| |
|
|
| |
"Ancient, Holy Words"
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.Pentecost IIIB (special series) June 21, 2009 My niece, when she was just 3 years old, was learning the Lord’s Prayer at bedtime while my sister and brother-in-law prayed with her each night. When my mom, her grandmother, babysat one night and put her to bed, little Pam folded her hands, closed her eyes, and prayed, “Our Fadder, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in hebben. Give us this day our daily sandwich…” At 3 years old, her daily bread usually came in the form of a sandwich, so without realizing it, she did a bit of paraphrasing, and made the Lord’s Prayer intensely personal, meaningful for her young life. The Lord’s Prayer is over 2000 years old. Billions of people, in hundreds of languages, have used these same words to speak to God. The Nicene Creed is over 1700 years old. The Apostles’ Creed is older than that, a compilation of a variety of similar creeds, written by a variety of Christian communities and theologians, over many years during the first 200 years of the Christian Church. We tend to think of it as something that was written once, by a specific person or group of people, which only modern hymnal editors have “tweaked,” much to our chagrin. But it has a long history of being edited, or “tweaked.” Here is one of the earliest versions from hundreds of years ago: I BELIEVE in God almighty the Father
almighty,
And in Christ Jesus, his only Son, our Lord Who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was buried And the third day rose from the dead Who ascended into heaven And sitteth on the right hand of the Father Whence he cometh to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit The holy church The remission of sins The resurrection of the flesh The life everlasting. These creeds were written over many years of the early church, with many contributors, because, as false teachers began to bring in strange ideas, Christians needed to know "Just what is it that we believe?" These two creeds have endured because they do such a good job of naming the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, and they have done so for every generation, no matter when or where. In that sense, they are timeless. The 23rd Psalm was already a thousand years old when Jesus lived among us. Same for Psalm 22, which Jesus quoted from the cross – already over 1000 years old. Ancient prayers and chants like “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy); words like “Invocation” and “Benediction;” recitation of Scripture like the “Words of Institution” before Holy Communion, also hundreds of years old, can make worship liturgy appear to be the quaint hobby of religious people who are out of touch with the modern world. Worship leaders guide the congregation through a weekly ritual that is anything but spontaneous, with ritualized statements and responses, standing at particular times, sitting at others, and the like. The music is often hundreds of years old, and the prayers are scripted and formal. Is liturgical worship, then, an escape from the real world, irrelevant to the needs and challenges of daily life in the 21st century? Is liturgical worship something that WAS relevant in, for example, the ancient world, or medieval Europe, which we continue to do these hundreds of years later simply because we don’t like change? Some would say so. Perhaps that opinion, as well as our frequent inability to be able to explain WHY we do what we do as we continue to use these ancient forms, comes from a mutual lack of understanding on just what “worship” is, and just what “tradition” is. First: WORSHIP. For many years now, I’ve kind of cringed when I hear people talking about “going to church” on Sunday. Biblically, the church isn’t a place, a building that people go to. “The church is what’s left when the building burns down.” The church is YOU! - the people of God, believers and disciples of Jesus Christ. What we do on Sunday morning (or Saturday evening) isn’t “church,” but worship. So, biblically, we might more accurately say not that we are going to church, but that we are gathering as the church to worship God…we are going to worship. When you think about it, it really is a significant difference. What exactly is “worship”? First, worship is not about pleasing you, or me. Worship is not getting our weekly dose of hymn singing, a choir anthem or other special music or two, inspirational preaching (or not!), and a sacred meal-to-go. Worship is not primarily about pleasing ourselves with religious ritual and tradition. Rather, worship is:
It is here, perhaps, since it has been a subject of conversation recently (and not for the first time), where a few words about this sticky wicket of applause would be helpful. First, in our culture, applause is the accepted way of expressing appreciation, welcome, and honor. When a person is baptized, or married, or installed as pastor or lay leader, we typically applaud to express our welcome, our appreciation and our respect. Some cultures may pound the table; some may stamp their feet. We applaud. Second, applause in and of itself is neither sacred nor secular. It’s simply a social custom, adaptable for almost any situation. Third, and most importantly, applause is not a pastoral matter. It’s a “neighbor” matter, and seems to become a matter of concern in worship mainly around sacred music/special music. Rather than talking to the pastors, worshipers really need to talk to one another, because here is the rub: We have received, virtually one-for-one, equal numbers of letters, phone calls, and visits expressing anger and upset regarding BOTH applauding, and not applauding, in response to particular offerings of special music. Each tends to assume they represent “everyone else” and that they are arguing primarily with the pastor. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those who favor applause feel very strongly about it – it’s what we do as a culture, and often spontaneously, to express appreciation, welcome, honor, as I’ve already said. When one feels moved to do so, it’s almost impossible not to, and it’s a whole lot easier than trying to chase down an entire choir after worship to personally, verbally thank them. And they are absolutely right. Those who do not favor applause after special music also feel very strongly about it. While it might culturally express appreciation for the talent and hard work of the choir or soloist or instrumentalist, there’s something different about it in the case of worshipful music. For some people, music speaks a very special, very spiritual language. It moves their hearts and minds to places mere words simply do not. They describe this as being moved to a very sacred, holy place, they feel themselves to be deeply in the presence of God. It is an experience they want to just savor quietly for a moment before picking up and moving on with the service. A sudden burst of applause truly jars them out of this sacred place, and destroys that holy moment for them. They, too, are absolutely right. And people of each strong feeling sit side-by-side in worship. THAT is the dilemma. There is no hard and fast rule. No right side and wrong side. Both “sides” are right! That’s why it is a neighbor-issue. Frankly, it really matters very little what Pastor Bruce and I think. We have our opinions just like all of you do, and even the two of us aren’t identical! [10:30: In fact, one person left the early service saying, “I don’t care WHAT the pastor says! Clapping in church is STILL wrong!”] But because it is, what theologians would say, “adiaphora” – or, a secondary matter – we all need to give each other the respect for our different points of view, and our differing piety. There are times when worshipers simply burst into applause, not because they’ve made a conscious decision to, but because it’s what we do. And those who don’t appreciate that will have to try to be patient and accepting of the good intentions being expressed. There will be times when you feel like applauding, but something in your gut tells you not to, and you may be frustrated; and you, too, will have to try to be patient and accepting of the importance to many of what they are experiencing as a holy moment. So talk to one another if it’s important to you. The more open we are with one another, the more we listen to one another’s deepest feelings and concerns, I promise you the more worshipful this time together each week will be for all of us, not because we’ve made a rule or won an argument, but because we’ve learned to love one another even when we don’t agree. Worship is an offering we bring every Saturday evening or Sunday morning, with God at the center. That is why we invoke, or call down, God’s presence with the Greeting at the beginning of the liturgy; why we do it again in the words of absolution or forgiveness; and we do it again at the end of the service with the Benediction or blessing as we prepare to leave here and enter the mission field of our community and world, with God at our center. But we’ve only skimmed the surface this morning. For the next several weeks, we’re going to continue to reflect on worship, with an eye toward enriching this weekly experience for every worshiper, with topics such as: Worship as Sacred Time; Christian Worship as “Counter-Cultural” (hmm, wonder what that means??!!); Luther’s work and teachings about worship which was a huge part of the Reformation; Worship Music…and more. If you have to miss a week, remember that you can find weekly sermons on our website where you can read them, or even print them off. And now to God, who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21) Rev. Joan Gunderman, Senior Pastor
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
|
|
See the index of our
online sermon collection |