Reno UMC Sermon: 10-18-09

October 18, 2009
Rev. Judith Bither

Passionate Worship

A little boy was looking at memorial plaques on the back wall of the church. He asked the pastor what these were for. The pastor answered that they were in memory of people who died in the service. The boy asked, “Which one? The 8:00 or the 10:00?”

We laugh because we know what that little boy was asking. The service he referred to was the worship service. It’s cute because we have all been to a “service” like that: deadly boring. I remind you, however, of the words at the conclusion of the worship part of our bulletin: When worship is over, the service begins! At least that is the hope and the promise of why we gather here in the first place. We are the gathered community on Sunday mornings and the scattered community during the week: we gather for worship and we scatter for service.

Bishop Robert Schnase insists that Passionate Worship is one of the Five Principles of Fruitful Congregations. In fact he writes, “Vibrant, fruitful, growing churches offer Passionate Worship that connects people to one another.

People…
Gather consciously as the Body of Christ with eagerness and expectancy;
Encounter Christ through singing, Scripture, preaching, (Sacraments);
And respond by allowing God’s Spirit to shape the lives.

Gather with eagerness and expectancy…encounter Christ by what we do here…respond in service. Bishop Schnase is very passionate about Passionate Worship! He is adamant that “We don’t attend worship to squeeze God into our lives; we seek to meld our lives into God’s. It’s a time to think less about ourselves and more about faith, less about our personal agenda and more about God’s will.” He is correct that “God uses worship to transform lives, heal wounded souls, renew hope, shape decisions, provoke change, correct self-interest, inspire compassion, and bind people to one another. Through worship, God pardons sins, restores relationships and changes lives.”

What is worship? It is the coming together of the people of God for praise and prayer, for hearing God’s word through scripture, song and sermon. Worship, in the context we are exploring it today, is corporate and communal. It is a gathering of the pieces of the whole. Personal devotions can add to our community worship by complementing and reinforcing it.

Passionate Worship is a public event in a sanctuary or another special place that has been set-aside for this purpose. “To worship speaks of devotion to God, the practices that support honor and love of God.”

As we’ve noticed with all the chapters in the Schnase books, he uses captivating adjectives for each principle: Radical Hospitality, but why Passionate Worship? “Without passion, worship becomes dry, boring, and predictable, keeping the form while lacking the spirit. Passionate describes the intense desire, an ardent spirit, strong feelings, and the sense of heightened importance. Passionate worship engages the intellect and the heart.”

How are we to go about achieving Passionate Worship?

Bishop Schnase puts the responsibility on the staff, volunteers and pew-sitters! It must be something that we are all engaged in together. “In spiritually passionate communities, there’s a palpable air of expectancy as people gather for worship. Musicians, ushers, greeters and other hosts arrive early, and with care and eagerness they prepare together encouraging one another.”

Where does the person in the pew fit in, you may be wondering? Aren’t you just to be observers? Or as some people sometimes call the congregation—the audience? I hope you will remember the answer from just a few weeks ago: No! God’s is the audience; we are all active in the great drama of worship! Bishop Schnase is very clear about the attitude of each one of us as we gather to worship: Many times we unconsciously enter worship in the evaluative posture of someone preparing a movie critique. We rate the sermon, the time for children, the prayers, the music according to some internal scale. ‘How was the service? Well, the sermon was too long, the organ too loud, the children too noisy, and the room too cold.’

Our attention turns to the imperfections, mispronunciations, missed cues, discordant sounds, personal discomforts, and the weaknesses of the leaders and flaws of fellow worshipers.

I know that I am as guilty of this kind of critique as anyone. Every Sunday afternoon my son calls me and asks, “How was worship this morning?” Reading Schnase book has me responding a little differently. This is what he offers as the alternative to the movie critic kind of worshiping: In a mind-set of expectancy, as opposed to one of searching for every human weakness, worshipers discover that God wants a relationship with them and seeks to say something through the time together. People are not at worship to observe and evaluate but to receive what God offers and to offer their best in response. “What is God saying to me in the scripture, even if it is read imperfectly; through the sermon even if the illustrations are weak; and through the unifying power of music even if the organist drags the pace a little? What does God say that we need to hear through the prayers, the litanies and the sacrament of Holy Communion? Am I allowing God’s Spirit to form me, change me, transform me through the experiences, or am I evaluating the quality of entertainment?

The rest of the chapter is filled with examples of how congregations have transformed their worship services by meeting as teams for prayer and study as they plan the services. One little United Methodist Church decided that in every thing they did to prepare for worship they would remember that they were doing it for the love of God! One member volunteered to bring fresh cut flowers from her garden every week to replace the old dusty plastic ones. This she would do for the love of God. Another volunteered to come early every Sunday to dust for the love of God. They asked the Trustees to make the sanctuary handicapped accessible for the love of God; and the pastor agreed to be less formal in his preaching style for the love of God.

As I read this chapter I thought of all the volunteers who get our sanctuary ready for Sunday mornings: (10:00 only): Erv and Ruth who come in every Monday to restock prayer cards and pencils; Barbara Trimmer who prints and folds the worship bulletins; Mary King who changes the paraments in the chancel and makes sure the candles are filled with oil; Zona Hairgrove who gets our acolytes ready; our children who serve as acolytes, lighting the candles; Jim and Jose who arrive at 7:00 AM to sweep the steps, pick up trash and start the coffee; Jeff Spalin who comes early every Sunday to turn on lights, get out the offering plates, and check in about special needs; Erv Horton and now Ron Applegate who prepare the sound system; choir members who come early to rehearse the music…as well as those who set up for classes before worship and fellowship afterward. I believe all are doing these tasks for the love of God in the spirit of preparing this place to worship God as a community of faith.

Robert Schnase has many wise words about the importance of a variety of styles of music in worship, of using movement and visuals, and in everything we do that we bring our best. He asks “What kind of attitude and eagerness do you bring with you to worship?”

As a United Methodist Bishop, he has the opportunity to worship with a different congregation almost every Sunday. He has an appreciation for the small church as well as the large, the informal service as well as the traditional. He encourages each congregation to be true to who we are in this place because we will each have our own style. He encourages churches that whenever possible, to offer more than one style of worship because individuals have various spiritual types.

Bishop Robert Schnase offers our churches a vision of a worshiping community that changes lives. I will end today with his words: People come to worship carrying many concerns. Some worry about a cousin serving in the military; others face financial struggles that tear at the fabric of family life. Some sense a disturbing lack of fulfillment in their careers, fear health challenges, or feel deeply affected by the immensity of a distant tragedy. Some face monumental decisions while others must constantly moderate intense conflict at home. Some are overwhelmed with gratitude, humbled by feelings of love and joy, or seeking discernment on how to channel their charitable impulses. Every congregation, large and small, is a tapestry of hope and hurt, a collage of experience and anticipation, a patchwork quilt of gifts, needs, fears, and aspirations. People come to connect to God and one another as well as to feel restored, reminded, remembered, refreshed. They wonder what God has to do with all that’s going on inside them and in the world around them. They want to know that having a relationship with Christ changes their lives. In their searching, God finds them, heals them, sustains them and forms them.

If you have a passion for passionate worship, please come to our leadership meeting Tuesday evening in the parlor where we will look honestly at our strengths and weaknesses, striving to meet the needs of those who come here. Or speak with me personally about being part of a worship team.

Whatever we do in this place, may it always and in every way be for the love of God! Amen

top of page