Come As You Are?

Mt. Zion, specifically the Choir, received a wonderful gift. Today, on Pentecost Sunday, we are blessing and putting into first use new choir robes sponsored by a generous gift. On such an occasion it is worth thinking about the bare facts of worship and presentation.

The prevailing ethos of our day might be summed up as “come as you are.” I’ve heard on more than one occasion in my life some form of “God doesn’t care what you look like, he cares that you are present.” And if I’m ascribing the best construction to such thoughts they come from places like Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well who was very concerned about proper worship. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place people ought to worship…(John 4:20)”. And we normally skip to the later part of Jesus’ response, “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23).” The hymn Just As I Am, without one plea, captures something true about worship. God doesn’t need anything from us. He doesn’t “eat” our sacrifices. He doesn’t exist off of our devotion. He doesn’t need fancy vestments. And Jesus on more than one occasion would mock the pharisees for their like of “long robes (Mark 12:38).” The worship that God’s desires – especially on Pentecost – is that in Sprit and Truth.

But the ethos of our day usually takes this much too far. It usually takes it to one of three assertions.

When something wonderful is done for Jesus – like anointing him with costly myrrh (Matthew 26) – there is a tut tut that “this large sum could have been given to the poor.”
That God does not really care about the form of worship
And ultimately “come as you are” ends with a statement like “God accepts you just as you are.”

It should give anyone pause using the first of these arguments that the bible tells us this was Judas’ argument (John 12:4). But Jesus’ response comes in two forms. First, “she has done a beautiful thing to me.” Nothing done for God is truly lost. And beautiful things have ways of reminding us that this is our Father’s world and He cares for it deeply. Deeply enough that he so clothes the lilies of field that are here today and gone tomorrow. We cannot equal the lilies, but copying the Father is never a bad thing. Jesus’ second response is “the poor you will have with you always.” This is not a dismissal of the ethical demands of charity, but a recognition that ethics – how you live – is subservient to belief. That when the God you believe in is present, that takes priority. Mary chose the greater part (Luke 10:42).

The second assertion is what Exodus 28, for that matter Exodus 25 through the end of Leviticus, should give us pause. God in painstaking detail in those chapters and books tells Israel exactly how they are to worship. Right down to the garments of the priests. We cannot say that God does not care. There is even a parable about showing up to the wedding feast without a wedding garment. The problem that the ethos of our day was reacting against was taking such things as a law. If you did not or could not worship in this way your worship was invalid. That would break what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman. But it also went too far in not hearing what Jesus first said to her, “You worship what you do not know, we Jews worship what we do know.” God went into painstaking detail about worship so that we might know him. Vestments and beautiful things in worship are not about us. We come as we are without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. These things point to the God whose first work post sin was to cover Adam and Eve in better clothes. And who ultimately gave us the robe of Christ’s righteousness.

Those earlier assertions all lead to that last one, which really is the natural religion of the day. The logic is something like God made all things. God is a good guy. Therefore God accepts us as we were made. He accepts us just as we are. There are many problems with this, but I will limit myself. What God made was good, and we broke it with our sin. The “good guy” doesn’t accept us as we are, he offers us absolution in Christ. He invites us into the divine life. Not to stay as we are, but to kill the old Adam and arise in before God is newness of life. Life in the Spirit is one of being conformed to the likeness of Christ. “We shall all be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51).”

We are putting something beautiful into the service of God. The worship of Spirit and Truth acknowledges the gifts God freely gives.

Everybody

There are two “everybody” statements that I firmly believe in, but it has been my experience most people reject. They might even get mad when I say them. First, everybody worships. Second, everybody has a liturgy of worship.

The first one: everybody worships is easier to prove. Luther’s explanation of the first commandment is that “we should fear, love and trust in God above all things.” He expands on that in the large catechism explaining that whatever we fear, love or trust in above anything else is our God. The number of idols is almost endless, but Luther in his jokey way, I think correctly recognizes that most people have their own stomach as their God. Whatever the gut wants is where they are lead to worship. Although there are several other common gods: money, power, fame are the usually the negatives, but you could also add family, land or tradition as normal positive things that can become idols. And if you don’t believe me on those, listen to Jesus in Matthew 10:37 or Matthew 15:3. Most of his arguments with the Pharisees were over idolatry of good things. The righteousness of the Pharisees wasn’t slight, see Matthew 5:20. It was just nowhere close to the perfection required for salvation. The purpose of “everybody worships” is a reminder to be conscious of who or what you worship. Most people slip through life not knowing. Hence Luther’s being led around by their belly. But The One God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. You can worship him.

The second “everybody” is something of the answer to: Well, how do I worship? And even more than people not realizing who their God is, the vast majority do not understand how they worship. And in not understanding they don’t realize the power of everyday liturgies. What is a liturgy? A liturgy is formalized order of worship that incarnates belief. Now that worship and belief doesn’t have to be of ultimate importance. There is a liturgy of going to a football game. You enter through the tailgate. Everyone rises and lines up. The colors are presented. Sometimes a prayer is said – like at my son’s Valley Lutheran Games, but always the National Anthem is sung. On High Holy Days, like a championship game, you will have an airplane flyover. On the highest of holy days you get a Stealth Bomber. The Kick-off lines up. Everyone chants “seven nation army” or whatever the kickoff song is. And then the liturgy is over when the ball flies. What does that liturgy worship? Basically everything America and American. And when you break liturgies, like by kneeling for the anthem, people get upset. There are liturgies big and small that fill our days. The purpose of “everybody has a liturgy of worship” is knowing what yours are. Because those liturgies tell you what you actually believe; what you believe deep enough to make real in time and space.

I want to occasionally highlight elements of our liturgy. Today I want to take a minute to look at the Introit. What the heck is an Introit? It is simply the Latin word for entry. Now we usually staple on in front of it a hymn and corporate confession. We’ll leave that for another day. But the original start of the worship of Father, Son and Spirit was the invocation of the God being worshipped. Christianity is clear. The idols usually try and hide that part. But you started with the invocation and some entry words about what we are going to be making real in time and space. Those words change week to week as the meditation of the church upon Christ focuses on different things He has done for us. Those words are typically taken from the psalms, the prayer book of the bible. So what we have in the Introit, which we at Mt. Zion recite responsively, is the theme of our worship for the day in the words that God has given us.

Today, the words of the Introit give us the theme of God providence (Psalm 147:7-11, Psalm 145:16). “He makes the grass grow on the hills.” But that material providence that falls on the just and the unjust alike points at God’s greater providence. “You open your hand, you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” And what is that desire? To rest secure in the love of your creator. “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” You who join in this liturgy, in making real in time and space our beliefs, shall see that steadfast love of God for you. That love of God that forgives sins, provides us our daily bread, and most importantly promises us that we shall dwell securely in his land (Jeremiah 23:5-6).

We Need a Little Christmas

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The recording is most of our Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols service. The sermon is a meditation on the difference between how we tend to celebrate Christmas and what we are looking for vs. the Christmas gift. This is done through a staple modern carol “We Need a Little Christmas” which has the correct diagnosis, if some standard prescriptions that are ineffective.

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Confessing the Christ

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Biblical Text: Matthew 16:13-20

The Reign of God or the Kingdom is the overriding theme of the gospel and we’ve been thinking out way through it this summer. It starts out being proclaimed. (“Repent! The Reign of God is near!”) Then it is taught. (“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom.” “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”.) Then it is exhibited or demonstrated as Jesus interacts with the crowds, the disciples and the Pharisees and Sadducees. All of which leads up to the final. “Do you understand? Who do you say I am?”

That is a question that we all must answer when the Reign draws near. And there are a variety of answers, but only one correct one. “You are the Christ.” And that correct answer – that confession does a couple of things. It binds us to Christ in the church. And it frees us from our sin. The Keys of the Kingdom, the reality of the Reign. If you confess Christ, you can only truly do so within his body. And within that body, Satan cannot touch the pardon of God.

That – our proper response to the Reign – is what this sermon encourages.

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Easter reflection – New Life on the Way

This morning, about 4 AM, my wife pushes me and says she thinks its time and adds she is having contractions about 4 minutes apart. At 4 AM when I heard that I was thinking more about how to deliver a child than driving to the hospital becuase this thing is coming now. The 4 minutes things soon subsided. She got up and made the proper calls and walked around and what were felt to be contractions subsided or at least slowed way down. (While daddy is running around throwing the necessary stuff in the car only to be told not just yet.) The labor pains are starting, but not 4 mins apart. New life is on its way.

That seems a little like the drawing near of the kingdom to us. We are all pregnant (Romans 8:22-23) and can feel the pangs of our future glory. Sometimes the kingdom is as near as a 4 AM wakeup call with contractions 4 minutes about. And sometimes it says not quite yet. Babies and God both have their own timing. The thing that we do not have to worry about is the end. Babies are born. The Kingdom will be revealed in our flesh just as it is now in Jesus Christ.

With that note, here is the Easter Sermon. It was a glorious day. The congregation even drowned out the trombone. He is Risen!…He is Risen Indeed. Alelluia!

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