Reno UMC Sermon: 09-27-09

September 27, 2009
Rev. Judith Bither

The Power of Gathering

If there’s one thing we can say about the church, it’s that we like to gather: we gather

in worship,

for fellowship

for classes

in committees. We gather:

for potluck suppers

in mission

for prayer

and in song.

We do a lot of gathering! And there is real power in our gathering together in Christ’s name.

One of the unique aspects of the church is that we gather to worship corporately at least weekly. Lots of other groups gather for some of the other reasons we gather, but only religious groups gather in and for worship. Obviously there are many styles of worship from Pentecostal exuberance to Quaker silence, from a high-church mass to the causal praise service. Why do we do what we do, when we do it, as we gather on Sunday mornings in this place?

I made the dramatic decision to change the flow of worship at First Church on my very first Sunday as your pastor. That was startling for some of you and I have tried to listen to your concerns. I want to be sensitive to leaving alone the parts of worship that are important to you as a faith community. I was thrilled that you include a sung benediction response at the end of worship because I have introduced that at my last four churches! This morning I want to explain why we are now dividing the worship into three acts, like a play. This will be a short course on my theology of worship!

First, why do we gather weekly to worship? As we heard in Exodus, God set aside one day for us to stop working in order to worship God. We are to keep the Sabbath set apart and sacred. Secondly, Jesus told his followers that where two of three are gathered he is there in the midst of them.

Our service of worship is divided into three acts, the first being The People Gather in Worship. We begin with The Prelude, a musical selection usually played on our incredible pipe organ by our fine Cheryl Shingler. Cheryl is setting the tone for the service and the prelude begins our worship. It’s not background music, but the beginning of our gathering!

When the prelude concludes I come forward to welcome you and greet any visitors, ask you to register your attendance and to highlight our announcements for our life together. After this we pass the peace, which is an ancient Christian practice of greeting one another with the words, the peace of Christ be with you. This is not the time to catch up with friends or for extended conversation, but a time especially to let our visitors know that they are welcome here as a part of this Body of Christ. Time for visiting follows the service in the Fellowship Hall!

Then we center ourselves for worship. Sitting back down we center-in, as the Quakers say. There is a centering prayer or thought printed in the bulletin, again to set the mood or tone for worship. It often follows the theme for the day.

Although it’s not printed in the bulletin today, a Chorale Introit leads us into the Call to Worship. Andy Sonnemaker chooses either a lively choral piece or a quieter one, again setting the flavor for the morning. On occasion the Hand bells or another group will provide the Introit.

The next act of worship is The Call to Worship. This is a formal calling together of everyone to worship God in this sacred place. In the ancient Hebrew worship, the shofar, a curved ram’s horn was blown calling all to worship. Other religious traditions use a prayer bowl or a drum. We use words in a litany form to set ourselves from being separate people to become one people, or the Body of Christ here.

We then join in singing The Opening Hymn, which is always a hymn of praise. No matter what’s happening in our world or our personal lives, we begin by praising God. This church has begun worship with a hymn of praise every Sunday through two World Wars, a Great Depression, wars in Korea, Viet Nam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. And while we are singing our hymn of praise, the acolyte brings in the Light of Christ and lights the candles on the altar.

This ends the first act of worship and we move to the second act: Experiencing the Word of God. We don’t call this hearing the word of God because we try to engage all of our senses as we experience the holy in worship.

We most often begin this act with A Prayer of Confession. Although I sometimes hear that people don’t want a confession in worship because it’s depressing or negative, we include it because we prepare ourselves to experience God’s word by admitting that we are not yet perfect creatures as God has made us. We trip and fall and mess up over and over again. The good news part of this is that once we have admitted our mistakes we are forgiven and ready to begin a fresh start. This prepares us to hear God’s word in scripture, with the children and in the sermon fresh and new.

Our outstanding choir or another special musical group then offers their talents to God in order to enrich the worship experience for everyone. This is a not performance, but an offering of music to God. As someone so wisely put it, she who sings, prays twice.

I then invite the children to join me in the chancel, this front part of the sanctuary. We have this time with the children to let them know that they are special to us and an important part of the church family. We will soon be adding a special song as the children gather that reminds us of this. After a special message and prayer the children are invited to go to Enrichment time or join their families back in the pews.

Central to our worship is the reading and hearing of scripture. There are Bibles in the pews so you can read along with the liturgist. Once we begin the season of Advent, which starts the new liturgical year, I will return to using the lectionary for the scripture lesson. Whatever scripture is selected, the liturgist holds up the Bible and reminds us: This is the Word of Life! And the congregation responds: Thanks be to God.

Next comes the sermon, intentionally called Witness to the Word. Years ago the sermon was placed just before the benediction as the highlight or pinnacle of the service. The pastor was seen as the authority figure and not to be questioned, so had the final word. To emphasize the point, most pulpits were built high in the air so the preacher actually looked down on the congregation. You can still see there in formal gothic cathedrals.

Now the sermon is placed in the middle of worship so we have prayers and offerings as part of our response to God’s word in scripture and sermon.

As a United Methodist Church we have an open pulpit, which means each church is open to accepting a pastor of any race, age or either gender. We also call this an open pulpit because the congregation does not choose the pastor and you cannot fire me for something I preach from the pulpit. You can request the Bishop send someone else, but I am free to preach the gospel as I feel God is calling me to do.

Sermons take several forms:

They can be historical, such as the biography of William Taylor that you experienced last Sunday.

They can be informational or educational, such as the sermon today.

They can be inspirational, inspiring us to live better lives in the way of Christ.

They can be challenging, confronting our assumptions or lifestyles, afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted.

I always attempt to make them biblically based.

Notice that my email address is printed under the sermon and I really appreciate it when anyone takes the time to thoughtfully respond to a sermon.

Then we move into the third and final act of worship: Responding Faithfully. First, you are invited to reflect briefly on what you heard in scripture and the sermon. We stay seated for a prayer hymn and the ushers collect prayer cards from the congregation.

If it’s the first Sunday of the month, sharing in communion comes at this point. Next Sunday is World Communion and I will be preaching another educational sermon about the meaning of communion for United Methodists, so I will save that for next week.

In the Prayers of the People we have the opportunity to share our joys and concerns in prayer. Again this is an inter-active part where I pray aloud after each petition, God, to your love, and you respond, we trust this prayer. We end our prayers with the traditional Lord’s Prayer, which is believed to have been taught by Jesus. We must be careful not to rush through this powerful prayer by rote, but to think about each phrase.

Another way we respond to the Word of God in our lives is through Giving our Gifts in Offering. During this month we have begun with a Stewardship Moment. We don’t “take a collection” in worship, but “receive an offering”. This isn’t just semantics, but a theological reminder of why we give. Receiving the offering is both symbolic and practical. It’s symbolic because we cannot fully give back to God even a portion of what is given to us. It’s practical because our financial gifts are needed for the church to be staffed, maintained and to reach out in mission. The gifts are placed on the Table by the ushers in dedication to doing God’s work in the world. As they do this we all rise and sing The Doxology another hymn of praise to God. After the liturgist offers a prayer dedicating these gifts, we move to conclude the service with the Closing Hymn that sends us back into the world. The Acolyte takes the Light of Christ back out into the world at this point.

The Benediction is often a responsive one, sending us back into the word in service. We have gathered as the Body of Christ, now we are scattered back into the world, to return here again next week.

We are reminded this with the words: When worship is over, the service begins!

A final act of worship is our joining hands across the aisle, again a symbol of uniting us together as One People of God. Our benediction response reminds us of our mission from Micah 6:8. Then Cheryl puts a final cap on worship with a rousing Postlude that sends us into the Fellowship Hall for refreshment and conversation.

Our gathering in worship on Sunday mornings is a vital part of our being Christians. It’s part of our being faithful and part of our being trained. Worship is central to who we are. It sets us apart from the world and helps us to grow in our faith. Those who are faithful in worship are often stronger in their faith and better able to survive the crises that come in life. We gain support from one another and are better able to cope with the ups and downs through the week ahead.

The final point I want to make this morning is that each one of us is a participant in the drama of worship. Who then is the audience? God is always the audience when we gather for worship! We are the players in the great drama. In the name of Jesus we gather and then we scatter! Amen

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