February 20-21, 2009
Worship
Invocation
Wa wa wa emimimo
Wa wa wa alagbara
Wao wao wao
(trad. Yoruban, Nigeria)
Come, come, come, O Holy Spirit
Come, come, come, O Trinity
Come now, come now, come now.
We’ve rung bells that change the shape of the air by vibrating. We have invoked the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, the fullness of God, Creater, Redeemer and Sustainer, Father and Mother, Son of God and Human Being, Breath that hovered over the face of the waters at the beginning of time and Breath that reaches into the depths of every cell of our lungs. We have one thing lest to do. We need to see and smell what God is doing, too. For that it takes FIRE. So we light a candle.
This is how they do it in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages and pilgrims still today come to offer their devotion to God. Thousands each year come to the cathedral where St. James’ remains are said to lie. St. James, named for the brother of Jesus, is the medieval saint who ran the Moors out of Spain. Pilgrims came and smelled the place up. So to sense the sacred, they swing this enormous censer roaring with flaming incense up to the ceiling and back, when pilgrims come to pray.
Tearing down walls
We’ve just torn down some walls by getting to know some Christians on the other side of the world—The ancient Easetern Orthodox by way of Missouri, Evangelical Protestants in Nigeria, and Roman Catholics in Medieval Spain.
Think of the things that separate us.
Language – Greek and Hebrews, Aramaic, Latin, Assyrian, Coptic, and Arabic
Tradition – Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant (all varieties), Episcopalian
Nationality – China, Indonesia, Congo, Australia, Chile, ….
Race – red and yellow, black and white, we are precious in his sight
Culture – middle class, rural, high church urban
Age – children, youth, young adults, empty nesters, retirees
Theology – immanent, transcendent, incarnational, spiritual, …
All of these areas create walls. You can come up with others. Think about the walls you live within. How much of the world can you see from where you stand? And then the big questions…
Where is God?
And can worship tear down walls?
We’ve identified some of the walls we live within. We started to worship beyond those walls tonight the moment those first chimes rang and we called God’s presence into our gathering. Let’s be clear. God isn’t contained by our walls. God is not bound up in white, North American Protestant Christianity. God’s not some tool we use to scratch our backs or make ourselves feel good. God speaks English and Yoruban. God is white and black., old and young, and as we’ll talk about tomorrow, gay and straight. God is on every side of every wall. Don’t ever let anyone tell you something’s too small for God or too large. So if we’re going to worship the God of all the universe, our worship has got to find ways that tear down the walls between us.
Ephesians 2.13-15
One of the apostle Paul’s disciples, writing in Paul’s name to honor his teaching, wrote, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace. In his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace.”
Everybody get up: you’re going to take sides. You have to take a side. I’m going to give you a whole list of two things to choose between. Divide up, left and right.
Left-handed vs. Right-handed
Football vs. Band
Lunch vs. Study Hall
Dance floor vs. Wallflower
Traditional vs. Contemporary
Facebook vs. MySpace
Mac vs. Windows
Where is God?
God is on every side of every wall and cries about the walls we build to keep others out. What I want to do tonight and tomorrow is challenge you to name and then tear down the walls that come between Christians.
“In his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of two.”
That’s what worship is supposed to do. It creates one humanity in place of two.
Create one humanity in place of two
Think about worship in your home congregation. What does it do that creates one humanity in place of two? What walls does worship in your congregation tear down? I want to start with what it does well. Don’t tell me what fails. Tell me what succeeds.
Music – how does it tear down walls? Give me an example.
Preaching – have you ever heard it tear down walls? When?
Prayer – when have you heard language in a prayer that tears down walls? How about the ways people address God not just as Father, King, and He? Come up with a dozen other names for God that don’t sound like a tyrannical old man in the sky. Right now. Do it. Call them out.
Communion – here’s where Disciples should shine. What do we do that virtually no other church does? Invite everyone to the table. Deny no one. Who would Jesus turn away?
You know that Religion can divide people. You see what it can do with rats. I’m going to challenge to go back to your congregations and help your home church figure out how worship can tear down the dividing walls and create one humanity in place of two.
Two ways to see worship
Thomas Moore has said that there are two ways of thinking about church and religion. One is that worship is the EXCEPTION. We go to church as an exception to the rest of the week, to be for an hour in the presence of the holy, to retreat for a time into that sacred presence. Now, this is well and good. Worship should tell a story that helps us come into the presence of God. The rituals, the smells and bells, the taste of communion bread, the bowed heads at prayer—all of is fine. But when we think that’s all there is to religion—what happens in church—then we start to think that our way is the only right way.
There’s a second way to think about church and religion, according to Thomas Moore. He calls is the “art of memory.” I call is TRANSFORMATION. What happens on Sunday then makes sense of everything else that goes on during the week. Worship isn’t just a once a week retreat. Instead, it reconnects us to God all week long. Did you know that the days of the week are named after gods? That’s because time reveals the sacred. From Monday’s Moon to Thursday’s Thor to Saturday’s Saturn—the days mark the sacredness of time. So what happens on Sunday inspires the rest of the week for Christians. If you’re in worship on Sunday, you have an easier time seeing the sacred in everyday things.
You also become more generous to other religions. Because they are also finding the sacred in the everyday. Let Christian worship and Jewish worship and Muslim worship uncover common ground in the sacredness of the everyday.
Let’s finish out these meditations by invoking God’s presence once again. What you begin tonight should make a difference not only while you’re here at Eagle Eyrie but throughout the rest of your life.
Wa wa wa emimimo
Wa wa wa alagbara
Wao wao wao
