We are exploring the
subject of worship for a few weeks and today we are looking at the Elements,
the ingredients of Worship. If you were starting a new church from scratch and
could ignore the last 2000 years of church history, what would you do, what
ingredients would you think were important for church worship? What kind of church
would it be? What would it be known for in the community? What would you do
when you met together, and why? Why is it we do what we do here?
There are certain
elements of worship that were there right from the beginning.
Apostles teaching, Fellowship,
Breaking bread, Prayers, Sharing possessions in common
And note that they
added daily to their number.
The elements
described in the first century are in our worship too. Throughout church history
this is what the church has done when it’s met together - in one way or another.
And today we have even added to our number as we have welcomed Shianne into our
midst.
Different churches and
denominations today have different ways of expressing these same elements – you
may be familiar with some but they are all there to enable worship, to enable us
to express what God is worth to us and to help others to do the same.
Let’s have a look for a few minutes in a bit more detail at
these elements and how we express them here. If you want to know even more
about how the C of E arrived at the precise formulas that it uses feel free to
ask me:
Praise of God
What we sing is what we think of God, and how we sing it is
how we feel about God. –something about choruses liberating churches from
confines of hymns. Music has always changed as the people of God have expressed
their praise of God in the method of their age. Even what we call old hymns
like Amazing Grace are only 250 years old, and so was brand new when it was
first sung. You may have seen the film. What do we want to say now-need to keep
revising our canon.
The apostles teaching
Why do we still need sermons after 2000 years of preaching?
Surely it’s all been said? As your vicar I have been commissioned and licensed by
The Bishop to, on his behalf, proclaim the gospel afresh to this generation,
and indeed when Nic was given permission to celebrate Communion I marked it by
asking him to make that same declaration in front of you all. Mick will have
said the same when he was licensed as a lay reader. The same gospel, but
proclaimed afresh. Not proclaimed like it was when we were young, or when we
first went to church, but proclaimed afresh in a way that enables us, here and
now, to engage with both the truth of God and the reality of the world around
us. That’s why we still need sermons, to enable the Spirit of God to speak
directly to us and to move us from the pews to the people, from the safety of
our church building to the broken and hurting community in which we are set, from
this place of beauty and warmth to the harshness of a world where people’s
bodies and resources are being exploited daily within yards of where we are sat
right now.
It’s not just the sermon where we might have ‘the apostles
teaching’.
Studying and discussing the Bible together every other
Monday is a wonderful way to explore our faith and grow as worshipping
Christians, and actually when we meet for the prayer meeting every Tuesday
evening we’ve been looking at what the Bible says about prayer. Bishop’s
certificate, on-line courses (foundations21), books and guides, Alpha Course. The
word ‘disciple’ means ‘student’ or ‘learner’. Ask yourself what nourishes you,
what feeds your understanding and knowledge of God and the Bible. If we’re not
learning and growing then it means that we aren’t disciples and so we might get
a nasty surprise when we try to enter the kingdom of God!
Fellowship
The idea behind having the Peace just before the Eucharistic
Prayer is so that if we are out of sorts with anyone, we can put things right. We
talk about having ‘fellowship’ afterwards over coffee and that can be an
opportunity to share something of our concerns with each other in the ups and downs
of life. It doesn’t have to be all serious – there can be lots of fun in fellowship
too.
There are other ways, too, though. Spending time in each
others homes, helping each other with jobs or chores or sharing skills, coming
together to plan something, maybe having a working party to look after this
building instead of leaving it all to the wardens and deputy warden.
The Collection
Not just so that we can pay for a vicar and keep a church
building over our heads! In fact here are some tough figures for you. You may
not know this, but the cost of having a vicar, including training and curacy
and housing etc., is roughly £50K per year. (I don’t get that much, I’m paid just
over 20K. And we pay roughly £7K towards the cost of having me here.
Now I’m not suggesting that we hurriedly find another £43K
to put in the plate (though if anyone has it spare I won’t say no), but we do
need to think carefully about how we share our resources with others. Scripture
encourages us to give a realistic proportion of what we have and earn in order
to share with others - both here in our community and all over the world. The
collection is part of our worship – giving back to God in gratitude so that we
may share in his provision for others. And actually our meeting together is
made possible because of the collections taken in other parts of the diocese.
Wouldn’t it be great if one day we could offer something back, or in some way
we could share our resources more widely? Feedback from Foodbank meeting.
The Breaking of Bread
This can be done formally or informally, and we need to be
clear which it is we are engaging in.
We formally do this by celebrating Communion as we are about
to. And when we do so we do so reverently and respecting the 2000 years of
tradition that is represented when we do it. When I am leading us in
Communion-most important thing I am doing and nothing should detract from it as
the centre piece of our worship. That’s why, although I love to do it, I won’t
play the guitar when it is a communion service.
The early Christians mostly met in people’s homes to break
bread – there weren’t church buildings for a long time. Have you ever thought
that offering hospitality and sharing a meal together is a way of worshipping
God in an informal way?
The Prayers
Praising the Lord, confessing our sins and failures,
interceding for the world – is worship. Whether silent or out loud – if it’s
from the heart, it is worship.
Whether sung or spoken, in prose or poetry – if it’s from
the heart, it’s worship.
Whether we read formal prayers or pray spontaneously – if
it’s from the heart, it is worship.
When the Sunday Club come back they’ll probably lead us in a
prayer. It might not be how you would pray. You might not hear it clearly. But
know that it is worship, offered to God.
Conclusion
Worship is an affair of the heart.
When the Holy Spirit came upon the people of the first
church they went from being frightened and downcast to getting together and
laying the foundations to how we worship together. And the church grew rapidly
and people’s lives were changed. When we worship together we would do well to
reflect upon how each part of the service helps not just us but other’s too to
have their lives transformed by God.
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