IT'S COMING TO AN END...NOW WHAT?
As Erin and I went to join our Third Chapter friends for lunch after worship yesterday, I started thinking about the reality that this next Sunday is the end of our 'What's on Your Mind?' series. One day last week Kathy and I were reviewing the summer and doing some initial planning for our October/November series, and I observed that I cannot remember a season of worship I enjoyed more in the 15+ years since I took my first appointment. To explore these topics has been a rich blessing because we were reminded that, contrary to what many might think, the scriptures are HIGHLY relevant to us today, and, when we choose to take the time to let them marinade in our souls, have words of hope, joy, peace, and love that we simply cannot nor will not find anywhere else.
Reflecting upon my twinge of disappointment over the series end, I couldn't help but realize that part of what was so pleasurable about this summer was the anticipation of what was coming each week. Some topics were a joy because they brought clarity to some concepts; others were a little harder for us to hear because they challenged us to set aside what we assumed was correct because we took the time to examine more closely what the text was actually showing us.
However, as much as I enjoyed the anticipation of preaching through this series, I couldn't help but (as a part of reflecting on the summer) be convicted a little bit about the reason why I so anticipated worship during these past three months. The topics themselves were but parts of the whole service, and should my enthusiasm for worship be grounded in these kinds of things?
Eh...Er...Hmmm...Well...You see...not so fast, my friends.
You see, worship is about God's transforming work in creation, a transforming work that God is doing through those who have submitted themselves to a life in Christ, with, as we heard yesterday, the Spirit of God (not our own desires) as our guide.
Through the discipline of gathering for worship as a community of faith each week, not as a collection of individuals but as children of God as one before their loving creator, we, through all parts of worship (Music, Prayer, the Word (Read and Proclaimed), Fellowship, the Sacraments, the Return of God's Tithes and Our Offerings) are encountering the risen Lord in the hopeful expectation of restoration and transformation of ourselves, our faith community, and, through the lives we lead, the world in which we live.
Restoration and Transformation. Not always the easiest things to encounter as we are called to set aside ourselves; the Good News is that we don't have to do it on our own.
That's worth hopefully anticipating every week.
See You Sunday!
Lamar