Passionate Worship

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 8/28/ 2016

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^NRS  2 Samuel 6:15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. ¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷ They brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the LORD. ¹⁸ When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts, ¹⁹ and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes. ²⁰ David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!" ²¹ David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me in place of your father and all his household, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD, that I have danced before the LORD.

We are here today to talk about Passionate Worship. What makes the worship experience passionate for one is not the same as for another. What does Passionate Worship mean? I hear so often that we need to grow the church. What they mean of course is Pastor what are you going to do? I also hear people tell me that if we only had one worship service that we would have the church of our youth back. I agree. But then I also would like to see fifty nine cent milk and bread for a quarter and gas that costs fifty cents a gallon. We can’t go back and what worked for our parents and grandparents won’t work for us. Surprisingly, what worked for our parents did not work for our great grandparents. Fact is, things change and they constantly evolve. Bishop Schnase in his Book, Five Practice for Fruitful Congregations, reminds us that a hundred years ago a congregation had three different generations present who all spoke the same language, shared the same stories and culture and sang the same music. Today we watch TV and see a commercial that we don’t understand because it is not geared toward our age group or culture. Likewise our churches have become a melting pot of cultural understandings and common worship experiences still work, but not for everyone in everyplace. It is a time to think less about ourselves and our own personal agendas and more about worshipping God. We have to remember that we came here to praise God for what God has given us, but we need to speak the language of the people around us. We’ve got to get back to the wedding banquet that God has set for us.

• Good food
• Good fellowship
• Good music
• Good dancing

Years ago there was a young couple that attended their local church. They had been in youth activities in the church, had met there and had married in the church. They had been active in worship and ministry. And then they began to have children and careers and found themselves falling away from weekly worship. One day the young man showed up for Sunday worship. The preacher seeing the young man asked him what was going on. The young man replied to the preacher that he and his family had been working harder than they ever had and had been enjoying success. One day he realized that the reason for his success was God and that he was not present thanking God. So he came back where God was, to Sunday worship. Why are you here? Are you here to renew and strengthen your relationship with God? That is what passionate worship is all about.

When Michael Slaughter arrived at Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio he found fifty faithful people in an area devastated by poverty and unemployment. As the church began to grow it grew with the introduction of small group worship experiences. Today there are over 30 worship experience opportunities each week with 3000 plus in attendance. The point I am trying to make here is that worship today is as varied and diverse as the populations we serve. And as a church, we must be prepared to step up to that challenge in order to invite people in. One of his churches took out the pews, set up tables and there worship is relaxed with coffee and pastries. Hmmm! Might that be an opportunity to worship in Hottle Hall?

So let’s answer the fundamental question here. What is worship? And what makes it passionate worship? Well the first answer is that worship is the weekly, daily or periodic time for some us when we come together to praise God for what God has given us. It is a time of rejoicing and singing, of lifting up prayers for the people and a time of fellowship and sharing with one another our witness to God’s work in our lives. How then do you prepare for Sunday worship? Do you read the scriptures that we are going to study on Sunday that are listed in the bulletin the prior week? Do you pray that God will come into your heart and share the power of the Holy Spirit within you? Do you get yourself in a reflective state in order to encounter God? And of course all of this before you ever arrive at church. Let me repeat that. All of this, praying, studying and reflecting before you arrive at the church door. Do you remember when you went on dates with your spouse, a former love or even a casual date? What did you do prior to ever leaving the house? Most likely, you reflected on what experience you desired to have during the date. Was it going to be romantic? Was there going to be a first kiss? You probably reflected on where you would be going and what the proper dress would be for that occasion. You certainly wouldn’t want to be seen in that same dress that you wore for the ring dance at the prom now would you? And then the time of primping arrived. Now mind you, men do it to, they just refuse to admit it. You prepared your hair, checked yourself in the mirror, not once but several times and then you were ready. All this for a date! Should we maybe talk about what you did to prepare for a child or your wedding? My point here is that our relationship with God is intimate and personal. It is loving and caring and as deep a relationship as a date where we expect to get engaged. So if that is true, how do we prepare for meeting our partner in God each Sunday morning? Shouldn’t we spend as much time preparing to meet God as we would preparing to go on a date with someone we deeply care about? And then once we get there how do we make that passionate?

There is the story of two men Jim Smith went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organist miss a note during the prelude, and he winced. He saw a teenage talking when everybody was supposed to "bow in prayer." He felt like the usher was watching to see what he put in the offering plate, and it made him boil. He caught the preacher making a slip of the tongue five times during the sermon by actual count. As he slipped out through the side door during the closing hymn, he muttered to himself, "Never again! What a bunch of clods and hypocrites!" Ron Jones went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organist play an arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress", and he was thrilled by the majesty of it. He heard a young girl take a moment in the service to speak her simple moving message of the difference her faith makes in her life. He was glad to see that the church was sharing in a special offering for the hungry children of Nigeria. He especially appreciated the sermon that Sunday – it answered a question that had bothered him for a long time. He thought, as he walked out the doors of the church, "How can a man come here and not feel the presence of God?" Both men went to the same church on the same Sunday morning. From this story we glean that what is passionate for one person may be the opposite for another. It could also say that we came with different expectations and they were either met or not.

Passionate worship is the worship experience where we feel that we have encountered the Holy Spirit. For some it may come through the music. For others it may come through the sermons and for some it may be through the prayers and liturgies. For some it may be traditional hymns while others love bluegrass gospel and yet others love the modern praise music. But whatever it is that allows us to encounter God, that is what we as a church need to be striving to attain. Truthfully we can’t meet the needs of everyone. But we can try!

Let us for a moment look at our worship experience. We begin by looking at prayer and litany, the words of interactive response. Do we as a congregation embrace the concept of prayer and litany? Or do we fumble our way through it each week. I dare say each of you can repeat the words to the Lord’s Prayer from memory. When is the last time you listened to the words as you spoke them or put emotion behind them as you pray to the Lord. Should we change our order of worship so that we might enjoy meaningful prayer? Should we change our doxology and responsive reading in order to get involved in worship? My peers would suggest that we throw the bulletin and order of worship out and start over with meaningful worship in the context of this church.

Let us talk about our singing. We have become a congregation of mumblers. John Wesley encouraged early Methodists to, “sing lustily and with good courage. Be aware of singing as if you are half dead or half asleep, but lift your voice in strength.” He did not care whether or not you could carry a tune, he cared that you put your whole life behind it, that singing is supposed to be a sharing of our inner joy through the vocal sharing of song. We have become so focused on how we sound to each other that we have forgotten who it is we are singing to. If I said to you that we may need to revamp our song selection, what would you say? Would you be willing to give me a list of your favorite hymns so that when we sing, we all sing lustily and with good courage? Does it really matter what our sister churches are singing on Sunday morning if we are being uplifted in song where we are? Or is it more appropriate that we mumble our way through songs because we are not familiar with the words of the music? And when we come to the word I intend each week to provide vibrant, relevant, inspiring and hopefully provoking preaching.

What all this means for us today is that we are on a new journey. And with your help we will transform this weekly worship service into a vibrant renewal of our relationship with God. Remember that worship is about God, not about us. And when we center worship into that relationship with God, “…we feel his mighty presence and his grace. I can feel the brush of angel’s wings; I see glory in his face. Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.” Let us transform worship into passionate worship.