Meeting at God's Table

Written by Pastor Ed

Meeting at God’s Table

October 2, 2011

 

Hebrews 10:19-25

I Corinthians 11: 17-34

Practically every congregation I know of has, at some time, taken a survey about worship preferences.  It always seems like a good thing to do at the time.  After all, shouldn’t you find out what the congregation wants so that you can plan worship accordingly?

But I have given up on such surveys, and discourage their use,  because the results are fairly predictable.  Some people prefer hymns, while others prefer more “contemporary” songs – of course our hymns were once contemporary songs as well.  Some think the sermon is the main feature, while others want more sharing.  Some people like things to always be the same, while others want to be surprised every Sunday with something new.  In other words, you really can’t win!

I recall one congregation I visited where a person told us quite confidently, “We have been able to sustain the worship wars here.”  Now I knew they had simply chosen the wrong word and that’s not what they meant, but in some congregations it would be a very true statement.  Pastors are warned that the easiest way to stir up trouble in a congregation is to mess with worship.

Why do we gather for worship?  Is it simply routine, something expected?  While I was working on this topic, I ran across a delightful little video entitled Wrong Worship.  It’s packaged as an advertisement for a CD of worship songs for those for whom worship has lost its meaning.  Let’s listen.

Wrong Worship

Yet corporate worship, the gathering of God’s people, remains a vital part of our faith with roots deep in the Old Testament and numerous calls for such gatherings in the New Testament.  As we read, the writer of the book of Hebrews encourages them to “consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb. 10: 24-25) 

For all that encouragement, and example however, there is no formula for how worship is to be conducted and so worship takes many forms.  Some traditions use a liturgy that can be traced back for centuries and that has remained relatively unchanged, like the Orthodox church a highly liturgical format.  Those of us in the Free Church tradition – meaning we don’t follow a strict liturgy – have our own routinized formats.  Even the more charismatic traditions or the mega-church model has a standard format of worship.  And they are all worship.

Most of us find a style of worship that fits, that speaks to us or that we are comfortable with.  Most of us know more what we don’t like, rather than necessarily what we do like in worship.  But worship remains a vital; I would even say essential part of nurturing our faith.  When I talk with people who are no longer able to attend Sunday worship for one reason or another, it is always one of the things they miss the most. 

I have experienced many different worship styles over the years.  Of course most of my experience has been in Mennonite settings, but during University days I participated in Lutheran chapels, and of course attended Lutheran worship whenever we visited Gay’s parents.  I have attended everything from Catholic mass to African-American Pentecostal services, and lots of different denominations in between.  I have worshipped with congregations of six to ten people and with a congregation that numbers around 1000 in worship, and of course mass gatherings at Assemblies.  My own understanding about worship has changed over the years, as I have experienced all these different settings, some of which I have appreciated, and some less so.

So why do we gather Sunday after Sunday?  While there are many answers to that question, for me the main reason to gather is to meet God.  If there is anything we can glean from the Scriptures about worship, it is that the focus of worship is on God.  From the Psalms to the scenes of worship in Revelation, the object of worship is God, the creator and sustainer of the universe.  “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Say the angels in Revelation 7, that great scene of worship of people from every tribe and language.

So when we gather to worship we should expect to encounter God.  It might be in the Scriptures, or in the music or prayers.  We might sense God’s presence as we give our offerings, or during the Children’s Feature.  Perhaps we will encounter God in the other people we meet as we gather.  And it may well be different on different Sundays.  And yes, there may be times when God seems strangely absent for us, although I suspect that has more to do with us than it does with God.

Most of the writings of the New Testament are aimed at the church, the body of Christ as a corporate group.  Unfortunately we don’t have a plural “you” in English as there is in Greek, and so we tend to think that Paul, for example, is addressing individuals when in reality he is addressing the congregation.  When we become Christians we join that corporate body of Christ, and become members of it.  That means each of us is important and each of us brings our own gifts and talents to the whole.  And so when we gather for worship, it is important for each part of the body to be present.  You may think your presence isn’t that important, but the body is missing a piece when you or I am not here.

Likewise, I would argue, each element of our worship is important.  Some people think we need to get rid of the announcements or the offering, because those aren’t really worship.  But when we come together and recognize the God we worship, it calls forth, or should call forth, some kind of response.  Part of that response is offering our gifts of money and time.  And part of that response is what we do beyond these walls as we go out to serve others.

Today we participate in another act of worship that is both a place of meeting God, and an act of response.  I recall in a worship class I took in seminary, we were asked to name the one element of worship we would choose if we could only do one thing.  It’s not an easy thing to choose and some said singing, or praying – I don’t think anyone said taking up the offering.  And I chose communion. 

Communion, and baptism, are called by various names in the church. Our current confession of faith calls them signs.  They are sometimes called symbols, or ordinances, and in some traditions sacraments.  In our Mennonite tradition we do not believe that these signs carry any sacramental meaning in and of themselves.  The bread and the wine are not changed in any way.  And yet, we do believe as our confession says that, “As Christians eat the bread and drink the cup, they experience Christ’s presence in their midst.”  In the sharing together as Christ’s body, around the table, we experience in a real way Christ’s presence and thus remember his death and resurrection.  It is truly an act of worship. 

And it is also an act of response as we recommit ourselves to the way of Jesus who gave himself up for our sakes.  It is an act of response as we demonstrate the unity of the body in this act which we celebrate today with Christians around the world and across the centuries.  It is both a solemn act, and an act of thanksgiving, “eucharist,” that anticipates the great marriage feast of the Lamb.

Worship takes place in many forms and in many places.  It is certainly not confined to a particular day, time or place.  11:00 AM on Sunday morning is no more holy a time than any other.  Nor, as we sang, is this place any more holy than any other.  But when we gather together to worship our God, to share the bread and the cup, and to fellowship with our brothers and sister, then it becomes a holy place where we meet God and respond to God.

May it be so today and every time we meet together.