Title:  Part Three:  Where is the Body?  Going to Meet God.

Text:  Exodus 19:16-20

Date:  April 13, 2008

We continue our series on what it means to be the body of Christ. We began the Sunday after Easter and asked, “Where is the body of Christ?” And we discovered that WE are the body of Christ.  Last week we looked at how, as the body of Christ, we are to love as Christ loved, which we found was quite a challenge. It is not easy to love those who are unloveable. So for today, we are going to address why, as the body of Christ, we are called to worship.

If I were to ask you why you came to worship this morning, what would you say?  What would your answer be?  Perhaps to hear a sermon, hoping for a good one this time.  Maybe because you have responsibilities today and feel obligated, as you should, to fulfill them. Perhaps it is because you like to hear the choir, or take communion.  Maybe you are afraid not to be here, afraid of the wrath of God, or you like to see who is here and who is not. Perhaps it is because you were brought up to eat your vegetables, do an honest day’s work, and go to church on Sunday.

I suspect there would be many answers, and I wonder, though, how many would say, “I came to church today so that I can experience God.”  Notice I did not say, “so I can think about God as well as other mysteries of life”.  Nor did I say, “So I can reflect on God.”  No, I said, “so I can experience God in the midst of others.”   In the passage of scripture that you just heard, the newly freed slaves are gathering around Mount Sinai.  They hear the trumpet blast and if you asked them why they are going to gather as a people, I suspect they would say to you, “to meet God.”    Major point:  Worship is about experiencing God.    Worship is about intentionally seeking God’s presence.  Worship is about coming to “meet God” to worship in a way that God’s power is at work in our lives, that is if we are open to it.

Question:  What difference would it make to this body of Christ if every member was intentional in being in worship on a regular basis, making worship a weekly priority, to give testimony to its place and prominence in our lives?  Coming to “meet” God, as expressed in today’s passage,  becomes priority, causing us to re-order our busy active lives.  Wholeness, healing, connection, hope, restoration, feeling forgiven and embraced, experiencing God’s grace, recognizing the living Christ in the bread as we break it, and the cup as we share it, is more important than sleeping late, reading the paper, working in the yard, outdoor recreation, or whatever comes your way.

Now I am not saying that coming to worship should always take precedence over everything else.  I have never said never miss a Sunday.  As a matter of fact, I think it is healthy to do so from time to time.  There are times that the best thing you can do for yourself or family is sleep in, rest from the business of life.  There are times that you need to pack your cooler and head to the water.  There are times when you need to have a family brunch and re-introduce yourselves before you go on vacation and kill each other.  Indeed the occasional is good.  But what is not good is when the “occasional” becomes the way you worship.  When worship simply is an option on the daily menu.  When worship is the last of the list and there isn’t anything better to do.  I dare say that your priority to be in relationship with God, to know God, to experience God, is in direct proportion to your commitment to worship regularly with your community of faith, within this place. 

Now of course I am not talking about those who physically cannot get here, or at least not very easily.  Nor am I talking about those who jobs cause them to work on Sunday morning.  But I am talking about everyone else who does not fit into those categories or similar ones.  

Oh, but preacher I can worship God in the beauty of nature.  Well, you can if you’re a deist.  And deism is a religion. Thomas Jefferson was a deist. Oh, I know some of you say he was a Christian, but read your history.  He was a good deist.  And deists are people who look at nature and through the process of reasoning begin to make deductions.  For instance, if I realize there is creation, then my process of reason says there must be a creator.

But we are not deists. We are Christians.  And we have deep roots within the Jewish faith, and the heart, the life blood of who we are as a community that worships together.

Worship is a way that God comes into our lives.  Worship is a way that God is able to come into our midst.  Why do we worship?  Do we worship so that we can say, over and over again, “God, you’re great! God, you’re good. God, I love you!  God, you’re just amazing!  God, you’re awesome!”  I don’t think so.  I don’t think God’s ego needs that all of the time.  Instead, I think the reason that we worship is to say, “God, I’m here, in this place, together.  Melt me, and mold me, and make me, and use me.  God, I’m here. Transform me.  Create in me a new heart.”

You can feel and experience God’s presence in nature but worship is a corporate activity.  Worship is the way we feel God’s presence together.   Worship is a means that God uses to come into our lives.  It is a time we set aside for God.   So, how can you say that God is important to you and seldom enter a place of worship?  Sure you can say it, but that doesn’t mean you mean it or live by it.  It is like saying that saving money is important to you while at the same time your credit cards are maxed out.  It is like saying that your health is important to you yet you don’t exercise regularly or at all and you don’t eat right.  It is like saying family and children are important but how much time do you spend together?  There is a disconnect when our actions do not reflect our words.

In the passage for today, it does not seem that the people have an option.  The trumpet sounded and the people went out to meet God.  They came face to face with the Holy.  In this story there is a sense of awe, mystery, divine presence, the kind of stuff that gets our attention.  What gets our attention today?  So often, what prompts your heart and soul to want to experience God?

Sad but true, for so many it is when life throws a curve ball.  The trumpet blasts so loudly that it shakes us to the core and when those events take place, the litany for the day becomes, “Sure makes you realize what is important in life.”  When planes hit the towers, church attendance went up all over the country.  How about now?  How sad that many have to experience tragedy, or a close call before they decide it is important to worship, to experience God.   Part of being the body of Christ is to be the body that worships.

Question:  What difference do you think it would make if everyone in this place expecting to experience God?  I am here expecting to feel God’s transformative love and grace, if we came not as a film or food critic, commenting that the organ is too loud, or the sanctuary is too cold or warm, or the sermon was too long, or the songs were too familiar, or I don’t like way we do communion, or this or that, or what ever Goldilocks finds that she doesn’t like.  What difference would it make if we all entered these doors knowing that somehow and somewhere in the midst of our worship time, God was going to speak to you, that God was going to get a hold of you.

If you said, I am not simply going to church, I am going to worship so that God can get a hold of me.  So that God can knock the rust off in areas of my life that need changing.  God’s going to get a hold of me and is going to shake the dust out of my soul like a throw rug.  God is going to get a hold of me to wake me up from my disillusionments and false precepts.  God is going to get a hold of me so that I can be healed from my old wounds that still cause me pain.  God is going to get a hold of me to give me some energy, to recharge my batteries because right now my life is hard and I am weak, tired, and worn.  God is going to get a hold of me so and hold me as a parent holds a child, because I am hurting.  I am wounded.  And I need to know that I am loved.  I am going to church, to worship, so I can feel safe, so I can rest, so I can find a sanctuary, so I can be made whole again.

I am going to worship God today so I can lay my burdens down.  I’ve got some worries I need to share with God and the people who care.  I am going to worship today so I can confess how I have once again fallen short of living the way I know God wants me to live.  I am going to worship today so that I can cleanse my soul so that God’s grace can once again restore my soul. 

I am going to worship today so I can once again be assured that God is good, and that I can once again be assured that I am good.  I am going to worship today so in case someone passes by that needs something a little extra, and extra smile, hug, minute of my time, I will be there and I am going to pray for God to use me.