April 29, 2015

“Worship is mission, and Mission is worship.”
The Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers

Or words to that effect.

I was sitting in a conference room at a hotel in Lincoln City watching the sun set into the ocean after a perfect day at the beach and listening to my former liturgics professor give the first of her talks to the clergy of the diocese about worship and mission.  Coming from my former professor, she is not saying anything I haven't heard her say before; but there are plenty of people who need to hear what she has to say.

As I’ve said before, and many people have said before me, a lot of organizations can offer the plethora of services that churches offer; but it is only the Church that offers worship.  Above all else, we worship God.  And since worship is our prime reason for existing, we need to offer worship that is good, holy and engaged.  How we worship reflects how we feel about the place of God in our lives.  In short, do we worship like we want to be there?

The other thing that the Church does is proclaim the good news of God in Christ.  This is known in a variety of terms: mission, evangelism, preaching, living your faith, etc.  Our goal, our mission, is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (BCP 855).  We do this in a variety of ways, the number one way is by inviting people to come and worship with us and experience our community.

Ruth is asking people to consider the implications of further intertwining worship and mission.  For too many people, worship is only what happens on Sunday morning from 8 – 9 a.m. or 10 – 11:15 a.m.  For too many people, worship ends when the dismissal is given.  On the other end of the spectrum, too many people see mission as something done “out there.”  For too many people, mission is only seen as doing something for someone else.  Ruth is arguing that we need to integrate these two aspects of the Church more often and more intentionally.

Can worship be used to bring people into the Church and support mission?  Can mission be seen as a driving force to attract people and bring them into the church?  The answer is yes.  But we need to understand that worship and mission are not two different things but they are connected to each other like two sides of a piece of paper.  Sometimes we can only see one side, and sometimes we can see both sides.

There really are only two things for which the church exists: Worship and the fulfillment of the Mission of God.  As we move forward, as we consider how St. Luke's can impact the lives of those around us, I challenge you to change how you see worship and mission.  I challenge you to see worship as the holy work we do for the common good of God's people; and I challenge you to see mission as everything you do in an attempt to embody the reign of God.

Worship is Mission, and Mission is Worship.

Amen.