January 26, 2003
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Prayer
chorus (printed in the bulletin – join me in singing it through twice): Lord
prepare me to be a sanctuary, Today’s
sermon is the second in a series that will take us into the Lenten season. The
theme of the series is “What Will Christians Do”? The answer to the question
today is that Christians worship. That
answer, I suppose is as obvious as last weeks answer in which was that among the
things Christians do is pray. Then I said that prayer is honest communication in
which we talk to and listen to God. We pray seeking direction for our lives,
praising, thanking, interceding, confessing, and petitioning God for what we
need in our lives. Prayer is one way we respond to God’s presence in our
lives, worship is another. The
word worship is a compound word formed by the words, worth and -ship. Worth
describes the value of something. The suffix ship describes a condition, it is
descriptive of character as in leadership, or skill as in penmanship, or an
office such as chairwoman-ship. One
definition says that “to worship is to place worth or value on something and
then to interact with it based on that value” (Discipleship
Journal November/December 2002, p.61). But know
that the object of worship can be anything and anyone. As people who want to grow in our faith, we may enjoy athletic events and cheer loudly for our beloved teams. We may exercise with great discipline and mold our bodies into shapes we desire and which others find desirable. We may honor teachers, friends, children, and loved ones, our sorority or fraternity, our lodges and other organizations. We honor our country, the place we were born and the town in which we were raised. Christians may do all of those things. Every one of them is good and brings us great pleasure. We honor all kinds of things and people. But we worship God. When we worship God, we place our ultimate trust in the One whose condition is love, whose character is just and merciful, whose skill is more that we can ever know, whose office, whose position is about power, presence, and knowledge. For worshipers of God, all true worship focuses on God and views worship as a gift we offer. “Giving seems to go hand in hand with celebration. We mark birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and all kinds of milestones with gifts. How much more should we celebrate the wonder of God – the milestone of God’s entrance into our lives – with gifts of worship!” (Discipleship Journal p. 45). What are those gifts? We offer them here regularly. They are offered to God in our songs and prayers, in our preaching and praise, in communion and in fellowship. We share our gifts of worship when we offer this space for weddings, and meetings of the community, when we remember lives in memorial services and funerals. They are offered in acts of compassion and service. They are all offerings to God for the gifts of life and love and especially for God’s son, Jesus Christ. We are bold to declare that “worship is our response to God for who God is and all that God has done for us out of God’s amazing love” (Discipleship Journal p.63). Well if that is true, answer this, the skeptics say. When we hear the war drums beating, while there is a national debate going on in which people say that Jim Crow laws and Affirmative Action are morally equivalent, what are you doing when you worship? In a time when too many young people are too cynical and too disaffected, when too many people say that they are spiritual but not religious, which means that the church has no real relevance to their lives, what does it mean to worship God? The answer is in the encounter of Jesus and the unnamed Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and the way she comes to know him and his worth. Remember two things about this story. Jews whom Jesus represented, and Samaritans whom the woman represented were bitter enemies. They had nothing in common and few dealings with each other. The second thing to remember is that their conversation was remarkable just because it happened. Jesus speaks to a woman, a sworn enemy, and both were able to move beyond their differences to revelation. As you follow the story, you will hear Jesus involved in the longest conversation he has in all of scripture. It is one of the most theological, as it speaks of the very nature of God. And it is the first time in the gospel of John that Jesus reveals himself to be the Christ, the one sent by God for the salvation of the world. This woman who by some standards is living a somewhat complicated life, what with her several husbands and currently not so great reputation. How did this encounter happen? After all, most of the women came to the well early in the morning to draw water. She has come in the middle of the day. The conventional wisdom is that she came at noon because her reputation was not the best. She knew that coming at the hour would mean not having to deal with the looks, and the gossip, and the speculation about her. But I think she came at noon because at that hour she could have some time and space just for her. There without the prying eyes and racing minds of others, she could worship, pray, and sing, and offer herself to God in peace. There she was, at Jacob’s well on Mt. Gerizim, a sacred, worshipful place for the Samaritans when she meets Jesus who is resting under a tree while his disciples go look for food. They begin to talk, actually they debate a little bit when he asks her for a drink of water. “You’re a Jew, you are one of those people I have been suspicious all my life. You are outside my social and religious circle, how do you ask me for water”? “If you knew who was asking you for water, you would know that he is the source of eternal, living water”. Jesus was speaking spiritually, she was thinking literally. “Maybe you forgot, but even if I was going to give you some water, you have no bucket, no thermos, or even a cup. And by the way, where can I get this living water”? “If you drink his water that two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, your thirst will return. But the eternal God given water I have for you will quench your soul’s thirst forever”. “Then take my bucket and give me have this water you promise”. He says to her, “go get your husband”. Here is where this story takes a turn into moralizing about this woman’s life. Notice though that Jesus does not get caught up in how many husbands the woman has had, or her current living situation, or our moral superiority. The point is that Jesus believed no one was outside the love of God and that no one should be denied the opportunity to know or be known by God. Jesus wants her to know that he knows who she is, he knows some of her life story, he knows something about her faith journey, and he wants to go with her as she continues to grow. As they talk, Jesus and the woman teach us some lessons about worship. They teach us that worship is about tradition, but it is not about traditionalism. Tradition honors the best of our heritage, it honors that of the past which is alive in us. Traditionalism is about doing things because we always have, whether they are still meaningful or not. Tradition says the family and friends gathers for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s a fine tradition and deserves to be honored. Traditionalism dictates that the menu is turkey and dressing, potatoes and broccoli and green bean casseroles, Jell-O salad and pie with whipped cream, even if nobody really likes it. It ‘s the way we have always done it, so it is the way we will always do it. That’s traditionalism. The woman’s tradition said that Jacob’s well was the center of worship. Her traditionalism said any other place of worship was suspect. She says, “you are a prophet, but you’re not a Samaritan prophet. We’ve worshipped here for generations. This mountain is ours. Your worship place is in Jerusalem”. We say, this is our place, this is my pew, I hang my coat on this hanger, I will park my car in this space. I must sing only the hymns I know. If I can’t then my day is ruined, and my spirit is deflated. Worship is not about traditionalism, it is about traditions that keep us moving forward, that lead us to give all that we have to God. It’s all the old familiar songs, and new ones that move us. It’s the way it used to be, and the new thing that God will show us. It is all that we know, and all that we will learn by the grace of God. Jesus says, “the day is coming when all that we think is important will be changed. There will come a day when where we worship will not be nearly as important as how we worship. Their conversation tells us that worship is about a covenant with God, and about the attitude we bring to worship. Jesus then says salvation is from the Jews. What does he mean? He understands faith, his and ours to have grown out of relationships kept by our spiritual ancestors and God. We are the heritage of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, Rachel and Leah, the prophets and dreamers through all ages. We are the heritage of all that is embodied in Jesus himself as the source of our salvation. We will be God’s people, and by covenant, we will know the presence and protection of God. So we worship in a place to be sure, and we are privileged here to worship God in a beautiful place, but we worship even more with an attitude. We are invited to worship in spirit, with the breath of God in us, and in truth, that is with honesty and integrity. It is true that we all have preferences, but worship is not always about style or about liturgy. It can be meaningful both in quiet reflection and in verbal call and response – that I talk to you and you talk back to me. It is meaningful in grand cathedrals and in storefront churches. It is meaningful through classical music or soaring gospel. Worship has meaning through the pipe organ and keyboard, and drums and guitars and voices. It’s all good if it’s all offered to God in spirit and truth. Worship in spirit and in truth. I want you to feel free here to worship God as you are led. Raise your hands to the heavens, say Amen, nod occasionally, smile with the joy of our Lord. Let God’s spirit moving in you lead you to respond to the presence of the living God in this place. Our friend at the well is concerned about worship because she knows that the day will come when the Messiah will arrive and explain and declare all that God has for the people. She understands worship to be about expectation. We bring so many for our own expectations to worship. We want it to inspire us, to make us feel good, to comfort us, enlighten us, perhaps even to entertain us. It can do all of that, but what we get out of worship is in direct relation to what we bring to it. Even if we come with downcast spirits, can we expect our service of worship to lift us up? When we are already up, do we expect worship to lift us higher? What do you bring to a service of worship? Do you expect to be blessed? I pray we all come to our worship place as this woman did. She brought a teachable spirit and an open heart and she was blessed. After Jesus tells her that he is the Messiah, “I am the One you have been waiting to see”. Finally, worship helps us know who Jesus is. Once the woman understood that she had been in a serious, life changing conversation with the Messiah, she went back down the mountain and told her story to her neighbors. Other Samaritans came to see Jesus for themselves and according to scripture, “many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony” (v.39). Once we know who Jesus is, and worship him with expectation and joy, we will come to understand that worship will invite us to do one more thing. It will invite us to respond. What do Christians do? We declare that in the middle of chaos or calm, our God alone is worthy of all the honor and praise that we can offer. We can tell the world that come what may, we will worship in spirit and truth, the God who has breathed the Holy Spirit into us. God is indeed our rock, when we are weary, our hope when we are unsure, our refuge when we are afraid, our salvation when we are lost. God has, simply because God loves us, given us Jesus Christ who will be food for our hungry spirits and water for our thirsty souls. He
will fill us with all we need to worship God, however we worship God in spirit
and in truth. God give us grace to worship God to whom all honor and glory are
due. Praise be to God forever and ever. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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