April 14, 2002
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Faith: A Worshipful Walk Our relationship with God is often described as a journey, or a walk of faith. Today I want to suggest that as we think about our journey of faith, our walk with Christ, that there is a place where we are challenged, encouraged, comforted, occasionally confronted, and always called to offer our best to the One who offers Christ to us. That happens as we worship God through Jesus Christ. As we worship, not only is our faith strengthened, but we also become increasingly vital people who participate in an increasingly vital church. It is late in the afternoon on the day of the resurrection. Cleopas and a friend, two of the many disciples of Jesus are making their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus. As these two disciples are walking along the road outside Jerusalem have an encounter that leads them to a deeply spiritual, worship-filled, life-changing place. As they go, they remind us of some things that happen as we worship. First, when we worship, we bring with us our highest hopes and deepest longings and we share them with others of like mind. It is here that we rejoice and celebrate with each other when our hearts are light and happy. This is the place where we mourn and support each other when we feel the heavy weight of difficult times. Cleopas and his traveling companion are talking about what has happened over the last few days. Back in my seminary days, we would say that Cleopas and his companion are doing their grief work, now we might say they are deconstructing their experience - pulling apart the events of the last few days in order to help themselves make sense of the crucifixion and death of their leader. They are talking about the great hopes they had in the message of Jesus and of their disappointment at the way things have turned out. They have reviewed and dissected all of the events of what we know as holy week. They are particularly animated as they talk about the betraying kiss of Judas, the bewildering actions of Peter, the generosity of Joseph in whose tomb Jesus was laid. They talked about the story the women disciples told when they said that an angel told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. All of their memories of death and their sadness are real. They and we are about to be reminded that we are here to declare that Easter is about life and joy. Easter is about acknowledging the pain and disappointment of death and apparent defeat and then hearing God say to us, yes but. Yes, Jesus was crucified but he is alive now. Yes the disciples are downcast and their spirits disturbed. But, watch their understanding grow and their spirits brighten as they experience his good news with their whole being, one more time. They have been walking physically for a few miles, but their spiritual journey begins seriously when they are asked a question by one who they think is a stranger, and who has been walking just slightly behind them. We know it is Jesus, they do not, not yet, anyway. Of course we are surprised that they do not recognize who Jesus is. Maybe it is because the did not expect to see him, or perhaps he looks different than they remembered him. What we do know is that as we worship, we begin to see that Jesus as the risen Christ, as the One who asks what’s happening in our lives and who makes available to us a place to say what is on our minds and in our spirits. Jesus asks, “What are you two gentleman talking about?” Worship is about expressing ourselves freely. Cleopas feels free to speak of his despair. “Don’t you know what’s happened? How can you be the only one around that does not know what we have been through? Where have you been?” If you have ever had a dream become a nightmare of disappointment then you understand Cleopas and his frustration as he describes how Jesus came with prophetic power in his words and in his actions. Listen as he talks about how it all turned to dust on a cross and in a borrowed tomb. “We thought he would be the one to redeem us, but it looks like we were wrong. “And, as if it could not get any stranger, some women who are among us came back with this incredible story, they said that Jesus is alive. Others went to see, and the tomb was empty, but nobody really believed the women.” Can’t you hear his pain? “Look, stranger, I know you don’t know me, and I know that I am telling you a lot, but you need to understand that our hopes were smashed and scattered three days ago. Now it’s time for us to leave Jerusalem.” It seems that way, but, as we worship, we hear God’s good news. Jesus says, “let me tell you why things happened the ways they did.” Now Jesus, begins to tell the story of redemption from Moses till the resurrection. If we are opened to it, our spirits will hear the words that let us know deep in our hearts that Jesus, the one we worship and honor has what we need to hear and believe the truth. Jesus died that we might live and live into eternity. Their walk has already been worshipful in that they have talked about what Jesus meant to them. They have already encountered Christ, but as yet they do not know that. We know it and we also know what it means to be welcomed by Jesus into the company of the disciples. Worship is about hospitality. One of the most important things we do in worship is to offer hospitality to one another and to the guests who worship with us. Every survey about church growth I’ve seen indicates that song, sermon, ease of parking and attractiveness of the building are all important elements in people placing their membership in a congregation. But as important as they are, they are not as important as the sense of hospitality and inclusiveness that leads people to let their relationship with a church grow from guest to visitor to regular attendee to member to friend. Cleopas and his buddy ask Jesus to stay. It is nearly dark and they are concerned for this man they do not know. In all likelihood Jesus declined the first time he was asked, because he is engaging in a Near Eastern ritual, and it tells us some things about Jesus and our relationship with him. “On the surface, it is a gesture of social deference and polish. It implies that Jesus was not really going further but that he would not impose on the disciples to offer him hospitality. In Near Eastern customs, the guest was obligated to turn down such an invitation until it was vigorously repeated. Jesus action demonstrates that he never forces himself upon others. Faith must always be spontaneous, voluntary response to God’s grace.” (New Interpreter’s Bible , Abingdon Press, p. 479) He agrees to stay with them. I can hear Cleopas say, “please would you bless our food?” And as Jesus takes it, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it, they remember and their lives are changed forever. For Christians, especially for we Disciples and others who share this meal weekly, worship is about communion. Communion as an act of worship is closely related to the act of hospitality. You know how welcome you feel when you go to someone’s house and are offered something to eat and drink. As we are welcomed, as we welcome others, it is just natural to share food and drink with them. In worship we offer to one another communion, the symbolic last supper Jesus shared with his disciples. Worship is about sharing what is on our hearts, about hospitality and communion, and about expressing ourselves. But none of that happens unless we are able to recognized Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of our lives as we gather. At last Cleopas and his friend see that they have been walking and talking with Jesus all afternoon. What is it about the way Jesus breaks bread that is so life-changing? Is it that as he does we feel an intimate connection as soothing as a loving caress, a knowing look, a unique gesture that only his disciples would know? Whatever it is, they know who Jesus was by the way he broke the bread. And then, remarkably, he was gone from their sight. Cleopas and his partner were no doubt amazed, but something within them clicked. “Did you feel that burning in your heart when he spoke to us. Didn’t you feel yourself, mind, body, emotions, and spirit soar as he talked to us. He is alive. Really. They know that worship leads ultimately to proclamation. That same night make their way back to Jerusalem and declare to the other disciples, the news that the “Lord is risen, indeed!” What is about your encounter with Jesus that makes that feels you with so much energy and grace, love and possibility that you cannot keep it to yourself? Maybe is that in one way or another, Jesus took your life, broke away all that kept you from God, blessed you, and gave you back to the church and the world as a transformed person, no longer paralyzed by fear, but powerful and faithful enough to live and be the good news of Jesus Christ. We move from that encounter to vibrant, grateful worship. Here is how we can worship in the fullness of our gratitude to God for the way Jesus walks and talks with us. We can recognize Jesus as the living Christ and Savior of our lives. We can offer hospitality to others and proclaim the truth we know as followers of Jesus Christ, that he is the source of our salvation, that because he lives we too can live. We can face death unafraid, not because it is easy or painless, but because we know that the one who breaks bread for us will welcome us into eternity. We can invite Jesus Christ into our lives and let ourselves find transformation in his presence. We can work and worship with joy and thanksgiving, we can say amen, clap our hands, raise our hands in praise and surrender, sit and meditate quietly, just worship as the Spirit leads you. We can serve and sacrifice, love and lead, pray and praise God who has given us our very lives. We can walk down faith’s road and every now and then stop and tell someone else that Easter is a reality in our lives. It is “more than an anniversary celebration. It intrudes into the lives of real people, evoking worship, confession, repentance, communion, transformation, obedience, and mutual love.” (Texts for Preaching, JKP, 1995, p.273). And because Easter is real, we too can make the great proclamation, “The Lord is risen, indeed”. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15.57) Amen.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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