Today I want to talk about Hot, Sizzling,
Traditional Worship. I want to share with you some thoughts about how to maximize the time that you spend here together on
a Sunday morning. You see last time I preached I suggested that worship is only a boring experience when we are not properly
prepared to enter into it! Somebody commented that they knew what worship was meant to be, but that it was our particular
way of doing worship that they had a problem with. So today I will take you on a guided tour through our traditional worship
service and add a few hints about how to make it a hot sizzling experience that connects your life with God.
I want to start where
I left off last week. So much is dependant on your attitude as you enter the building. Worship is not a movie. It’s
a time to come and lay your life on the altar and seek from God whatever God wants to give you. It’s something that
we should prayerfully prepare for as individuals before we come together as a community. It’s all about where our heart
is. Remember the Psalmists words, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His
courts with praise! Give thanks to Him, bless His name!”
So we enter the building.
We’ve got a bulletin in hand and we head for a seat. If we seriously want to be engaged, then head for the front. I know some of you don’t want to hear that because you’ve always sat at
the back and that’s where you intend to stay, but what I’m saying is what is true about any gathering. If you want to be fully engaged, the back pew is not the best place to do so.
By all means greet a few
folk, introduce yourself to somebody you don’t know. When you get to a pew take a look at that bulletin. Get a feel
for what’s going on. Take a look at the picture on the front (Sometimes it’s a whole little sermon all by itself’).
That first section is called “THE WELCOME,
SHARING AND INVITATION TO WORSHIP,” and it moves into a section titled “GOD’S
PEOPLE ARE GATHERED.”
The first act
of that gathering is the Prelude. I love the way the prelude begins the gathering
section because for me it truly is an opportunity to quiet our
spirit, to let the music flow over us and gather together our thoughts. As we
do so we can become an active participant by offering an unspoken prayer asking God to make this time of worship a happening.
The focus of the prelude isn’t the music, but God, to whom the music is being presented. Don’t think of this time
as a few minutes of the organ playing before we really start! It is your time to gather and focus.
Our Call to Worship is the first thing that we read together from the bulletin. It’s usually full of scriptural
imagery and hints at what the theme of the service is going to be. The prayer of the day likewise focuses our attention away
from us and towards God, and it leads us to our first chance to really participate with an attitude of gratitude… the
singing of the hymns.
You have to understand,
folks, that I come from a Welsh Presbyterian background, and one thing those Welsh Presbyterians absolutely loved was to sing
their hymns. So when I’m up here and I look around and see some folk don’t even pick up the books and follow the
words… let alone join in the singing… then… honestly… it grieves me. Because one of the things about
every hymn in our hymnbooks is that there’s a story behind it… somebody’s faith and life has been poured
into that hymn. When I see people not being part of that, I kind of feel like I’m walking along a beach, there’s
a beautiful sunset, the sea is rolling in, and the person next to me doesn’t even notice it.
Take as an example our
first hymn this morning - “Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty the King of Creation.” The hymn text is based on two
Psalms - Psalm 103:1-6 and Psalm 150. It was one of some 60 hymns written by Joachim Neander that were first published way
back in the early years of the Reformation, in 1680, the same year that he died of tuberculosis at the age of only 30 years.
As a young man in Bremen, he lived a rather unruly existence.
But in his later youth he came under the influence of a pastor called Theodore Under-Eyck of St. Martin's Church, which
led him to amend his ways and use his many gifts, not for selfish gain but for the glory of God.
During his short lifetime
a huge debate was going on as to what was appropriate music for congregational worship. Some suggested that only reading and
chanting were acceptable, but Joachim thought that all sorts of musical expression should be used to the glory of God. This
hymn was one of his contributions to that debate.
One of the ways he sought
to find inspiration was take long walks in the valley of the Dussel near Mettmann. Such was the honor he was eventually held
in, that they named the valley after him calling it ‘Neanderthal’. It was in this valley, named after the hymn
writer Joachim Neander, that in 1856 a skeleton of ancient human bones was discovered, which was of such vital importance
to anthropology, that ever since it has been known as ‘Homo neanderthalensis’ (or Neanderthal man).
As I say, behind every
hymn is a life. If you are on ‘Jeopardy’ and are asked what the connection is between the bones of a caveman and
the first hymn in the Red Presbyterian Hymnal, now you will know. Both reflect
the life of a talented hymn-writer called Joachim Neander, whose life was tragically cut short by Tuberculosis.
You need to know that
God is not Simon Cowell judging an American Idol show. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think you can sing. God’s
not listening for whether or not you can hold a tune. God’s trying to help you get your heart in tune. It doesn’t
matter if you don’t understand the words. Because as you keep singing them they soak into you and… kind of like
learning a new language… suddenly you get an understanding of what’s being said even though you can’t translate
it perfectly. And your life will be all the richer because of that.
Sometimes it may be a
tune we don’t know… and we get grumpy. “I didn’t know that hymn.” The Psalmist said “Sing unto the Lord a new song!” Every hymn in the book was once a new song.
I bet that the first time ‘Amazing Grace’ was sung there was a group of folk in the congregation shaking their
heads saying, “Oh we don’t like these new hymns. Why can’t we just stick to Gregorian chants every week?”
Singing a hymn can transport
us into the presence of God like nothing else. A hymn sung with understanding that comes from a heart that wants to worship
can absorb us… it can lift us… it can bring tears to our eyes and a real sense of the presence of God in our midst.
And as we come nearer to the presence of God it will not only lift us, but the Spirit will also convict us. That’s why
the next thing that comes along is a Time of Confession.
We confess in two ways,
corporately and silently. When we share in a corporate expression of our shortcomings, it may not be right where we feel we
have messed up big time in our own lives; so that’s why we also have a time for personal confession. It’s in that
quiet time that we need to personally say to God “Help! I’ve messed up again!”
Lord Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy
If our prayer has been
genuine, we will be itching to hear the words of the Assurance of Forgiveness.
“You are Free. You are Forgiven. Now go, and sin no more!” Go shake somebody by the hand and pray for them that
the peace of Christ will also be with them. That’s passing The Peace! It’s
not taking a few moments to say “Hello.” It’s a chance to minister
to one another out of our gratefulness that Christ has saved us. It’s a chance to say, “I’m not O.K., you’re
not O.K., but by the Grace of God it’s going to be all right.”
And so we join in a celebration
song: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Amen. Amen. This leads us to into the next section “GOD’S WORD IS PROCLAIMED AND HEARD.
God’s Word is proclaimed in a number of different ways. The choir
or soloists declare the Word of God to us through music, the Anthem. Please remember that those who do so are not giving
a concert or a performance for our benefit. They are proclaiming the Word. They are ministering to us. We have a message to the children in Children’s Time. Am I the only one here who sometimes
feels they get more out of the children’s message than out of the sermon? That’s God’s way of keeping us
aware that we need faith like that of a little child.
Sometimes in this section we will also have a “Minute for Mission.”
It can be tough to present everything you want to say about a particular project that’s very dear to your heart in 60
seconds, so don’t be surprised if minutes sometimes turn out longer than 60 seconds. Rather listen to what God is doing
in a particular project and ask God if you are meant to be a part of it.
When the Scripture Reading is being read, I find it helpful to follow along in the pew Bible. If I have the
words in front of me it keeps me on track. The sermon is usually based on what is being read, so unless you are one of those
people whose brain takes something in and stores it, you are limiting the amount that you’ll get from the reading by
not engaging your eyes as well as your ears.
That little prayer before the Bible reading, the Prayer of Illumination…that’s important, too. In recent weeks we’ve been invited to say it together, because it really does
help focus on what we are about to hear.
Then of course, the Sermon. You know what I do when I listen to sermons? I take notes. And I take notes not
because I want to go back and hear the sermon a second time and a third time, but because I want to catch it the first time
around! I have the attention span of a gnat. BZZZZZ. My brain’s flitting about all over the room. It only takes one
word that gets my attention…and BZZZZ…my head’s off on a different track than the preacher’s. So I write it down. And if I, your preacher,
have to do that, then you have no need to feel embarrassed about doing the same.
In fact, if you want your preachers to be better preachers, then show them some sign that you are interested in what
they are offering. I don’t care if it’s a sermon or a talk at the local gardening club about how to germinate
your geraniums. You can guarantee that if a speaker is faced with a bunch of
nodding heads and glazed eyes, you are not going to get from them the kind of presentation they would give you if they thought
that germinating your geraniums was, for you, a matter of life and death.
You see…again…worship is not a show…it’s not a performance. A truly worshipping congregation
can make a brilliant sermon out of a well below average preacher. I’ve
experienced that many times! Likewise, a congregation whose heart and mind is not engaged can send the greatest preacher in
the world home feeling like a total wash out. We are in this together.
And so we move into a third section: GOD’S
PEOPLE RESPOND TO THE WORD
Our first act, the Affirmation of Faith, is to affirm our faith through one of the church’s creeds. It doesn’t matter
if you can’t get your mind around every statement. Creeds are kind of like “Cliff’s notes…on Cliff’s
notes…on Cliff’s notes…on Cliff’s notes…on what Christians believe.” They took centuries
to compose and came out of times of great striving, soul seeking, and theological arguments that we are not involved in. The
emphasis is on “I believe…” Even if you can’t quite fathom every other statement, you can at least
offer those words from the heart!
Having reminded ourselves that “I believe,” we move to our prayers – the Prayers of the People
and the Lord’s Prayer. Because we all have different things on our hearts, I personally never worry if folks’
minds wander during the prayer time. I always feel that the spoken prayer is like holding up billboards that are prompts for
the individual to launch from. And we all get back together to pray as the Lord has taught us when we say the Lord’s
Prayer.
The Offertory is the Presbyterian equivalent of the Altar Call. It is our time to lay our life on the altar
and say to God, “Here I am Lord. I dedicate my life to You.” The tithes and offerings that accompany it are a
sign that we are serious about this! As somebody has said, “When the offering comes around, give like you and God mean
something.”
Some weeks we gather around the Font or Table.
I’ll say more of that another time.
Having given our lives and sung God’s Praises
our service concludes in a short section titled “GOD’S PEOPLE ARE SENT INTO THE WORLD.” This Charge and Benediction reminds us of what we are committed
to do and be. I know of at least one person, who every week after he leaves here, cuts it out of the bulletin and sticks it
on the refrigerator as a reminder of what he had said. So take your bulletins
home. That way you’ll also have the most up to date calendar!
We are dismissed with music by the choir and
organist. Take your leave bearing in mind that some folk will be listening to the Postlude
and reflecting on the time of worship they have been a part of.
Whatever style of worship we are part of, be
it traditional or contemporary, be it contemplative or celebratory, the most important thing is our heart’s attitude. Romans 12:1 - “I appeal to you
therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God; this is your spiritual worship.”
Prepare our
hearts before we arrive, and then lay our life on the altar…
and our worship
will always be a hot and sizzling happening
to the glory
of God. Amen!
