Jan. 28, 2015

Abba Poemen was asked, “How should a man behave?”
He answered, “Look at Daniel: no-one found anything in him to complain about except for his prayers to the Lord his God.”

An article appeared on the St. Luke's Facebook page last week about worship and the dying church.  The article can be found here.  If you can't access it, the author makes the claim that while service, mission, justice and community projects are important for churches to participate in, what is really vital to a healthy church is healthy worship.

As Christians we should be involved in issues that affect our wider community, and in proclaiming the gospel through a variety of means.  But as Christians, we also need to remember and pay attention to that which makes us different from the Elks, Lions, Rotary or any other social/civic club.  Can we serve meals to the hungry?  Yes.  Can we stand up against any number of injustices?  Yes.  Can we collect food and clothing, and offer our space to the local AA, NA and OA groups?  Yes.  But so can any social agency.

What makes Christians, and therefore the Church, different from all those other agencies?  Worship.

Worship is at the core of what we do.  It may not be at the core of what we believe; but worship is at the core of what the Church does.  Worship defines us.  Worship shapes us.  Worship forms us.  No other agency does this.  And, as the author points out, we don't worship for ourselves or to “get something out of it.”  We offer our prayers of praise and thanksgiving in the act of worship for the sole purpose of drawing nearer to God and receiving a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

The Catechism states that the ministry of the laity is to “represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.”

The Baptismal Covenant asks a series of eight questions.  The first three are affirmations of our statement of belief as found in the Creed.  The very next question asks, “Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?”  In other words, “Will you be faithful in worship?”

We can all serve our community in a variety of capacities.  We can all stand up for those things in which we believe.  We can all proclaim the gospel in thought, word and deed.  But it is our worship that binds us together as a community.  It is our worship that identifies us as a people of God.

May we remember that we are a worshiping community.  May we strive to follow Daniel's example who, when pressured to conform to the dictates of the world, continued his daily practice of worshiping God.  And, like the psalmist wrote, may we be glad when we hear the words, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Amen.