Posts Tagged with worship

WOW!

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Text: Isaiah 6:1-8;  Psalm 29

A few weeks ago, I was able to make a trip to Hawaii with my family.

Twenty three of us… aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids, siblings, parents, nieces, and nephews… in paradise.

One of the things that I am always on the lookout for in Hawaii are rainbows.

The mountains in the center capture the clouds as they move over the island, bringing light sprinkles nearly every day.

But water and sunlight means rainbows.

Nearly every day! 

The first day went by… and I didn’t see one.

The second day went by, and my dad asked if I had caught the double rainbow over the ocean that morning.  Nope.

Did I see the one the next afternoon?

*sigh* I hadn’t.

A WEEK went by and I hadn’t seen a rainbow.

But I also realized something else.

While I had been looking… I hadn’t really been paying attention.

I was still getting into vacation mode.

Still carefully putting away all of my plans and thoughts and to-do lists from ministry both here and at the conference center. 

That second day of vacation, after all, we had a special session of annual conference that I joined virtually so that we could say goodbye to 83 churches as they left the United Methodist Church.

I had been in paradise.  But I wasn’t present. 

In an interview, Anne Lamott talked about prayer as getting outside of ourselves and paying attention:

Prayer is not about saying, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to pray now.’ Or, ‘Oh, I see I’ve made a notation here to pray at 2:15.’ It’s about getting outside of your own self and hooking into something greater than that very, very limited part of our experience here…

It’s sort of like blinking your eyes open. … It’s sort of like … when Dorothy lands in Oz and the movie goes from black and white to color, and it’s like having a new pair of glasses, and you say, ‘Wow!’

I started focusing on being more present to what was happening all around me.

Savoring every moment and bite of food and laugh of the kids.

And one afternoon, on a walk with my niblings, it happened. 

a blue sky in the foreground with clouds in the background and a rainbow between palm trees and a building

I turned around and saw a rainbow.

Wow.

The artist Michael Lipsey says that “if you’re not amazed most of the time you aren’t paying attention.” 

Because the truth is, you don’t have to go to Hawaii to catch a rainbow or a spectacular sunset or a glorious flower bursting forth.

We have the opportunity to get outside of our own selves and hook into something greater every single day.

It is the touch of your partner’s hand.

Or the way the sunlight filters through the leaves.

It is the frosting covered face of our children.

Or the swell of the organ in a hymn. 

Wow. 

The other day, I came into this sanctuary all by myself and sat on these steps.

And I was overwhelmed by it all.

Nine years of memories flooded my soul…

From the nervous excitement of that first Sunday and hearing your gasps as I threw seeds all over the church…

Playing and building with scaffolding and bricks during a stewardship drive…

The babies I baptized… and the grown-ups, too! 

The little ones who are now taller than I am…

Playing bass…

Singing with the choir…

The many, many goodbyes as we celebrated the promise of resurrection…

The meals we shared…

The singing and music and laughter…

We don’t always take the time to appreciate and celebrate each of those moments when they happen, but…

WOW.

I was all alone that morning… but not really. 

Because I was connected to something bigger than myself.

And friends… I know that this is a big morning with lots of emotions that just fill this space.

As Missy and I talked about it… we might have to do some liturgical weeping today…

But I also want and need you to know that this room…

this sanctuary…

this world is always filled with wonder and power and awesome things…

If we are willing to pay attention. 

In our scripture from Isaiah this morning, he sees the Lord sitting on a throne, with the hem of God’s robe filling the temple.

And you know what, I can imagine that Isaiah’s day actually started off pretty normal.

He might have gone to the temple that morning for prayer. 

Or maybe he was bringing an offering. 

But something happened to him in that space. 

He hooked into something greater than himself. 

He could see beyond the veil of his own limited experience of reality to catch a glimpse of the divine. 

And God’s glory filled the room.

Seraphs… angels… flew around crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”

“The whole earth is full of his glory!”

Everything around him shook and Isaiah falls to is knees…

Woe is me!

Woah!

WOW!

(it might all be the same prayer…)

The Psalmist is moved in the same way, hooking into the power of God in all of the earth

 as they listen to the rolling thunder,

or the roar of the ocean,

or the creaking trees of the forest…

they see the mountains tremble and the fire of God flash forth…

As the Message translation puts it:

            Bravo, God, Bravo!

            Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”

            In awe before the glory,

            In awe before God’s visible power.

            Stand at attention!

            Dress your best to honor him!

…We fall to our knees – we cry out, “Glory!”  

And friends… I have to wonder how often we, too, might cry out in wonder and awe at God’s glory…

If only WE were paying attention?

Anne Lamott writes that “astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time.  Let it be. Unto us, so much is given.  We just have to be open for business.”

Next week, you will welcome a new pastor.

As part of that time, you will also hear from a guest, Josh Smouse, who is bringing to this church a word and some encouragement and direction from the CAT survey that you all took.

But before you dive into some of those ways that the church can continue to grow and thrive, I want to invite you to take a step back and ask a different kind of question:

Am I paying attention?

Am I spiritually “open for business”?

Have I been willing to allow myself to get hooked into something greater than myself?

A colleague posted on facebook this week a word about how we can change our experience of worship… and I want to share a few of their thoughts with you 

  • Pray before you get there.  Friends, you don’t have to raise your hands, but how many of you prayed before you came to worship this morning?  How many of you asked God to speak to you during this time?  What might be different if you opened yourself up to encounter God before you ever walked into this room?
  • Listen to worship music on the way.  What are some songs that speak to you?  What helps you to connect with God not just in your head, but in your soul?  How might that change what you are able to see and hear in this space?
  • Sing loudly and focus on God.  John Wesley talks about this in his directions for singing! … sing lustily and with good courage!  Have an eye to God in every word you sing.  Aim more at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature.  And to do this, he encourages people to attend strictly to the sense of what you are singing… what are the words?  What do they ask of you?  What are they inviting you to pay attention to?
  • Don’t run late.  We are all going to be late at some point… but the truth is that when we arrive harried and discombobulated, it is going to be harder to let go of those distractions.  Try to arrive and give yourself enough time to center and truly be present in this space.  After all, you don’t have a week to get present so you can see the rainbows!
  • Expect God to move. Oh friends… do you actually expect God to show up in worship? Are you ready for God to speak? Do you want to see the hem of God’s robe filling this space and God’s glory over all the earth? 

While trying to do a few of these things might truly change your experience of worship… they aren’t just about what happens in this room.

Because there are amazing, incredible things happening all throughout the ministries of this church…

Our little free pantry gets emptied nearly every day… and people show up to fill it again and again and again… WOW.

Our Immanuel Gospel Fellowship community continues to grow and their worship is so full of life and sound and chaos and joy… and you can come and experience it any Sunday at noon… and I encourage you to do so! You truly will cry out… WOW. 

People are going through really hard times in their lives… but you keep showing up with food and prayers and encouragement… you are present with one another… WOW. 

As she describes that third essential prayer, WOW, Anne Lamott writes:

Love falls to the earth, rises from the ground, pools around the afflicted.  Love pulls people back to their feet.  Bodies and souls are fed. Bones and lives heal. New blades of grass grow from charred soil.  The sun rises.

And it is happening everywhere, all around us,  every moment of the day.

This whole earth is full of God’s glory.

It is not just the miracle of the rainbow… but also the loving embrace of a church for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.   

It is not just the beauty of a sunset… but also the glorious diversity of our colors and cultures.

It is not just the rumble of thunder in the mountains… but also the roar of laughter as family and friends from many generations play together.

And if we prayerfully connect with God… open our spirits… pay attention to what is happening… I promise, you will be amazed by what you see.

I also know that there is a fine line between being amazed and being terrified.

In Isaiah, we discover there isn’t much distance between WOW! … and Woah! … and Woe is me!

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by just how great of a struggle we face…

Or how far we have to go…

Or by how much has been lost…

There is so much hate in this world.

So much violence.

So much destruction.

Sometimes the problems of the world make us say, WOW – how could that possibly be?

There are so many people who are unwilling to get outside of their own selves and their own limited experiences to hook into something greater. 

Yet even those poetic words of the psalmist, David… you know, the ones that recall the violent destructive power of nature… earthquakes, floods, raging fires…

They also name that above anything that has the power to destroy… is God.

The one who gives strength.

The one who touches our lips with grace and mercy.

The one who brings peace.

The one who has the power to heal… and forgive… and change… and transform… and create… and renew…

The one who calls…

The one who sends every day, ordinary people into the world…

So that we can pay attention…

Pay attention to the hurt, and the joy, and the love, and the struggle…

And with arms and hearts and lives wide open, can say, “Here I am, Send me.”  

Soul Reset

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Text: Luke 3:21-23

This July, I walked back into my gym for the first time in more than two years.

When everything shut down in March of 2020, I tried to do the online workouts for a bit.

When the gym reopened, I wasn’t ready to go back and sweat and breathe with large groups of people in a small space. 

I tried to make my own plan and we bought a weight bench and put it in the basement.

But I never really got back into the swing of doing things on my own.

I definitely wasn’t paying attention to other areas of physical health like what I was eating.

And you know what… my body felt it.

I started going to the chiropractor and physical therapist because of aches in my shoulders and back.

I had less energy and I was drinking a whole lot more coffee to get through the day.    

And I realized that I was treating symptoms instead of going back and looking at the cause.

I had stopped taking care of my body and I no longer had a group to be accountable to.  

So, in July of this year, I signed back up for classes and I’ve gone at least four times a week for the last two and a half months.

My family has been more conscientious about eating healthier food. 

I pushed the reset button.

And I’m starting to feel better. 

How many of you can relate to some part of that story?

To falling away from a practice that was working for you?

To trying to solve the problem by focusing on symptoms instead of causes?

To finally pushing the rest button and starting again? 

You know, I just shared that experience about my physical health… but I could just as easily have told the exact same story about my spiritual health. 

The other day, I was sitting in my office,

juggling an email from someone who needed rental assistance,

preparing for a meeting about episcopal elections,

trying to figure out what prayer to add into the worship service,  

when my smart watch buzzed at me.

It said, “Your stress level seems high.  You should take a breathing break.” 

Oh. 

Thanks. 

I looked up from the keyboard and my star word from Epiphany is taped to the wall.

“Contemplation” it reads. 

Contemplation in the Christian faith is a form of prayer or meditation where we sit still in order to experience the divine. 

Next to my desk is a pack of these little 20 minute candles.

Each is designed to burn for just 20 minutes so that you can take a short break to unplug, pray, and renew. 

They were a gift from a dear friend and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. 

But here I was, sitting at my desk, swamped with important ministry tasks, with a thousand signs all screaming at me saying the same thing.

Maybe you need to stop and be still with God for a minute. 

Maybe you need to stop rushing around to fix all the problems and recenter yourself. 

Maybe you need to recharge your spiritual battery.

Maybe you need to remember who God made you to be. 

Maybe you need to push the reset button in your spiritual life.

Just as I could tell you about the symptoms I was trying to treat with my physical health, I can tell you about some of the symptoms of an unhealthy spiritual life:

  • Reacting out of our emotions – like lasting out in anger… or ignoring them all together.
  • Pretending like we don’t have flaws and we haven’t made mistakes. 
  • Dividing our lives into “secular” and “sacred” compartments
  • Getting busy doing FOR God instead of being WITH God. 

Do any of the items on that list resonate with you? 

Maybe we all need to push that reset button.

Maybe we all need to stop focusing on the symptoms like stress and busyness and instead start taking care of our spirit. 

And the good news we hear from the book of Lamentations that God’s mercy and grace are new every morning.

We may not have been consistent… but God is faithful.

God keeps showing up. 

So whenever we are ready to push that reset button… there God is waiting for us. 

Where do we start?   

You know, one of the things that I have heard from several people is that they stepped away from church for a time during the pandemic and realized that they weren’t missing a lot. 

It had simply become one more thing to do, in the long list of things that keep us busy.

If anything, the pandemic has been a time to refocus on what is really essential in our lives… and maybe Sunday morning worship just didn’t seem so essential anymore.

I think part of that is because of how we have gone about worship. 

We have treated it like another item on our to-do list rather than an opportunity to be in God’s presence. 

We have isolated our spiritual life to an hour or two on Sunday morning and then forgot about it the rest of the week. 

We showed up in our Sunday best and didn’t give ourselves… or others… space to be vulnerable and real about what is happening in our lives – the good and the bad. 

In some ways, we’ve been playing right into those symptoms of spiritual unhealth.

Peter Scazzero calls this “using God to run from God.” (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality)

But you know what… one of the things that we have remembered and tried to embrace during this pandemic is that God is not contained solely within the four walls of this building.

God goes with us wherever we are. 

United Methodist pastor and consultant, Rebekah Simon-Peter recently researched what happened to churches during the bubonic plague – which lasted for several centuries in Europe. 

One of the positive things she discovered was a growth in lay-led spiritual movements.

The church of the time had been consumed by power and wealth, influence and politics. 

But when the plague stopped everything in its tracks, she noted that people were hungry for a relationship with God, for relationships with each other, and found new ways to reach beyond the walls of the church. 

The Black Death forced a kind of reset.

Covid-19 has, too. 

I think that’s part of the reason that John the Baptist went out and set up camp at the Jordan River.

He knew that people were going through the motions of their faith.

They were focused on checking the boxes and doing what they were supposed to do… and not on focused on their relationship with God.

But once he started issuing that invitation… “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!”… people started flocking from all over the place.

People really and truly were hungry for that experience of God.

They… we… are yearning for a chance to let go of our pasts…

To be made new…

To connect with something larger than ourselves…

John reminded them that this experience of baptism and washing yourself clean was only the beginning…

It couldn’t be compartmentalized but needed to become a part of their everyday experience. 

It needed to change the way they lived and interacted with others. 

He knew that all by ourselves we don’t have what it takes, but that with God’s help…

Well, with God anything is possible. 

One day, as all of those people stepped into the waters to be baptized, Jesus stepped into the water, too. 

The skies broke open.

The Holy Spirit descended.

And God spoke:  You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

But as Debie Thomas wrote, “In receiving baptism, Jesus doesn’t set himself apart from us; he aligns himself with us.”

What that means is that we are invited into an experience of God with Jesus. 

And, “to embrace Christ’s baptism story is to embrace the core truth that we are united, interdependent, connected, one.  It is to sit with the staggering reality that we are deeply, deeply loved.” 

I have been doing some soul searching these last few months about what it is that we do in worship. 

If we are just going through the motions, there really is no point. 

God doesn’t want or need our busyness.

And God doesn’t want to be relegated to just an hour of our lives. 

What if we pushed the reset button on what we do in worship?

How can we instead experience in this time that core truth that we are “united, interdependent, connected, one”? 

What would it mean for worship to help us “sit with the staggering reality that we are deeply, deeply loved”? 

I remember the day my youngest brother, Darren, was baptized.
Because they moved churches, he ended up as a junior in a confirmation class filled with sixth graders. 

He was a foot and a half taller than the other students, and while he looked slightly out of place, those young kids looked up to him and they grew to be great friends.

And as he knelt to be baptized on confirmation Sunday, the pastor invited friends and family to come up and lay on hands… just like we do here. 

Every single one of his classmates came and stood around us and reached out their hands, too. 

Darren’s baptism was not just something to check off or going through the motions.  

It was an experience of grace.

It was an experience of connection. 

It was an experience of the reality that we are deeply, deeply loved.      

I think part of pushing the reset button is coming into our time of worship EXPECTING to EXPERIENCE a connection with God and one another that affirms that we are loved.   

I think it is creating space for us to be still and simply be in God’s presence so that we might hear and know that we are beloved. 

And it is about being in a community of people who will not only affirm that love, but give us the opportunity to connect and share that love with others.

And my hope filled prayer is that what we experience here, with God’s help, will empower us live out that love in our everyday lives.

So we experience in worship a baptism…. And then in our daily life whenever you touch water… whether you are washing the dishes or stepping into the shower… let that water wash over you and remind you that YOU are a beloved child of God.

We experience in worship stillness and prayer… and we can find a quiet moment in each day to sit in God’s presence and simply be still. 

We pray and confess in worship, and it helps us remember as we work and study and care for our family that your worth in God’s eyes does not depend on what you have done… but you are loved simply because God has declared it so. 

We greet people with the love and peace of Christ… and as you go about your day and encounter other people, think of them first as a beloved child of God… see how it changes your interaction with them. 

You see, that’s what our acts of praise and words of confession and moments of fellowship in worship are all about.

They are moments to encounter the holy, yes.

But they also train us to see others… to see ourselves… through God’s eyes for the rest of the week as well. 

And YOU my friend… no matter what the world says or what kinds of labels it throws at you…

YOU are a beloved child of God. 

UMC 101: The Mission of the Church

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Text: Isaiah 6:1-8

I think one of the greatest failures of the church today is that we put God into a very small box.

Jesus is our friend and companion.

The Holy Spirit holds our hand and brings us comfort in tough times.

The Father tenderly calls us to do the right thing.

These are all images that are safe and simple and focused on ourselves.

Not only are they woefully inadequate for encountering a world full of problems that are too big to tackle alone, but they can’t begin to capture the fullness of a God who is truly other… truly holy. 

The prophet Isaiah begins to have visions.

Over and over he sees images of the failings of his nation and the bloodshed and oppression his own people have caused by relying on their own might to solve the problems they faced.

And then Isaiah has a vision of God.

A holy, living, powerful God.

Not a safe and gentle friend, but a vision of the Lord upon a throne.

God’s presence is so great and beyond comprehension that just the hem of God’s robe fills the temple.

And there are winged creatures, seraphim, flying around shouting at one another:

“Holy! Holy! Holy! Is the Lord of Heavenly Forces!  All the earth is filled with God’s glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

As the room shakes and fills with smoke, Isaiah isn’t comforted and he doesn’t feel safe and secure… he is afraid for his very life.

“Mourn for me; I’m ruined” he cries out. 

He sees just how unholy he is compared to God.

He sees just how unworthy his neighbors and his nation are.

And he knows that this wholly other and almighty God sees it all too. 

But then this God does something unexpected.

God’s holiness draws close.

A glowing coal touches Isaiah’s lips and his sin and his guilt are gone. 

But this isn’t just about Isaiah. 

It isn’t just about one person encountering the holiness of God, repenting of their sin, and being forgiven.

The way some of our churches live out this story today, Isaiah would have gone home from this incredible experience, assured of his salvation, stay loosely connected with his faith community, and hold on to this memory when things were tough.

That’s how we too often treat faith, isn’t it?

But that isn’t the end of this story.

The voice of God thunders throughout that space asking… “Whom shall I send?  Who will go?”

How will this world be transformed from a place of sin and death?

Who will call people to repentance and carry the message of love and forgiveness?

And forever transformed by his encounter with the holiness of God, Isaiah realizes he has a job to do. 

It will be hard and messy and frustrating and full of joy and power and love.

But he takes up the call and allows God to send him back into the world to transform it.

You know, if I were to sum up the core of the gospel message that Jesus proclaims it just might be: God loves you, God forgives you, and God has a job for you. 

Every day, in a thousand different ways, God is inviting us to participate in the reign of God’s kingdom. 

God is asking, whom shall I send into this world to fulfill my reign and realm in this world? 

And the church has stepped up to say, “Send us!”

Our Book of Discipline lays out for us our purpose:

“The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by proclaiming the good news of God’s grace and by exemplifying Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor, thus seeking the fulfillment of God’s reign and realm in the world.” (p. 93)

The text goes on to say that “whenever United Methodism has had a clear sense of mission, God has used our Church to save persons, heal relationships, transform social structures, and spread scriptural holiness, thereby changing the world.  In order to be truly alive, we embrace Jesus’ mandate to love God and to love our neighbor and to make disciples of all peoples.” (p.94)

I just love that phrase… in order to truly be alive…

You see, we believe that when we encounter the holy, awesome, expansive, presence of God it changes us. 

It transforms us from those who are dead in our sin into those who are alive in the Spirit.

It empowers and emboldens us to head out into the world not as ordinary people, but as servants of Christ. 

In order for the church to be alive it needs to be actively engaged in this work as well. 

What does this look like, practically speaking?

Well, we good old “methodical” United Methodists are pretty clear about the process for carrying out this mission and making disciples.  And we hold one another accountable to this process by tracking and monitoring how well we do each year:

First, we need to proclaim the gospel!  And this isn’t just about my sermons on Sunday mornings.  It is about how all of us share the good news of Jesus in our daily lives.

It is about how we show the world that we love God and love our neighbors.  Or as the Book of Discipline puts it, “the visible church of Christ as a faithful community of persons affirms the worth of all humanity and the value of interrelationship in all of God’s creation.”  (¶124, p. 94)

We connect people to one another, we connect issues to our faith, and we connect all of it to God. 

Each year in our statistical reports, we take note of how well we are doing in this area by reporting our church demographics and who we are reaching. 

It probably isn’t much of a surprise to you, but the professing membership of our congregation is predominantly white and just over 60% female. 

About 30% of our participants in Christian formation groups are children or youth and just 3% of our participants are between the ages of 19-30. 

These kinds of statistics challenge our local church to think about how we might reach out to younger and more diverse people by building new relationships in our daily lives. 

Second, we help our neighbors experience God’s grace as they repent and turn to faith in Jesus. Just as Isaiah confronted his own sin and received forgiveness, we proclaim a need for transformation in hearts and lives. One ofthe primary ways we do this is by sharing the message of God with people in our times of worship. 

We talk about the sins and concerns of this world and God’s intentions for all the earth, we hear about the grace of God, and we give people the opportunity to respond. 

And so every year, we keep track of how many people are worshipping with our faith community, and how many baptisms, professions of faith, and new members our church has witnessed.

In 2020, before the pandemic, our church had an average worship attendance of about 160. What has been amazing is that even throughout this difficult time, we have grown the number of people who worship with us each week.  When you combine our in-person and online attendance, we have been reaching, on average, just over 180 people every Sunday! 

In this past year, we welcomed five new people to our faith community, baptized two little ones, and are supporting twelve students as they go through the confirmation process. 

The third thing that we believe the church does as we make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world is help people to grow in their own Christian life.  This happens in worship, for sure, but also in small groups, conversations, leadership opportunities, and the various places we share our gifts with one another and the world. 

One of the biggest ways that we can see that our church is alive and continues to thrive is that even as we suspended some of our opportunities, we adapted and created new ways to grow. 

We have studied scripture on Zoom, included younger folks in our brass group, brought in new leaders for Sunday school, continued to include those who moved away in online opportunities, and expanded teams to support and encourage our elders, our teachers, and our college students.

When you add up all of the individuals who have participated in some kind of ministry opportunity in this last year, 229 people have been nurtured in their faith through this church. 

Fourth, we give people opportunities to say, “Here I am, send me!” As the Book of Discipline puts it,  we “send persons into the world to live lovingly and justly as servants of Christ by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, freeing the oppressed, being and becoming and compassionate, caring presence, and working to develop social structures that are consistent with the gospel.” (¶122, p. 94)

Our call is to put faith and love into practice in real and tangible ways that make a difference for our neighbors and transform this world more into God’s realm each day. 

As a church, we keep track of the number of folks who serve in mission and community ministries that our church sponsors… from Joppa, to Hawthorne Hill, to CFUM meals, to Trunk or Treat, and more.  131 members of this church actively engaged in this work… and we know so many of you are engaged beyond this church too in service and work of advocacy and justice. 

Together, we try to not only see, but respond to the hungers that people experience in their lives… not just for food, but for safety, for healing, and for relationship. 

And we do all these things not just once… but over and over again.  In our work of putting faith and love into action, our witness continues to make disciples who will transform the world.

You know, I have to be honest. 

In this season where the world is talking about the “Great Resignation” and the stretch and strain so many people are feeling, it is hard to get excited about recommitting and increasing our engagement with the church of Jesus. 

Not only are we busy, but we are tired.  And for all sorts of legitimate reasons. 

One of the reasons we put God into that small little box is because we aren’t sure that we really can take on one more responsibility. 

It seems easier to hold God at arms length… to focus only on the small differences God makes in your daily life… instead of worrying about anyone else.

But friends, the holy and awesome and terrifying power and presence of God is here! 

The whole earth is full of God’s glory!

“Woe is me!” Isaiah cried out. 

He was ready to die, give up, give in…

And the holy power of God gave him the ability to say, “Here I am… send me.” 

And our church believes that in order to truly be alive… to be energized and empowered… then we have to let that burning coal of God’s love and mercy and grace touch our hearts.

We have to “embrace Jesus’ mandate to love God and to love our neighbor and to make disciples of all peoples.” (p. 94)

Take a moment to rest and rejuvenate your spirit…

But also know that the Holy Spirit is ready to set your heart and your life on fire.

And friends… the good news is that we don’t have to do this work alone. 

Each one of us within this Body of Christ called Immanuel has a unique gift and role to play… whether it is praying, or leading, or giving of your resources, or doing the hands on tasks of ministry. 

Here at Immanuel, we embrace this vision of discipleship.  We believe that we follow Jesus as we connect with one another… as we worship and repent and confess our faith… as we grow in community… and as we go together to the world. 

All of us, together, with God’s help… can not only be disciples… but make disciples… and transform this world. 

Nuts and Bolts

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Text: 1 Corinthians 16:15-21

The first thing I want to say is a thank you to Maggie who read our scripture this morning. She had a really boring passage of scripture with a lot of hard names that we almost NEVER read.
And she did an awesome job.

You know, we almost never read the last chapter of 1st Corinthians.
The rest of the letter helps to encourage and teach and equip the community, but this is just like the p.s. at the end.
Paul shares his travel plans and tells them who else is along for the journey and gives greetings from other house church communities.
As my colleague, Carol Ferguson notes, he never explains what a house church is, because he doesn’t need to.
Worshipping together at home like we are now isn’t new… it was exactly how those early communities gathered to worship God and grow and live out their faith.

Last week, we were first introduced to this idea in the book of Acts, chapter two.
Those very first Pentecost Christians were devoted to a day by day faith.
They met in the temple and learned from the apostles.
They shared meals in homes.
They prayed.
And they shared their resources with one another.

As the story of this community continues in Acts, we see that these Jewish followers of Jesus initially saw being in the temple and gathering in homes as equally important.
But before too long, those shared meals where they broke bread in homes began to change them.
As Ferguson writes:

…they developed an identity too distinct from that of their Jewish neighbors. Eventually, worshipping in the temple didn’t make sense anymore – whether they came to that conclusion naturally or gradually, or whether they were forced out for their new ideas.

These house/churches were exemplified by three qualities that allowed them to thrive.

First, they embodied a spirit of hospitality.
You had leaders and teachers like Paul and Timothy and Apollos who were focused on sharing the good news of Jesus with the world.
But they didn’t have the time to build a sanctuary and leadership in every new place. They would have spread themselves far too thin.
Instead, early converts and wealthier Christians found ways to support the movement by providing spaces for these traveling evangelists.
When someone like Timothy would come into town, that house/church would be the home base for the movement. And when the apostles left, the leader of that household would maintain the community and help it to grow.
The devotion and sharing spirit of the house/church made sure that all in the community were cared for and their needs were met and they had a place to gather and break bread.
In some ways, this is kind of how our circuit ministry in the Methodist church of America operated. The traveling preacher went from location to location, but the local community kept the church alive between visits.
Today, I think about how it isn’t physically possible for me to come and be with all of you where you are. There aren’t enough hours in the day.
But because we are able to bring worship to you in your homes, we have created the ability for the good news of God to be shared in far more places than we would have thought possible.
And some of you have shown that hospitality and opened your homes to a friend to come and worship with you.
Or you have shared our service with others, creating space for their needs to be met in the midst of this difficult time.

Second, they were safe places for people to practice their faith.
We read about persecution in many of these communities throughout the book of Acts… including from by would-be apostle, Paul.
While he was still Saul, Acts 8 tells us about how he began to destroy the church, breathing murderous threats and dragging off people to prison.
One of the strategies was to go underground and hide your community. If you were worshipping at home, how can they tell what was a communion table and what was a dining room table?
So house/churches provided a way for the early community to gather in safety with other like-minded people.
Today, our reasons for seeking safety in our homes might be different, but it is still an important quality of our faith life right now.
We stay home so that the most vulnerable among us might be protected.
Our kitchen tables have become our communion tables.
Our couches have become our pews.
And together, we make sure that we can reduce the harm to our neighbors and keep one another safe.

Finally, house/churches allowed people to claim their faith.
As has been true of people of faith from the beginning, we have always been asked to declare our allegiance to God.
I’m reminded of that line from the book of Joshua.
When he was about to lead the people of Israel into the promised land he put before them a choice.
They could hang on to their traditions of the past and the other gods their ancestors worshipped…
Or, they could cling to the God who brought them up out of Egypt… the one who rescued them and protected them.
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” he tells them. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24: 15)
In the same way, these house churches were one way that early Christians declared they were putting their time, their name, and their property in service of the teaching of Christ. And sometimes, even their lives.
That choice is as much before us today as it was in the days of Paul and Joshua.
As my colleague, Rev. Ferguson reminds us:

Being a worshipping Christian in the last four months has required incredible perseverance, innovation, and energy. Our routines and sanctuaries have been stripped from us by COVID-19, and we have had to dedicate ourselves to intentional worship in a way we rarely have had to before. I know it has not been easy. But I am so proud that, standing firm in the tradition of our ancestors in faith, we marked out holy space in our homes and through our technology to say that we are still Christians. Even when it is hard, we follow the teachings of Christ.

So we’ve talked a little bit about why these house/churches were important and how they embodied hospitality, safety, and faith.

But what were they like?
Well, let’s explore the nuts and bolts of how they worked.

The first thing to note is these house/churches were as different as our houses are now.
Whether you were wealthy or poor, the region you lived in and materials available all had an impact. Rural areas might have hand built mud huts, while Rome would have had structures more like apartments. And like today, the wealthy might have had larger, grander buildings.
Most of the house/churches that we have record of were hosted by households with at least modest means and included space for a number of people to gather, share a meal, and worship.
One such house is in Capernaum and is thought to be the household of Peter… you remember, the place where Jesus heals his mother in law?
This particular house had stone walls with a mud and straw roof and had a square room at the center for gathering.
We have a record of this location, because after Christianity was legalized in the fourth century and had power and financial support, this location was converted from a home to a church.
Later expansions eventually covered the original house, and eventually the basilica itself was destroyed.
More recently, the Catholic Church has preserved this site with a glass floor that allows you to see down into the ruins of the house church below.

Another example we have is from a more wealthy home in Dura Europas, or what is modern-day Syria. While in many ways it was a standard home of the time, it also had a large hall where Christians would have gathered to worship and a baptistery.
The walls are covered with frescoes the depict Jesus as the good shepherd, the Woman at the Well, the empty tomb and more.

We also have evidence of a house church started by Romans in southern Britain.
In what is now known as Lullingstone Roman Villa, you can see how owners plastered over a small household shrine to Roman gods with the Chi-Ro symbol.

Who was part of a house/church?
One thing that is very different from today is who was part of a household.
While we typically think about a home with room for a nuclear family, an ancient household was much larger.
Several generations would be included in a household, including married and unmarried children. Also included would have been any servants or slaves of the owner.
And unlike today, where faith is a more individual decision, households would convert all together. If the head of the household came to know and want to follow Jesus… everyone in the household became Christian.
Our scripture this morning tells us about how the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia. Once their house/church was established, Stephanas and others from the household traveled to Corinth to help encourage and strengthen the community there.
But a house/church included more than just one household of faith.
Anyone was welcome as part of a house/church once they were established in a community. Men and women, poor and rich, slaves and masters all gathered together.

What did they do?
Well, we know that communion and baptism were important rituals that were shared within these homes.
In fact, it was one of the markers that began to separate the Jews who followed Jesus from those who did not.
They also gathered to read scripture, both readings from what we now know as the Old Testament, but also letters from the early Christian apostles.
In this day, those letters, like the one we read today from 1 Corinthians would not have been considered scripture, per se, but they did provide instruction to these believers about how to practice their faith.
The letters were incredibly practical and show us some of the concerns that these communities had about what to eat, which Jewish practices to continue following, and who was welcome at their tables.
Sometimes, these house/churches would host visitors like Paul and Apollos.
They prayed.
They sang.
They had a weekly collection that they would take up to support the ministry of the apostles and those in need.
They argued about what they should do.
They were real churches.
They just met in people’s homes.

And today, we are a real church that is meeting in people’s homes.
Carol Ferguson shared with me the story of a pastor who was chatting with a child in her church on Zoom one Sunday.

The pastor noticed her dress, and said “I think I’ve seen you wear that dress to church.” The girl, maybe four years old, looked confused for a minute. Finally she said “I am wearing it to church. But sometimes I wear it to the other church, too. When we go in the car.”
I love that that little girl will grow up knowing that church isn’t just a place you go, but something you experience. That she will never doubt whether or not God is with her as she eats and plays and studies. That she knows worship matters to her family not just as part of a routine, but as something worth pursuing always—even if it means making a church out of her home.

Thanks be to God that we continue to be a real church, embodying hospitality, safety, and faith, whenever and wherever we gather.

Sermon adapted from: https://carolhferguson.com/2020/07/05/house-church/#more-1534

An Interview on Improvising Ministry

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Transcript from last Sunday’s Conversation in Worship

Text: 1 Chronicles 15:25-16:3

Katie: Well good morning to all of you! I have some special guests with me here today. They are familiar faces because they have been with you these past two weeks while I have been on vacation. Pastor Paul and Pastor Beth, both from Women at the Well.

Today we are making this trip to New Orleans for the Jazz National Monument and one of the things I kept thinking about was this idea of improvisation and how when things get difficult or get tricky sometimes we have to find a new way of doing things, a new way to make music, to change the pace and try something different. So I actually thought this was a great opportunity, talking with these two, about some of the things that have been different with Women at the Well.

So we are going to have a little conversation for our message today. I want to start by talking about this passage. David has gone off to rescue the Ark of the Covenant because it has been stolen away during the time of Saul and he is king now and he thinks his job as the king is to go and take it back and bring it to where it belongs. So he charges after it with his army. But this isn’t like a couch you can pick up and throw in the back of the truck! He charges in and they aren’t prepared, they aren’t quite sure what they are doing. This is a holy object and God’s presence is there. There is a man along the way, the ark starts to fall off of the wagon cart and this man named Uzzah, reaches out and touches it to pick it back up and God kills him right then and there. It is dangerous to touch!

So, David stops the caravan right there. He stops the caravan and for three months nobody moves. They leave it there, they go home, and they say – okay – we have got to try something different.

I’ve been thinking about how as pastors and leaders of communities we kind of pushed pause on everything because things were dangerous and things were unsafe. There are times when we hit those roadblocks in ministry and the things that we have been doing no longer work. And I know that has kind of been the case for Women at the Well. So I wonder if you can talk about how you have experienced that in your own ministry. The roadblocks and the times you have had to take a momentary pause because the things that you were doing couldn’t happen anymore. Do you want to tell me a little bit about that?

Paul: Sure. Well, I love the pause button. I actually like all of the buttons on the remote control. No big surprise there. And I use those inside the prison when we do a re-entry workshop. And the pause button in particular is a good tool. I try to remind the women of that. But really it’s for all of us, and I think the pandemic has been an enormous global pause button. And I think all of us have experienced that and we are like enough of the pause already

Katie: Yeah, we are so done with the pause.

Paul: Resume. Fast forward. Something. Skip. I think it is a very helpful tool for people in recovery, women going through re-entry and thinking about coming back home to pause and not do the first thing that comes to their mind. First thought, bad thought, is something that gets a lot of people in trouble.

And I think in ministry that is probably true, too. Sometimes we think, Oh, well the Holy Spirit told me to do it. Well, did you pause and are you sure it is the Holy Spirit. That’s not a bad question. Maybe it is the Holy Spirit. And David may have had a moment too where, you know, the Holy Spirit told us to get going and then – pause – maybe that wasn’t the Holy Spirit. Maybe that was our national pride or some other thing, some other agenda at work there.

And then, Pastor Beth comes on board here while we are in this pause. I don’t know what that has meant for you, to think about the pause, and even since. The ministry still continues even though we can’t be in the prison. We haven’t since March. But there are still opportunities to pause…

Beth: So when I came to Women at the Well it was just a unique experience for me because it was a different kind of ministry and I have not been able to see the people that I’m serving. But I think through the course of these last several months when I was receiving training for this ministry, it has occurred to me that this isn’t my ministry anyway, it is God’s ministry. Through these women.

I’m reminded of that scripture where Jesus is at Jacob’s well and this woman who is serving… she is having to undergo a new way of looking at the world and after she understands what Jesus has explained to her, she goes and tells the people in the village what they need to know. In the course of these events, you know, I was reminded reading those scriptures again that we are called to go out and share the good news. And that these women [in the prison] are not able to do that right now, but we can do it for them.

And so as we have gone through some strategic planning, we have had a transition team and as we have been going forward we have realized that we maybe need to expand the ministry for the women at the well.

Katie: Yeah, you know I think that is really helpful. Both of you have hit on the idea of the pause being a time of listening. And I think that is what happens with David. He takes these three months. The Ark is kind of parked in this guys barn, basically, and he spends some time with God and improvises a new game plan but really a lot of that time is spent listening to God and what God wants him to do. And not just charging in with what his plan had been.

So what has that been like for Women at the Well to spend some time in intentional listening? What are some things that you are hearing about how ministry is going to be different in your contexts?

Paul: Well, I’ll let Beth talk a little bit about our strategic plan, our ministry action plan, we’ve been through a lot of transitions, really since prior to when Beth came on board. We had a transition team that helped us to improvise a new plan and transition leadership. And then through conference leadership we had a second process and we improvised it a bit more, we finessed it a bit more, we rewrote and edited it.

But the one constant through that has been: a significant part of our plan involves spiritual practices. Which I think is a reminder that we know the importance of stopping, listening, reading scripture, having a daily practice, engaging and helping others to engage as well. So we have breath prayer and centering prayer and lectio divina. And just anything… The review: You know when I talked about the buttons on the remote control. There is a rewind! There is actually a spiritual practice, right, the daily examen, or looking back over your day. I think that is a wonderful way of sort of thinking about that. And so we have all of these and they are a wonderful part of our ministry action plan. For us as leadership, for the women, for the council, whenever we gather, whenever we have a meeting, lets make time to listen and make sure we are connected to the divine source, is how I would say it.

Beth: Yeah, I think just to dovetail on that. There are so many ways that we can practice our, I’m going to call it, emotional agility. Where we are improvising during our lives. We aren’t getting stuck in any one place, but we are able to move forward in new kinds of ways. You know, I think in the process of this creative time, listening to all of the different kinds of ways we can worship. So here is David. And he is practicing worship in a new way. And maybe it is an OLD way, where he was dancing around, well, he’s got an ephod on.. [ laughs ] … and so I can see that…

Katie: Which is kind of like undergarments

Beth: Yeah!

Katie: It’s not much!

Beth: Right! So for people to realize that there are other ways that we can move forward in our worship of God and in our celebration of that. It just draws us closer together and helps us to integrate our emotions and helps us to realize we are all going through this same thing and there are lots of different ways we can go about it.

Paul: It is important to say this, too, when I think about improvisation. I’m thinking about we are a church, inside a prison. So we are a church and all that goes along with that in terms of being spirit led and organized. We are a Methodist church, with all of the structure that we have to adhere to there. And then we have to operate within the framework of a prison system, the Department of Corrections.

And I was thinking about improvisation. You know I was trained as a classical pianist. I spent many years studying classical piano where you play every note that is written, as it is written. You can add your personality to it with sound and technique, but you don’t play what is not written!

Katie: Right!

Paul: And over the years, I’ve played with it, I’ve gotten a little better with improvisation. But the idea with jazz, in the New Orleans jazz scene, there is a structure within which you work. But then you have all of this freedom to rip and riff and jam… whatever word.. you can do a solo that stays within the key and the structure and the rhythm, but you have a lot of freedom.

I think our struggle continues to be where is the freedom? Are we just classical musicians here? Sometimes it feels like the Department of Corrections says, you can only play these notes…

Katie: This is the box…

Paul: Right this is the box, and you have to do this rhythm. I think one of the cool things about jazz is that there is sometimes one rhythm over here and there is another rhythm over there, right? It plays against itself. That’s what we have to figure out. Where is there freedom?

So one of the women in the prison sat down next to a visitor and the visitor asked her what she liked about this place. And she said, “Oh, I love the freedom.” This is a woman serving a life sentence and she loves the freedom.

Katie: Because she knows where her bounds are and so within that she has a lot of freedom. That’s very true!

I know we have had a long partnership with Women at the Well here at Immanuel and there have been a lot of things that we have been involved in – from re-entry teams to joining you at the prison for worship and I know some of those things are outside the box of what is allowed right now.

There is a little bit of grief with that, I know, as we have all experienced that. And I can kind of think about David experiencing some grief as well. He had some ways he thought he would be doing this. He went out the first time with his military garb on, ready to charge. And the second time he goes out, he goes basically in his undergarments, this linen cloth, and he is dancing and he is singing and he casts aside what he thought he was supposed to doing and listened to God. He just gets kind of carried away by the rhythm and the music. He starts leaping, there is dancing, there is all of this joy.

In fact, it is so great that his wife who is watching this procession come into town from home… she looks out and sees him and she is really embarrassed for him and of him. It is not becoming of a king, and you find that line in the scripture. You know we all have roles that we thought we might be playing and then we discover that it is not exactly like that. How has your improvisation with Women at the Well been like that? Where are some new things you are doing and where you finding the joy and the excitement and where are you kind of just being carried away?

Beth: Well, I think there have been lots of different directions that we have looked. I think that is one of the things when you are going through a time of change like this and you know the wind is blowing… new things! Sometimes it is nice to go down this road for a while, and then you go down that road for a while, and you somewhere you begin to see where it is a little brighter. There is a path that seems to be a little easier. And sometimes to be able to move forward down those roads, to help see that God is the one leading. You aren’t the one leading.

And so what we have discovered is that it is possible for us to maybe take some classes, educate our selves a bit more. Just like with Black Lives Matter. We, white folks, need more education. We have to realize that there is more to learn. So one of the subjects I have found myself rediscovering and checking in on is social justice, restorative justice, in particular. Paul and I have been going to visit with lots of people, in lots of different Zoom sites, to learn more about this subject. We’ve met this woman by the name of Norah Jacob, and she has helped us to discover some new curriculums that maybe we can share. In fact, I think we are ready to do that. And she has helped us to recognize there are a lot of connections between restorative justice and what’s going on with the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s not just a matter, it’s a movement, as was explained to us by Jackie Thompson. There are so many other things, relationships between trauma… Many of the people who are in prison have been traumatized. Most of them, by a long shot, have had to go through trauma. And so, recognizing that that is another area we need to discover about. And to see the connections between all of these. Between the war on drugs, between addition.

As we make these connections in our lives and realize that we need to discover more for ourselves, take a step back, sit for three months, like David did, and discover that we don’t have the answers. So instead of reacting, to sit back and learn more, to discover what God is trying to teach us and then we can be proactive in moving forward.

Katie: Paul, do you want to add to that?

Paul: I find joy… you know we’ve had to reinvent how we worship, since we can’t go into the prison. We’ve been doing it on facebook live. Come see us – Thursday Nights at 7 on the Women at the Well facebook page. And through that, unexpectedly, we are connecting with former offenders who are in Florida, and all over Iowa, and before we could not intentionally reach out and connect with these women. And we can now, just because they know about our facebook page, now they know we are doing worship. So we are still ministering to former offenders, returning citizens, and their families.

You know there is one guy, he is the husband of a person who is serving a long sentence, and he likes our Facebook page every week and I think he visits our worship. It is really nice to know that we are offering worship, hope, prayer, music, and inspiration to a whole community. That otherwise, like this husband, you know there is no way he could ever come in and worship with us on a Thursday night, and now here he is. Unfortunately, she is not worshipping with us, but we are working on that! That is another roadblock we hope to overcome. But maybe we can record these and get them inside the prison. Especially if this is going to continue, as it looks like it will, for however long. So some new connections, that wouldn’t otherwise have happened, is something that I celebrate.

Katie: Absolutely!

Well, I’m so glad that you guys were able to come and take this time to be with us, so we can hear this update on what is happening with Women at the Well and what ministry looks like. And I am also so grateful that you have been with us these last two weeks to lead worship while I have been gone. And I want you to know that our whole congregation is praying for both of you and for your ministry.

If you didn’t know, the offices for Women at the Well are now in our building, right below us, on our lower level, because of some of the reasons that you can’t be in the prison in the same way as before. We are so glad to be able to support your ministry in multiple ways and prayer is one of them.

Paul: And we thank you for your partnership and your support and hospitality

Beth: Hospitality indeed! Several months ago, when I moved in here, there was an internet issue. Can I share that this lady – she was crawling up into the ceiling, helping us to thread the wires to make it all work, and so thank you for your hospitality and your welcome.

Katie: Yes and I know some of our trustees folks have been working hard on that, too, so thanks to Wendell and others who have been so instrumental. As we close up this time of learning, let us now turn our hearts towards prayer.

Sing! Play! Summer! – Lord of the Dance

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Text: 2 Samuel 6:14-22

There was a stately, beautiful church on the corner of Main and Broad streets. The members were known for their love and care for one another.
On Easter Sunday, the pews were full of folks in their Sunday best, smiling graciously to one another and all of the guests who were among them. Everything was perfect.
Worship had begun, when all of a sudden a scruffy man in a faded shirt walked in. His jeans had holes in them and his sneakers were tattered. He looked around for a seat, but they were all taken.
Every eye followed him as he walked all the way to the front of the church, still looking for a place to sit.
Reaching the first pew and not finding a spot… or anyone who would make room, he sat down cross legged in the aisle.

Everybody was wondering who this was, but even more than that, they were wondering who was going to do something about it.
The organist began to play the opening hymn, but nobody was really listening.
Then, Mr. Sims, a stately older gentleman who had served as an usher for more than half a century, made his way from the back of the church down the aisle.
Somebody had to do something, after all.
Everyone watched as the old man bent down and said: “I just want to say how good it is to have you here.”
And Mr. Sims slowly lowered himself with great difficulty and sat down by the young visitor. He handed him a bulletin, and offered to share his hymnal.
They sat and worshiped together.

What does it really mean to fully worship God?
What does it mean to join in the dance of faith?
It is not about comfort or safety or the clothes you are wearing.
Worship is a risk.
It is a personal and corporate encounter with the divine and we are not in charge.
When we really place our lives before this God, we will not be the same.

Think of those two men in the story. Both took a risk in the presence of God.
The young man was a stranger, coming in off the street, and while everyone was dressed in their Sunday finest, he didn’t care what others thought.
He didn’t care if everyone else was watching.
He was coming to the Lord – and nothing was going to stop him.
The older gentleman had just as much, if not more to lose.
He was established and respected.
Everyone in that church expected him to ask the young man to move.
But Mr. Sims broke with convention and let the Spirit guide him to the front of the church to sit down with that young man.

In 1987, Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh’s song, “Come from the Heart,” included the lines –

“You’ve got to sing like you don’t need the money
Love like you’ll never get hurt
You’ve got to dance like nobody’s watchin’
It’s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.”

The young man and Mr. Sims joined in the dance of faith and didn’t care if anyone was watching. They just put their heart into it.
And in our reading from 2 Samuel, David embraces that same heartfelt abandon leading the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem.
Let’s explore for moment the risk of this moment of worship and the courage it took for David to truly dance.
For years, the ark has been in the hands of the Philistines.
David wants to show that his rule is connected to the lordship, power, and presence of God so he has decided to go and recapture the ark and bring it to Jerusalem.
He gathers thirty thousand of his best men and they go and capture the ark from their enemies.
You might expect a solemn and formal military processional bringing this prized possession back to the Israelites. But King David led a celebration march and they praised God with all of their might with songs and instruments and drums.
In fact, the people were so caught up in their celebration an accident occurred.
Passing over rough terrain, one of the oxen stumbled and the ark nearly fell to the ground.
But a man named Uzzah instinctively reached out to grab onto the ark and lift it to safety.
Whew, we might think to ourselves… disaster averted.

But just the encounter Isaiah had in the temple which we discussed a few weeks ago, this moment reminds us of the holy, other, awesome power of God.
This ark was not a box holding some important documents – it was a sacred object that could bring both blessing and harm.
It was to be touched and handled only by those who had properly prepared, only by the Levites.
The young man was immediately struck dead.

In the middle of the road, in the middle of their journey, all of the celebrations stop.
David is so troubled by these occurrences, so angry at God for what has happened, he refuses to carry the ark the rest of the way to Jerusalem.
He is afraid of what will happen when God’s presence comes into his royal city.
You see, David isn’t perfect. He knows about the sin of his own life and fears for how God’s holy presence might alter the course of his reign.
So instead, he puts the ark in the safekeeping of a family in a village nearby.

David’s heartfelt abandon is closed off because of the fear of being burned, of being rejected, or being found unworthy.

Can you imagine how the story of our faith might have gone had Jesus been afraid to dance?
Sydney Carter’s famous hymn tells the story of Jesus Christ, without ever using his name.
The dance of creation and his birth in Bethlehem…
The call for Pharisees and fishermen to follow… and the refusal of many to join.
The holy people shame him for his acts of love and power.
He is arrested, abused, and killed…
And yet, not once did the dance stop.
And never has the Lord of the Dance stopped inviting us to join in.

There are a lot of people in this world… probably even here in this room… whose hearts are closed off.
People afraid to let God in.
People afraid to make a fool of themselves for God because of what others might think.
People ashamed of their past and whether they will be welcomed.
People who aren’t quite sure they can celebrate with all of their might before God.
Kate Huey writes,

“Jubilation is a word we rarely use, perhaps because such a feeling has been limited for many, for the most part, to sports and, perhaps, the occasional political victory. But what if we felt deep-down-in-our-hearts jubilation over what God is doing in our lives? Would we dance, too?”
Henry Brinton has compared worship… to a modern dance solo by Paul Taylor, the dancer/choreographer who “simply stood motionless on stage for four minutes….The dancing we do in church tends to be quite similar to Paul Taylor’s solo. What we do is nothing – we just stand still, hardly moving a muscle. Our worship of God involves our minds… our tongues, but rarely our whole bodies.”

What would it take to get our bodies more involved in worship?
What would give us the courage to let go and let the dance carry us along?
Maybe, we need to give up control.
Maybe we need to let the rhythm of the song shape and move us.
Maybe we need to let Christ lead.

In the book, The Soul of Tomorrow’s Church, Kent Ira Groff advocates for including rhythm instruments in every worship service. He notes composer Brian Wren’s understanding that “rhythm tries to move you bodily.”
No wonder that from forever and everywhere the drum has been an instrument of healing, reminiscent of the heartbeat of God – use in primal caves, rock bands, sophisticated symphonies. The pipe organ is a wonderful instrument… but in combining many instruments in one, it decreased the participation of the many…
Let me say that again… when we combined many instruments into one, we decreased the participation of the many.
You see, when we clap our hands, or tap our toes, or play along on other instruments, or use our own instrument, our voice, we are joining in the dance.
We are taking a risk.
We are offering ourselves.
We are participating is something bigger than ourselves.
We join the rest of creation and cry out with our whole being – the Lord is Good.

You’ve got to sing like you don’t need the money
Love like you’ll never get hurt
You’ve got to dance like nobody’s watchin’
It’s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.

Just like we might be afraid to step beyond our comfort zones and truly praise God with our whole bodies…
just like we might be afraid to truly welcome into our midst those who don’t look anything like us…
just like we might be afraid of what will happen if we open ourselves up to God’s presence…
King David was afraid of what it meant to invite God into his city. He was afraid of what might happen to himself and his reign.
In many ways, he had a healthy understanding of the holy power and otherness of the Lord… but he let his fear overwhelm his ability to truly trust God.

But then he decided to try again. He worked up the courage to let God lead.
They took the ark out of the house and had moved just six steps down the road when David was so overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving… with jubilation!… that he sacrificed a bull and a calf in praise to God.
And he took off his royal garments and there in front of all the people he danced before God with all of his might.
He shed his fear, he shed all of the expectations people had of him, he shed his denial of God’s holiness, and he worshiped and praised with heartfelt abandon.

As the dancing proceeded back to Jerusalem and as they got close to the city gates, David’s wife Michal saw him out there.
She saw him without his royal robes, dancing among the commoners.
She saw him making a fool of himself, rather than maintaining his composure.
And then, she confronted him about it.
But David replied, “I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me… and I will celebrate before the Lord again! I may humiliate myself even more, and I may be humbled in my own eyes.”
He spoke with that same spirit Paul did when he said that we should be fools for Christ – laying it all out on the line to praise and honor the God who gives us life.
Michal, the scribes, the Pharisees, those people in the pews on Easter morning… they could get so caught up in tradition, on what was supposed to happen, in what was appropriate or required…
But as Jesus reminds us over and over again in the gospels, outward trappings are not important.
They don’t make us righteous or unrighteous, worthy or unworthy.
It is our hearts that matter.
What we give to God that matters.
Whether we leave behind ourselves and join in the dance.
So friends, wherever you are, whoever you are, let’s dance.
Amen.

Sing! Play! Summer! – Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty

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Text: Isaiah 6:1-8

“We keep a troubled vigil at the bedside of the world,” writes Howard Thurman, “Thus we clutch the moment of intimacy in worship when we become momentarily a part of a larger whole, a fleeting strength, which we pit against all the darkness and the dread of our times.

We don’t have to look too far to see darkness and dread hanging over our lives.
Illness and violence.
Poverty and oppression.
Impacts of the climate crisis.
Bullying in our schools and in our politics.
Grief and loss and discouragement.
These are the things that keep us up at night.

Thurman writes that “the moment of intimacy in worship” allows us to recharge our spiritual batteries and face once again the struggles of the world.

The moment of intimacy in worship.
The moment we personally encounter a holy, living, powerful God.
The moment when we become close to a God who is wholly other.

I think we often put God into a very small box.
Jesus is our friend and companion.
The Holy Spirit holds our hand and brings us comfort in tough times.
The Father tenderly calls us to do the right thing.
We imagine that God is just like us…
Or sometimes, that we are like God…

But the truth is, when we are facing a world of darkness and dread and problems that are just too big to tackle, we need an encounter with something… with someone… who is far beyond anything we can know or comprehend.

I am reminded of King Uzziah, whose story frames Isaiah’s encounter with the God from our scripture today.
King Uzziah was ruler over the southern kingdom of Judah and he came to be king at only 16 years of age. According to scripture (2 Kings 14:21, 15:1-7 and 2 Chronicles 26: 1-23) , he did what was right in the sight of God and had a powerful and successful reign over Judah for fifty-two years.
But all of the success God brought the nation went to King Uzziah’s head.
In the wake of military victories, Uzziah provided top of the line armor and weapons for his soldiers and fortified the city of Jerusalem with towers and archers and traps.
He was demonstrating his power, rather than trusting in God’s power.
His pride became such a problem that he entered the holiest place in the temple… that special room at the very center that only the high priest was allowed to enter, and he walked in like he owned the place and burned incense to the Lord.
Instantly, leprosy came upon Uzziah because of his prideful action and he was a leper until the day of his death.

Uzziah forgot that only God was holy.

But as his reign came to an end, Isaiah began to have visions.
He receives vision after vision of the failings of his nation, and the bloodshed and oppression his people have created when they relied upon their own might to solve their problems instead of relying upon God.

And in the year King Uzziah dies, Isaiah has an intimate encounter with the Lord.
A holy, living, powerful God.
Isaiah sees the Lord upon a throne, with just the hem of God’s robe filling the temple.
Winged creatures, seraphim flew about shouting to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heavenly Forces! All the earth is filled with God’s glory.” (Isaiah 6:3)
As the room shakes and fills with smoke, Isaiah fears for his very life: “Mourn for me; I’m ruined!”
He cries out acknowledging his own unholiness.
His own unworthiness.
The unrighteousness of his people and his nation.
God sees it all… and then this wholly other and almighty God draws close.
A glowing coal touches Isaiah’s lips.
His sin and guilt are gone.
And God sends Isaiah back out to face the darkness and dread of the world with a renewed sense of purpose and power.

This vision of the holiness of God also inspires the apostle John.
He writes the book of Revelation in a time of persecution and distress and the visions he receives bring comfort to those who are oppressed.
But again, John doesn’t encounter a God who is our friend or who is just like us…
When we are faced with true darkness and dread, we need a power that is far beyond our comprehension.
John has a vision, in Revelation chapter 4, in which a door is opened to heaven:
“I saw a throne in heaven, and someone was seated on the throne. The one seated there looked like jasper and carnelian and surrounding the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. Twenty-four thrones, with twenty-four elders seated upon them, surrounded the throne… From the throne came lightning, voices, and thunder. In front of the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God. Something like a glass sea, like crystal, was in front of the throne.
In the center, by the throne, were four living creatures encircling the throne. These creatures were covered with eyes on the front and on the back… [they had different faces and] each of the four living creates had six wings, and each was covered all around and on the inside with eyes. They never rest day or night, but keep on saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is coming.”
As we move to the next chapter, the Lamb appears, and then we think we might find a familiar imagine, but John’s vision describes it in this way:
“I saw a Lamb, standing as if it had been slain. It had seven horns and seven eyes, which are God’s seven spirits, sent out into the whole earth.”

The holy one is nothing like us.
Nothing like anything we experience upon this earth.
Nothing else is worthy of devotion.
Nothing else is perfect in power, in love, and in purity.
Nothing else could have created all things.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

These words from Isaiah chapter 6 and Revelation 4 inspired Reginald Heber when he sat down to write a hymn for Trinity Sunday.
He was a vicar in Anglican Church and had begun to put together a hymnal based around the church calendar. As he looked around for songs that spoke to the various times of the church year, he realized that he was lacking songs for that Sunday which emphasizes that doctrine of the Trinity. So, he wrote one himself.
Heber wanted to capture in this hymn the utter holiness of God in the midst of a world full of vices.
Stanton Nelson points out that the text “encourages the singer to join in an endless song” – a song sung by heavenly creatures stretching back as far as Isaiah and John and still being sung today.
Nelson also points out a few unique ways that Heber emphasizes God’s holiness.
First, if you look at the text, every line of the hymn rhymes with the word, “holy.”
Second, Heber doesn’t resort to any kind of “cheap emotionalism.” He allows us to sing of the Trinity without taking away from the mystery, the otherness of who God is.
As Heber writes, “though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory man not see.”

In a world of darkness and dread, we cannot always see the holiness of God.
But the act of worship, we can open ourselves up to an intimate encounter with God.
Do we recognize the awesome and holy and other power of God in our midst?
When Moses encountered this God in a burning bush, he was told to “come no closer! Remove your sandals for the place you are standing is holy ground!” He hid his face, afraid to even look at God. (Exodus 3:5-6)

Are we aware that there is risk involved whenever we are in God’s presence?
The book of 2 Samuel tells of how David and his select warriors went out to bring home the ark of the covenant after it had been stolen away. They brought hearts filled with praise, but when one man reached out and touched that holy vessel by accident, he died on the spot. (2 Samuel 6:15-16)

We hear these stories from the Hebrew scriptures, but too often today, we underestimate the power of truly being in the presence of God.
We are comfortable in our sanctuaries.
We sit in the same seats near friendly faces.
We watch our children play and share stories.
We sing hymns in the same way we have sung them a thousand times.
Worship has sometimes become so routine that we enter this place like King Uzziah… we come in as though we own it and like we deserve to be here.

I think sometimes, we have lost our sense of what it means to truly encounter a God that makes us uncomfortable.
A God that can shake the very foundations of this room.
A God that has the power to topple kingdoms.
A God that overcame the forces of death.
A God that heals and restores and creates a new.
A God that was is and is and is coming.
A God that is light and in whom there is no darkness at all.
A God that causes saints and cherubim and seraphim to throw off their crowns and fall on their knees.

This intimate moment that we call worship has nothing to do with instrumentation or the style or the music or what we are sitting on.
It has everything to do with personally and corporately encountering the One who has the power to change everything about our lives and the world we live in.
It is a moment not where we show God how great we are, but we offer ourselves, with all of our flaws and weaknesses, and let God transform us and use us to counter the darkness and dread of the world.
Only God is holy.
Only God is worthy.
And when we open ourselves up… even for just one moment… to connect and be drawn close to this God… we do find the strength to head back into this world with a renewed sense of purpose and power.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Your Greater Purpose

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Text: Isaiah 1:10-20

This morning’s scripture… wow.
These are the words God speaks to the prophet Isaiah as he is called into service. This is the message that Isaiah is called to shared with the kings and rulers of Israel, the children of God.
God, who created them…
God, who rescued them from slavery in Egypt…
God, who formed them into a people…
God, who loves them now is filled with anger and frustration and heartache.
The children God raised have rebelled.
They have abandoned God’s ways and have turned against one another.
And yet in their worship, they pretend as if everything is okay.

Isaiah is sent to these rulers to point out that there is a disconnect between their practices and their praises of God.
They claim to be faithful.
They go through all of the motions.
But their actions inside the sanctuary have no impact on what they do when they leave the temple. The poor, the needy, the strangers in their midst are suffering… sometimes in the name of God.
All of that worship… and there is nothing different in their daily lives, or in the lives of their neighbors, because they have spent that time with God.

Des Moines University reports that nearly 30% of Polk County households were food insecure at some time during 2017. 30% of households couldn’t put enough food on the table.
The median income for African American households in Polk County is $26,725. That number is less than half of the median income for all households in the county.
86% of households earning less than $15,000 annually live in housing they cannot afford. That number of $15,000/year is a full-time job at minimum wage. The Polk County Housing Trust Fund estimates that 8,350 affordable units are needed in central Iowa to meet current needs. Based on fair-market rent for a two bedroom apartment, Des Moines/West Des Moines employees must make at least $16.83 an hour.
The impacts of these numbers:
Homeless children are 2x more likely to have a learning disability, repeat a grade, or be suspended from school.
Low-income students are 4x more likely to be chronically absent, often for reasons beyond their control due to unstable housing, unreliable transportation, or lack of health care.
Of third-grade students who qualify for free and reduced lunches, less than 60% read proficiently.

These are realities of our community.
These numbers reflect choices we have made as participants within it.
They reflect who we as employers hire and how much we choose to pay them.
They reflect the investments we’ve made in public education – how we support teachers, taxes, our giving of volunteer hours.
They reflect decisions about zoning, real estate investment, infrastructure, health care and who we have elected to make decisions about those policies.
They reflect the vast need for organizations like Hawthorn Hill and Bidwell Riverside.

And so God speaks:
I hate your worship.
Your prayers make me nauseous.
Organ or electric guitar… who cares? – I loathe your music.
You focus on the color of the carpet and what you sit on and I’ve had enough.
Your sermons offend me.
Who asked for the offering plate to be passed around?
That sweet smell of King’s Hawaiian bread at communion stinks.
Do you know why?
Because even though you hear my words and sing my praises, you live your lives as if none of it matters.
Stop.
Listen again to my words.
Pay attention to what I have called you to do.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.

God is inviting us to not simply worship, but to go out and be in ministry with the most vulnerable people in our midst. As our call to worship reminded us – we are not here to tell God how awesome we are… we are here to remember how our awesome God hears the cries of the needy, hears OUR cries, and then responds through the hands and feet of every day people like you and me.

There is so much in this world that can distract us from that core purpose.
We find ourselves in competition with other churches to offer the best programs and attract the most people.
We get sucked in by the temptation we discussed in this week’s chapter of “Defying Gravity” to cling to the gifts and abundance in our lives, rather than holding them loosely and sharing them with others.
I personally find myself overwhelmed with the desire to keep the peace, to hear all of your various points of view and find the happy medium in decisions we make… that sometimes I forget to go back to the basics and ask what God wants us to do.
And so, we all need to hear these words from Isaiah.
We need to shake loose the cobwebs of our memory.
We need to allow these words jolt us back into alignment with God’s greater purpose for our work and worship together.

The good news is that we are already responding to this call in so many ways.
Our gifts to the DMARC Food Pantry Network put healthy food on the shelves at Bidwell-Riverside.
Our contributions in various special offerings have provided couches for the common space at Hawthorn Hill and playground equipment for their kids.
On a weekly basis, volunteers from Immanuel take milk and juice to the shelter for families to use over the weekend.
Through time, through prayers, through money, we are making an impact on those statistics I named earlier.

A young woman named Amie arrived at the New Directions Shelter, one of the ministries of Hawthorn Hill in October of 2014. She was a brand new mother and walked in off of the street with her newborn after Child Protective Services deemed their home environment was unsuitable. Amie and her daughter were able to stay at New Directions for about a month while she worked to make the adjustments and fill requirements from CPS. She was soon able to find an apartment and a job that would help her get back on her feet.
In her exit survey, Amie wrote:
“I just want to say thank you to everyone for helping me achieve my goals during my stay. I’m so blessed I found you all! I feel that New Directions has helped me become a better mother to my daughter!! There isn’t enough room on this paper to describe how grateful I am to you all! I would so love to give back one day and become a volunteer. Thank you so much!”
Since then, Amie has moved to a new job with Bidwell Riverside and was promoted to a Shift Supervisor. She is using her gifts and her compassion to help families experiencing food insecurity. She’s going back to school at DMAAC to work on an Associates in Human Services. And, she has gone back to New Directions to do volunteer work – helping to organize an Easter Egg for families who are there over the holidays.

This is what happens when we allow God’s greater purpose to lead us.
This is what happens when we create opportunities for vulnerable neighbors to be transformed… when we work with them, listen to them, and empower them to thrive.

When we don’t just sing about getting to heaven, but actively work to help our neighbors experience heaven right here.
When our worship and our witness stand up for the defenseless…
When our offerings are used not to build up our egos, but to build the Kingdom…
When we allow God’s word to shape and form not only this hour, but every hour of every day…
When we leave this sanctuary and head out into the world, still crying out – Here I am, Lord, send me…

Then we will have been transformed into the people we were meant to be by God.
Rich or poor, young or old, sinner or saint… we are all God’s children.
And God has a purpose for us.

Copyright © 2024 Rev. Katie Z. Dawson. All rights reserved.