Why Bother?
It’s
funny how you notice things in life. We
recently helped our son, Mark, purchase a car…which is not a new experience for
many parents, but 1) he’s in
A
similar sort of thing happened to me this last week in a matter of greater
substance than any purchase someone might make.
A pastor friend expressed his feelings of frustration with the number of
people in his congregation…who don’t worship.
The very next day, another pastor said the same thing in an
e-mail. And a short time later, I heard
that someone said they weren’t going to worship anymore because their attitude
toward it was one of why bother?
My
first reaction, of course, was to take the bait, to let it get to me, to
agonize over why people aren’t filling this place every Sunday
morning like they do every Christmas Eve. But then I got to thinking about that question, why bother?
It’s actually a pretty good one to ask.
You who braved the cold this morning, why did you bother
to come? Why should anyone bother
to worship? What, if anything, is
supposed to happen?
-sing praises -be
inspired -pray -be a family
-baptism -Lord’s
Supper -confession -forgiveness
-community -outreach -choir -offering
Here’s
an interesting tidbit from a spirituality study conducted by UCLA (the website
is www.spirituality.ucla.edu). Researchers discovered that college
students who attend worship are only half as likely to struggle with
depression as those with a why bother? attitude
about worship.
But
aside from such an experience might do us good or make us feel
better, it seems to me that the goal of worship is fairly simple and comes in
two parts. I think it’s meant to somehow
help each person connect with God… and through God, connect with
other people. It’s the vertical
and horizontal (+), through prayer and preaching and sharing God’s peace,
through songs and the sacraments and saying hello.
This
sign of the cross was identified by the man who asked Jesus which
commandment was the greatest.
Does anyone remember the lawyer’s response that Jesus praised? He said, Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, strength and mind; and your neighbor as yourself (Lk.
These
two same ax-es (+) can be found in the experience of the whole
season of Epiphany. It started weeks ago
with three wise men who followed a
light in the heavens to Christ.
It ends today on this mountaintop with three ordinary men
who find the Light of Heaven in Christ.
It was horizontal: Jesus took Peter, James and John for a hike up a mountain.
It
was vertical: Jesus was lit up before them, shining like the sun and was joined
by Moses and Elijah.
It was horizontal: Peter, James and John, together, got to experience it.
It
was vertical: God spoke to the men from the cloud, saying This
is my son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!
It
was horizontal: The men were frightened, and when they fell to the ground in
fear, Jesus reached out and touched them…and comforted them.
It
was vertical: Years later, Peter writes about the event in our 2nd lesson for
today, encouraging all to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a
dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in (our) hearts.
Can
a person find that shining lamp and morning star in places other
than worship? Sure…, God’s Spirit can
work wherever and whenever it chooses.
But don’t forget what God said to the disciples on that mountain:
This
is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him! So let’s see, what are some things that
you remember Jesus saying? Love
your enemies. Pray for those who
persecute you. Forgive seventy times seven. Care for the poor. Turn the other cheek.
The one that rings in my ears can be found in Jesus’ struggle with the Devil out in the desert. Three temptations are used to “convert” Jesus to Satan’s selfish causes.
When
the Lord is battling hunger, the devil urges him to turn rocks into
bread. When he’s wrestling with doubt,
the devil takes Jesus up a mountain and says, Throw yourself off! God will prove his love by sending angels to
catch you! Finally, when the Lord is
struggling with what it means to be Me
and possibly pursue his own happiness, Old Nick shows Jesus the
treasures of the world and says, This is all yours…if you just worship me.
How
does the Lord respond? He says, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord
your God, and serve only him’” (Mt.
Frederick
Buechner is a wonderful, down-to-earth yet intensely spiritual guide. Listen to his description of how the vertical
and horizontal came together to form a cross upon his heart.
Says
Buechner, Through a series of events from childhood on I was moved…closer
and closer to a feeling for the Mystery out of which the church arose in the
first place until, finally, the Mystery itself came to have a face for me…the
face of Christ…and the result of it was that I ended up being so moved by what
I felt that I found it inadequate simply to keep it inside myself like a secret
but had to do something about it (“The Face of Christ” in Listening to Your Life,
p. 30).
That
seems to sum up well what God intends for us when we hear those same words,
“Listen to him!” Whenever we gather
together (horizontal) to worship God (vertical), we are then sent out into the
world (horizontal) to do something about this good news of Jesus
Christ (vertical).
Many
of you were here last week when our daughter Rachel led the Sunday School kids in singing and signing the song, “Father, I
Adore You.” The last verse they signed
in silence and you could have heard a pin drop.
I don’t know why, but for some reason, the sight of those kids all
together (horizontal) singing and signing their praise of God (vertical) filled
my eyes with tears and my heart with joy.
Like Buechner, I was so moved by what I felt that I… had to do
something about it. So I’ve been
sharing that story with everybody I meet.
That’s
why we worship: to so experience God’s horizontal and vertical mark upon our
hearts that we go out into the world to do something about it.
Amen.