The Main Course: Proclaiming the Word

In my recent entry of November 26, I wrote about the way we are invited into God’s presence as we begin worship.  What is the purpose of having the Confession and the Assurance of Pardon early in the service?  Why do we have a call to worship?  For the last few weeks when you’ve come to church, have you paid attention to how the call to worship and the hymns or praise songs affect your heart and spirit as you begin the prayer of confession and then receive the assurance of pardon?  I hope that your mind, heart, and spirit were cleansed as you gathered around and prepared to hear the word and meet God. 

With that time of invitation and preparation, we are now opened to receiving the Word—which happens in the next movement: “Proclaiming the Word.”  We have finished with the “appetizers” (that which enhances our appetite) and it’s on to the main course!  In the Reformed tradition, “Proclaiming the Word” could be seen as the primary reason we even come to church!

While gathering around the word appears to be more oriented to what the congregation does, proclaiming the word seems to be what the preacher does—or is it?  Let’s take a look…

In the Presbyterian Book of Order there are many suggestions of how to Proclaim the Word, all or some of which may be included in this movement.  First, as preparation for the reading, proclaiming, and hearing of God’s Word (and as a bridge between gathering and proclaiming), a prayer may be spoken or sung seeking the illumination of the Holy Spirit. 

Next is the time when the Worship Leader may read the Scripture lessons suitable of the day or the lesson may be read by the congregation responsively, antiphonally, or in unison.  Often, the Worship Leader reads one selection and the preacher (usually the pastor) reads the one introducing the sermon.

Psalms or anthems, and other musical forms or artistic expression which proclaim or interpret the Scripture lessons or their themes, may be included with the reading lessons.  A wonderful choir, Praise team, soloists and other musicians may share in this aspect of proclaiming the word!  Have you ever considered doing a dramatic skit or reading in order to proclaim the word?  Children can be part of this when they hear the pastor’s children’s stories.  What other ways might the word be proclaimed in our midst? There is an infinite variety of ways that the arts can be incorporated here in this movement!

If none of these other elements happened, I know we would need to hear the Word as interpreted in a sermon preached by the pastor (or other designated preacher).  The sermon may take on forms other than the typical sermon to which we’ve become accustomed (after being authorized by the session and the pastor).  What are some of the different ways you’ve experienced? Usually the proclamation concludes with a prayer but could also close with a time of rejoicing and praise.  It is appropriate here to call the people to discipleship, to challenge them to incorporate into their lives what they have just heard.

Wow—how do we respond to all this?  That is what we will look at in the next installment!

“Living Life to the Fullest”

How often have you heard the expression, “living life to the fullest”?

I hear it a lot.  And when I hear it I think I know what it means, but as I think about it more, I wonder, do I really know what it means?

It is said as an encouragement to “get off the couch” and “live life to the fullest!”  “Get the biggest bang for the buck!”  It is said after someone has died:  “She really lived life to the fullest!”  A while ago I saw a question posted on Facebook asking “If you could sum up what being healthy means to you in five words or less, what would you say?” and one post said, “Living life to the fullest!”

Usually when I hear that expression, it is connected to people who go skydiving or live on their own island or backpack around Europe (or the world!) or go bungee-jumping at an advanced age.  These people seem to have a lot of money and no job they need to show up for every day.  So what about me?  I don’t even like skydiving or bungee-jumping or extreme sports of any kind.  I don’t have a lot of money and I have responsibilities here and now that I can’t abandon to go traveling around the world.  Does that mean I can’t live life to the fullest?

Then I got to thinking, what about people in India or Africa or Haiti?  Or the people in the poorest parts of the USA?  Can they live life to the fullest?  There is no way they can do any of the things I’ve mentioned!  They don’t always have enough food to eat or a dry place to sleep or clean water to drink—what about them?

And what about someone like Mother Teresa—could she have “lived life to the fullest”?

So doesn’t this beg the question, “What is life to the fullest?”

Didn’t Jesus say something about that? 

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 

Another translation puts it this way:  “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” 

If we have abundant life, life to the full, does it matter what our circumstances are?  Can we be in Africa or Haiti or India and still live life to the fullest?  Can we still lead a quiet life and have it be “to the fullest”?  Can someone wheelchair-bound or otherwise challenged live life to the fullest?

What if they had a relationship with Jesus?

Do you? Are you living life to the fullest?

Crash Helmets in Church?

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions.  Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke?  Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?  The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.  It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets.  Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.  For the sleeping god may wake some day and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”

[Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, Harper & Row, 1982]

I love this quote!  Well, maybe not every word but definitely the middle part:

“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets.  Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”

Wow!  What would that be like? Would we be able to handle it?  Would we experience this as pure power or would we experience God’s love?  Both?  Why don’t we experience this?

Something to think about…

Gathering Together

When we arrive at church on a Sunday morning, we don’t always feel ready to worship God, let alone even come into his presence!  Sometimes we are hurried and frazzled, having rushed to get ourselves and/or our children up, fed, dressed and in the car on time!  It can be challenging to feel prepared to meet God!

So the church provides a time of preparation, a time to ready our mind, heart and spirit to worship. 

Worship begins in “Gathering around the Word.”  In some churches, when people arrive they greet one another and there is an air of celebration and festivity.  In others, when people enter they sit quietly in prayer to prepare their hearts.  As the congregation is called together, the “gathering” elements include congregational announcements; a call to worship; a prayer of adoration or praise; a call to and prayer of confession; and an assurance of pardon.  Any of these elements can be done through the spoken word or through song.

But why this order?  Let’s see if I can illustrate.  One of my favorite television shows has been “Undercover Boss.”  If you haven’t seen it, this is the premise: the CEO of a large national company goes undercover to try the entry level jobs in his company to see how things are going and to get in touch with the workers.  These workers don’t know that the person working beside them is The Boss, so they feel free to say what they do or don’t like about working for this company and suggest how the company could improve.  At the show’s end, these employees are called to the company headquarters to evaluate this “new” co-worker.  But in reality, this is when The Boss reveals his true identity.  When the worker understands who this really is, one of the first things he or she says or thinks (you can tell by the red face!) is “Oh no! What did I say or do?? Will I be fired?”  After the worker and The Boss talk for a bit, The Boss proceeds to give this worker a gift, whether a promotion or raise, a spot on a national committee to improve some aspect of the company, or a financial gift to assist with their or their children’s schooling, for example.

For me, this is the perfect picture of the purpose of Gathering around the Word.  As we hear the call to worship and the prayers of praise and adoration which reveal to us the glory of who God is and what he has done, we begin to feel the full impact of what it means that God is with us.  And what do we say or think?  “Oh no! What did I do or say that God didn’t like???”  This is the time for confession. 

But confession is not the end—the good news is that God gives us a gift too: the gift of forgiveness through his Son Jesus!  He does not count our sins and misdeeds against us!  We are assured of his pardon.

And with that, our mind, heart, and spirit have been cleansed and are open to receiving the Word—which happens in the next movement: “Proclaiming the Word.”  For the next few weeks when you come to church, pay attention to how the call to worship and the hymns or praise songs affect your heart and spirit as you begin the prayer of confession and then receive the assurance of pardon.

The Worship Service: “A Suggested Order”

Have you come to church one Sunday morning and wondered “Why do we always have confession at the beginning of the service?” or “Why do some people think the offering should come after the sermon?”  Well, you’ve come to the right place!  This is the first of a series of short articles, to be published in my church’s monthly newsletter, to answer those and other questions about why we do what we do during our worship service.

Since I am part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) I will be referencing our Presbyterian Book of Order.  It suggests five areas or “movements” in a worship service:

gathering around the Word;

proclaiming the Word;

responding to the Word;

the sealing of the Word; and

bearing and following the Word into the world. 

In my next several entries, I will look at what goes into each movement and what they accomplish in our mind, our heart, and our spirit.

Do you see that there is a certain flow, a certain direction to the movement?  Coming in, receiving, and going back out changed.  It’s kind of like a hospital, a restaurant, or even a gas station.  We come in with a need, we receive what is offered (healing, nourishment, a fill-up for the car), and we go out again, strengthened to continue our life.  The purpose of this order in our worship service is basically the same: we come to church needing to know God, we encounter and receive the Word, we worship, and we go back out into the world strengthened, knowing God better and ready to serve Him.  

In my next entry I’ll look at the first movement: “Gathering around the Word.”