 29:
Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 95
It just seemed as if God was very near – nearer than God had been for a very long time. He stared into the burning embers of the campfire and listened as his friends sang, “Kum Bah Yah”. He couldn’t sing with them because at that moment he felt completely overwhelmed by God. He was beyond thoughts, and words, beyond any voluntary movement. All that he could do was stare into the fire and experience the moment. He sat there for a long time after the others had gone to bed and felt surrounded and filled by the presence of God.
One Sunday in church, something totally different, but equally moving happened to an older couple. They were life long church members and felt very comfortable with the familiar pace of the worship service – familiar friends, familiar hymns, familiar liturgy, even the familiar drone of the pastor’s voice that usually made them both a little groggy. But on this particular Sunday they were catapulted out of the familiar and into a whole different way of worship. Neither of them could identify when the change occurred. Maybe it was when the man let an uncharacteristic “Amen” slip out, or when his wife suddenly began to clap rhythmically during the anthem. But something changed for them that day, and they would never again be comfortable with the familiar.
Think for a moment about your own experience of a time when God seemed especially near. Maybe something happened when you were alone and like Isaiah you began to tremble in God’s presence. Maybe you were on a retreat with friends and somehow in that community, you felt that you knew God in a different way. It is important that we remember and identify these experiences because when we experience them with one another, in community, that is what the bible calls worship. And as Presbyterians we are here to make sure that the worship of God is maintained until Christ comes again. If suddenly everyone else in the world stops worshipping we will still be here worshiping God. It is who we are and what we do.
In recent years there has been a shift in the focus of worship so that it is no longer about what we think God desires or demands, but about what we need or desire. And music is one part of the worship service where our individual wants and desires are most clearly seen.
When I first started in ministry congregations argued about whether to sing gospel songs or, “The Great Hymns of the Church”. And sometimes the arguments became loud and bitter. One of my colleagues settled the argument in his church by hiding all of the gospel songbooks and then acting surprised that they were gone. Of course without the songbooks the church couldn’t sing the gospel songs.
I have never gone that far but I have been tempted. The question that the debate tried to answer is which style more clearly communicates our faith. Is our faith communicated better by songs like, “I Come to the Garden Alone” and “The Little Brown Church in the Vale” or in a hymn like, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”?
Thirty-five years later we are still involved in the same discussion, only now the battle centers on whether to sing the Great Hymns of the Church or “Praise Music”. Those who want to sing the Great Hymns of the Church often believe that the new Praise Songs are not worshipful. Those who love praise music often believe that if a song was written before 2004 it is too old. Faithful people on either side of the discussion argue that they get more out of one kind of music than the other. But you know what? Worship is not primarily about us. It is not about my feelings. It is about making an offering to God.
Worship is not about what I get out of it, but rather what I put in. Worship is about recognizing the wonders of God’s love and finding a genuine way to respond. It is about praise, confession and meditation, in a way that is pleasing to God. And if in trying to please God we also please ourselves, that’s great, but our feelings are not the focus of worship.
There are many biblical models for worship. We read of Isaiah’s moving experience of God’s presence in the Temple and wish we could duplicate that in our Sunday morning worship. In Psalm 95 we see a different response to God’s presence. While Isaiah’s response was very inward and private, the Psalmist is caught up in an uncontrollable explosion of praise. The Psalm does not assume that worshipful praise will take only one form. It can be lighthearted and hilarious and it can also be solemn and quiet. The Psalm begins with an invitation, “O Come let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” Believers are invited to praise and joyful thanksgiving because God is the Rock of our Salvation.” God is the strong One from whom our salvation comes and on whom our salvation rests. And we sing because God has saved us.
We make a joyful noise and offer songs of praise in response to God. Our praise is not necessarily the jumpy, giddy, loud kind, although it might be. But it might also be quiet, deep, and too powerful for human expression. I remember praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during one of my trips to the Holy Land. I had no sooner begun to pray than a great sense of joy and serenity welled up within me. I felt completely overwhelmed by the presence of God to the point that I could not think or move. The concerns I brought with me to the wall disappeared in the feeling. At that moment I could not form a complete thought or describe what I was experiencing even to myself. But I know that while I stood at the Wall I experienced praise, love, joy, and peace all wrapped into one. So our worship might be as formal as the doxology, as fresh and the newest praise hymn, or as quiet as a feeling too deep for words.
The Psalmist continues, “O come let us worship and bow down, let kneel before the Lord our Maker!” Worship is about recognizing and responding to the awesome power of God. In worship we see ourselves as small and weak in comparison to the huge, all powerful God, and sometimes the only reasonable response is to bow our heads and even bend our knees. In these moments our mood is reverent almost to the point of fear, and we might even feel amazed that God wants to be in a relationship with us. Yet we are called “the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.”
A well rounded worship service will enable us to express our praise of God with different voices. It will fill us with awe, humility and love. And it will put God’s desires above our wants and needs.
The Presbyterian Church exists to be the guardian of divine worship based on what scripture teaches us that God wants. God’s desires may not always excite or inspire me. This is true in worship and in other area of life as well. But as Presbyterians it is our mission to make sure that divine worship is practiced on God’s behalf and for the betterment of God’s people.
So let us sing to the Lord with joy and thanks. Let us offer songs of praise in a variety of voices, and sometimes with no voice at all. Let us kneel in utter humility before the God of Creation, and jump for joy in the presence of the God who saves us. This is what scripture teaches us that God desires and demands.
Copyright © 2007 by Dwight R. Blackstock
Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 95
It just seemed as if God was very near – nearer than God had been for a very long time. He stared into the burning embers of the campfire and listened as his friends sang, “Kum Bah Yah”. He couldn’t sing with them because at that moment he felt completely overwhelmed by God. He was beyond thoughts, and words, beyond any voluntary movement. All that he could do was stare into the fire and experience the moment. He sat there for a long time after the others had gone to bed and felt surrounded and filled by the presence of God.
One Sunday in church, something totally different, but equally moving happened to an older couple. They were life long church members and felt very comfortable with the familiar pace of the worship service – familiar friends, familiar hymns, familiar liturgy, even the familiar drone of the pastor’s voice that usually made them both a little groggy. But on this particular Sunday they were catapulted out of the familiar and into a whole different way of worship. Neither of them could identify when the change occurred. Maybe it was when the man let an uncharacteristic “Amen” slip out, or when his wife suddenly began to clap rhythmically during the anthem. But something changed for them that day, and they would never again be comfortable with the familiar.
Think for a moment about your own experience of a time when God seemed especially near. Maybe something happened when you were alone and like Isaiah you began to tremble in God’s presence. Maybe you were on a retreat with friends and somehow in that community, you felt that you knew God in a different way. It is important that we remember and identify these experiences because when we experience them with one another, in community, that is what the bible calls worship. And as Presbyterians we are here to make sure that the worship of God is maintained until Christ comes again. If suddenly everyone else in the world stops worshipping we will still be here worshiping God. It is who we are and what we do.
In recent years there has been a shift in the focus of worship so that it is no longer about what we think God desires or demands, but about what we need or desire. And music is one part of the worship service where our individual wants and desires are most clearly seen.
When I first started in ministry congregations argued about whether to sing gospel songs or, “The Great Hymns of the Church”. And sometimes the arguments became loud and bitter. One of my colleagues settled the argument in his church by hiding all of the gospel songbooks and then acting surprised that they were gone. Of course without the songbooks the church couldn’t sing the gospel songs.
I have never gone that far but I have been tempted. The question that the debate tried to answer is which style more clearly communicates our faith. Is our faith communicated better by songs like, “I Come to the Garden Alone” and “The Little Brown Church in the Vale” or in a hymn like, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”?
Thirty-five years later we are still involved in the same discussion, only now the battle centers on whether to sing the Great Hymns of the Church or “Praise Music”. Those who want to sing the Great Hymns of the Church often believe that the new Praise Songs are not worshipful. Those who love praise music often believe that if a song was written before 2004 it is too old. Faithful people on either side of the discussion argue that they get more out of one kind of music than the other. But you know what? Worship is not primarily about us. It is not about my feelings. It is about making an offering to God.
Worship is not about what I get out of it, but rather what I put in. Worship is about recognizing the wonders of God’s love and finding a genuine way to respond. It is about praise, confession and meditation, in a way that is pleasing to God. And if in trying to please God we also please ourselves, that’s great, but our feelings are not the focus of worship.
There are many biblical models for worship. We read of Isaiah’s moving experience of God’s presence in the Temple and wish we could duplicate that in our Sunday morning worship. In Psalm 95 we see a different response to God’s presence. While Isaiah’s response was very inward and private, the Psalmist is caught up in an uncontrollable explosion of praise. The Psalm does not assume that worshipful praise will take only one form. It can be lighthearted and hilarious and it can also be solemn and quiet. The Psalm begins with an invitation, “O Come let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” Believers are invited to praise and joyful thanksgiving because God is the Rock of our Salvation.” God is the strong One from whom our salvation comes and on whom our salvation rests. And we sing because God has saved us.
We make a joyful noise and offer songs of praise in response to God. Our praise is not necessarily the jumpy, giddy, loud kind, although it might be. But it might also be quiet, deep, and too powerful for human expression. I remember praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during one of my trips to the Holy Land. I had no sooner begun to pray than a great sense of joy and serenity welled up within me. I felt completely overwhelmed by the presence of God to the point that I could not think or move. The concerns I brought with me to the wall disappeared in the feeling. At that moment I could not form a complete thought or describe what I was experiencing even to myself. But I know that while I stood at the Wall I experienced praise, love, joy, and peace all wrapped into one. So our worship might be as formal as the doxology, as fresh and the newest praise hymn, or as quiet as a feeling too deep for words.
The Psalmist continues, “O come let us worship and bow down, let kneel before the Lord our Maker!” Worship is about recognizing and responding to the awesome power of God. In worship we see ourselves as small and weak in comparison to the huge, all powerful God, and sometimes the only reasonable response is to bow our heads and even bend our knees. In these moments our mood is reverent almost to the point of fear, and we might even feel amazed that God wants to be in a relationship with us. Yet we are called “the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.”
A well rounded worship service will enable us to express our praise of God with different voices. It will fill us with awe, humility and love. And it will put God’s desires above our wants and needs.
The Presbyterian Church exists to be the guardian of divine worship based on what scripture teaches us that God wants. God’s desires may not always excite or inspire me. This is true in worship and in other area of life as well. But as Presbyterians it is our mission to make sure that divine worship is practiced on God’s behalf and for the betterment of God’s people.
So let us sing to the Lord with joy and thanks. Let us offer songs of praise in a variety of voices, and sometimes with no voice at all. Let us kneel in utter humility before the God of Creation, and jump for joy in the presence of the God who saves us. This is what scripture teaches us that God desires and demands.
Copyright © 2007 by Dwight R. Blackstock
posted by Dwight Blackstock | 2:18 PM
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