My Sisters and Brothers,
In her book “Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission,” The Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers points out that most people see mission and worship as two aspects of the Church. Worship is when we gather on Sunday mornings, and other times as well, in the church house to praise God, to gather together as the church community, to sing, hear scripture, and a sermon. Worship is a time to recharge our spiritual lives so we can make it through the week. For most people, worship is the primary act of the church. Mission, on the other hand, is what is done outside of the church house. For some, mission is what we do when we go somewhere outside of our own communities to serve others as I mentioned in my sermon two weeks ago. They are like side A and side B of the records we used to use, or if you were to take a strip of paper, perhaps twelve or fourteen inches long and an inch wide and you would write Worship on one side, turn it around and write mission on the other. Then, fasten the two short edges together with worship inside the ring and mission outside. For most people, this is the church. The ring being the building with worship inside and mission outside. It is not unlike an exaggeration of Martin Luther’s idea of sola fide, faith alone, that justifies one with God contrasted with actions can lead to justification, often supported by the misuse of James 2:18, “I by my works will show you my faith.” Unfortunately, this understanding is far from that of Jesus. Worship and mission for Jesus were not two different entities but the same. When we read the gospels, we frequently see Jesus in the synagogue engaged in worship, but we also often see him doing mission there as well: casting out the unclean spirit in Capernaum, healing the man with the withered hand, and healing the woman who had been crippled for eighteen years. At the same time, he both preached and healed outside the walls of the synagogues and the Temple. For Jesus, there was no separation. One tactile way Dr. Meyers uses to show this goes back to our strip of paper. Instead of making a ring, join them again, but before doing so, give one end half a turn. You now have a Mobius strip. Put your finger on the word worship, and without picking it up, slide it along the paper. Before long, your finger will be on the word mission. As you keep sliding, you will return to worship. For Jesus, this was his life, not one or the other but both. One cannot worship and serve God unless we do so for our neighbors. If we give a cool drink to a thirsty child, it is the same as giving it to Jesus. Mission is doing the work of Jesus, be that inside the walls of the church, house listening to someone’s dilemma, giving clean socks, a handwarmer, and an energy bar to someone on the street, or joining with others to travel to Eastern Kentucky to help repair a home or help build a school in Guatemala. As I was reading this past week, someone complained to their priest that with all that was going on in their life, they had no time to even pray, what with work and caring for the children, washing dishes, and taking out the garbage. The cleric’s response was, “why not pray on your way to the garbage can.” Give thanks for the empty cans and food wrappers, thanks that you had food today, think of those who do not, and pray for them. Pray that you will have the will to help others, to care for the planet by next time recycling much of what you just placed in the can. We pray that God will “guard us waking and guard us sleeping.” Should we not strive to worship and serve God always as well?
Peace,
Bryant+
