Dan Hotchkiss of the Alban Institute has an excellent article on church budgets during difficult financial times at http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=7184.
Come Ye Sinners
Todd Agnew’s “Come Ye Sinners” seemed to be a natural choice for this evening’s Ash Wednesday service. Lent is about returning to God and preparing to celebrate the resurrection. This stanza seemed particularly appropriate.
Come ye weary, and heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
And if you tarry until you’re better
You will never come at all
There is no point in waiting, we cannot get better without God’s help.
*About the above photograph: “The Open Road” by Trey Ratcliff, Flickr user: Stuck in Customs, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic License.
Why Four Readings?
This past Sunday, we used not one, not two, not three, but four scripture readings in worship (the fourth was from Psalm 50 and was used as a call to worship). Why four readings? That’s a question I’ll now attempt to answer. All four of the readings came from what is known as the Revised Common Lectionary. The lectionary is an ancient tradition by which the church attempts to cycle through the breadth (and to a lesser extent) the depth of the entire Bible every three years. In the words of The United Methodist Book of Worship, the lectionary:
provides a systematic approach to the use of Scripture in worship…. [it] follows the outline of the Christian year. In it the Church celebrates the central mystery of our faith: the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
In all honesty, the above response answers only why we used the four scripture readings we did, not why we use four scripture readings. I could give you a long rambling explanation, but for a more concise summary, I’m going to reference Anglican Bishop and New Testament scholar, N. T. Wright. In the book Simply Christian, Wright states that “telling the story, rehearsing the mighty acts of God: this is near the heart of Christian worship.” The reading of scripture is near to the heart of Christian worship because the Bible is the account of God’s mighty acts of creation, redemption, and final consummation. Wright continues:
… reading the Bible aloud is always central to Christian worship. Cutting back on this for whatever reason—trimming readings so the service doesn’t go on too long, chanting scripture passages so that they become merely part of a musical performance, or reading only the few verses the preacher intends to preach about—misses the point. The reason we read scripture in worship isn’t primarily to inform or remind the congregation about some biblical passage or theme they might have forgotten. Likewise, it’s much more than a peg to hang a sermon on, though preaching from one or more of the readings is often a wise plan. Reading scripture in worship is, first and foremost, the central way of celebrating who God is and what he’s done.
Now I’ll admit that we don’t always have four readings, sometimes we have only three or very rarely, only two, but I still believe we’re practicing what Wright preaches, namely reading scripture, significant chunks of scripture, as “the central way of celebrating who God is and what he’s done.” Earlier in the same chapter, Wright asserts that worship is the natural reaction to a glimpse of “the reality of God.” The great thing about the reading of scripture (and other aspects of worship, and indeed worship itself, taken as a whole) is that it is not only a natural way to respond to catching a glimpse of God, it is a way, a means of grace, by which we put ourselves in a place where we are more likely to catch another glimpse.
Why Do We Worship?
I try to keep up with the blogs of several of my clergy colleagues. One of the issues that has been much discussed lately is worship. Mores specifically what is worship and why do we worship. At first glance it seems like an easy question, but coming up with a compact, coherent answer is quite difficult. I’ll begin by saying that I really resonate with much of what Anglican Bishop and New Testament scholar N. T. Wright said in his chapter on worship in Simply Christian. Wright observes that “when we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him. Not to have that reaction is a fairly sure sign that we haven’t yet really understood who he is or what he’s done.” Wright asserts that “reading scripture in worship is, first and foremost, the central way of celebrating who God is and what he’s done.” I would summarize and assert that worship is, first and foremost, a natural celebratory reaction to who God is and what God has done in the creation, redemption and final consummation of all that is.
Others have different definitions and that does not surprise, nor particularly disturb me. What does surprise and somewhat disturb me is the complete lack of any mention of the third general rule. I believe that worship is primarily a celebration of who God is and what God has done, but I also want to talk about other aspects of worship as well. My desire to do so is rooted in my Wesleyan heritage. John Wesley gave the early Methodists (and by extension United Methodists today) three general rules: 1. do no harm; 2. do good; and 3. attend to the ordinances of God. The ordinances of God included worship, the public reading of scripture, preaching, and the Eucharist. Clearly, public worship is a large part of the third rule. In all these things Wesley believed (and I still believe) that we encounter the presence of the living God. But the ordinances of God are not ends in and of themselves they are means to an end. That end is summed up in Bishop Reuben Job’s rephrasing of the third rule as “stay in love with God.” I believe that staying in love with God is an important reason, sufficient in it’s own right, to worship God.
So although God is the primary focus in worship, that focus affects those who are worshiping. When we worship, we encounter the presence of the living God—by the Spirit’s power, and not any intrinsic power within the means or the worshiper. Worship is therefore the celebration of who God is and what God has done and has the result of helping us encounter and remain in love with the God we celebrate.*
Now, in my never-resting mind, this is still not completely satisfactory, because—as the content of the psalms (ancient and holy hymns) reminds us—vital worship has long included the lifting up of our sorrows, concerns, and woes to God. But perhaps we need only expand the definition of who God is and what God has done to encompass the understanding of God as the God who hears our cry and responds in mercy.
*A caveat in line with a Wesleyan understanding of the means of grace: I need to state that we do not necessarily encounter God every or even most Sunday mornings. God is sovereign, free to work or not work within and without of the means of Grace.
The Best of All
The last words of John Wesley were, “The best of all, God is with us.” I just got back from visiting at the hospital and the longer I live the more I believe that John Wesley was absolutely right. No matter what we go through, no matter what we endure, no matter what we suffer (and likewise, though we tend to take less notice of this point, no matter how well our lives may be going, no matter how well the world is treating us at present, no matter how many blessings we can count), the best thing about life is that God is with us … always.
*More pictures of the Wesley’s can be found at: http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/.
Sabbath Rest
I’m looking ahead to the rest of the week and seeing that if I want to observe a Sabbath, I probably better take it today. Since I’ve already been working since about six, I need to start now. … Well right after I run to the hospital for a visit. Remember to do what God says and not what I do.
Update: Actually, Jesus healed the sick on the sabbath, so my visiting them is probably okay. The other stuff I’ve been doing, probably not so much.
*The above photo: “The Church in the Wilderness before an Icelandic Summer Storm” by Trey Ratcliff, flicker username: Stuck in Customs. (CC) Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
Book Study
We’re looking to start a short term book study soon. One of the books under consideration is Who Stole My Church?: What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century by Gordon MacDonald. Everyone would be welcome to join the study whether they have already read the book or not. At present we haven’t set a time, but are just trying to guage the level of interest. Please let us know if you are interested by calling 620.251.3240 or emailing us at johnandjenny@revcollins.com.
More on the Problem of Evil
I can’t help agreeing with Bart Ehrman, even though I’m reluctant to take lessons in theology and the Bible from agnostics who do not believe in Jesus’ resurrection, when he says:
“Even if we cannot, in the end, know the reasons for suffering, we can at the least have appropriate responses to it. We ourselves can feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked; we can work to solve problems of poverty; we can give money to agencies finding cures for cancer and AIDS; we can volunteer more often locally; we can give more to international relief efforts. We can, in fact, fulfill the urgent demands implicit in Matthew’s account of the judgment between the sheep and the goats, for ‘as you have done this to the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done it unto me.'”
The last quote I want to share comes from Bart Ehrman’s theological sparing partner N. T. Wright:
“I don’t think much of the Bible is actually addressing the question, ‘Why is there suffering?’, but rather the question, ‘What is God doing about it?’”
Wright’s answer involves Abraham, the first coming of Jesus, the Resurrection of Jesus, the second coming of Jesus and all of God’s plan of salvation. I would encourage you to read the entire post.
And a final passage from that same post:
“The other side of the coin of ‘the problem of evil’ is, after all, ‘the problem of good’: if there is no God, no good and wise creator, why is there an impulse to justice and mercy so deep within us? Why is there beauty, love, laughter, friendship, joy? How do you then tell the difference between Ecclesiastes and Sartre?”
The “problem of good” is a theoretical problem not for Christians, of course; but for atheists and agnostics.
Links:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/
http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/2008/04/thanks-bart-for-a-further.html