Lutheran Worship - Response
Pastor Mathew Magera – 3/13/16 – Sermon 152
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
In the first preaching
course I took in seminary, we were all separated into preaching groups. We
would be with this group for the semester and it would be to this group of
peers that we would preach our sermons to. Before we even were tasked with our
first sermon to prepare we had to go through a storytelling exercise. We were
given a Bible story and our task was to pick a character in the story and act
out their part. The story I had was the same as our Gospel reading this
morning. Ten men were healed of leprosy and one returned to give thanks to God.
For this task, I chose to act out one of the nine men that didn't return to
Jesus. I pretended to walk down the road and notice I was healed. Then I ran
home and into the house where my family was who I had not seen in a long time
due to my illness. I showed my brothers and sisters my clean skin. I was so
excited I almost forgot to go see the priest so that I could be re-entered into
society in my hometown. I was so excited that I had been healed but at no point
in this miraculous healing did I even think of going back to thank Jesus. I had
just seen the living God at work in my life. Jesus told me to go show myself to
the priest, I listened, and on the way I was healed. I had just been given the
gift of healing and I kept it all to myself.
How do we respond when we
have encountered Christ? Nine out of ten men healed of leprosy won't return to
Jesus. But one does. One comes back to Jesus and thanks him and gives him the
glory for what he had received, though he was not worthy of receiving it. He
once sat on the outskirts of town and cried out “Lord, have mercy on me” and
Jesus heard him and the others and had mercy. Not only did this man, the only
one, return, but the Bible clearly wants us to know that it is somebody who we
might have negative feelings toward, it was a Samaritan who returns. It might
make us angry or even offended to hear that the other nine were out-done by a
Samaritan. So, which one are we? Are we one of the nine or are we the one?
This story can teach us many
things, but in the context of our series on worship, the theme I wanted to
bring out this morning is that of giving glory to God. When we receive the
Gospel in worship through our hearing of the Word spoken and preached, when we
encounter Christ in that way, our next task is to give glory to God. You
probably know the last words of my sermons by heart now, don't you? In fact,
when I begin to say them, I can see you start to prepare for the hymn even
before I've said Amen. To God be the glory now and always. Amen. I say it
because I don't want you fixated on the person speaking. I don't want you
focused on me. I don't want you to believe that I spoke those words to you. I
want your understanding to be that God spoke those words to you and I want you
to give him the glory. I want you to respond to God's Word by giving God the
glory. So we do. In response to hearing the Gospel, we give God the glory and
we do so in three ways. We give God glory in Faith, in Prayer, and in Care.
We Give God
Glory Through Faith
The first way we give glory
to God is through our confession of faith. When we've heard the Good News
proclaimed to us in the Word we are ready to confess our faith in the Triune
God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And so we do so using the words of the Creed.
Before the 4th century, however, there was no written Creed. Each congregation
would have written their own. I actually like that practice because it must've
brought the congregation really close when trying to determine how to openly express
their beliefs in a succinct and cohesive way. The first actual written Creed
that came along was based on Matthew 28:19 in which Jesus instructs his
disciples to go make more disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is where we get our Triune Language
and separate articles of the Creed. But it wasn't until the year 511 that we
actually could recite what we know as the Nicene Creed. Since then the Nicene
Creed is used in festival seasons and special Sundays whereas the baptismal
Creed, or Apostles' Creed is recited on regular Sundays and during ordinary
time.
Saying the Creed is not only
a response to hearing the Word but actually prepares us to receive Holy
Communion. As baptized believers in Christ we are responding to the Word by
confessing our faith and by that same confession or affirmation of our faith we
are now prepared for the Holy Supper. Once we had something to have faith in
then we could confess it and once we have confessed it then we are ready for
Communion. It is a way to give glory to God and we do so by confessing our
faith.
We Give God
Glory Through Prayer
The next way we give glory
to God is through prayer. During worship we have prayers of intersession. These
are petitionary prayers that have been a part of worship since at least the 2nd
century. Perhaps the biggest reason for having them as part of worship is to
highlight the priesthood of all believers, showing that each person has the
ability to pray, to talk to God, to give thanks, cry for help, seek
reconciliation. Each person, not just the priest is offering prayer and we are
doing it as a community. We want to pray together.
It's like this. There were
once three men on a backpacking hunting trip up in th UP. It was the middle of
winter and before long they ended up getting lost and had no idea where they
were. Two weeks had passed and they had not seen a single human being and they
were out of food and wondering if they'd ever make it home again. Off in the
distance they saw something shimmering in the mid-day sun. In hope this was
something they could use, they started running toward it. About halfway to
there, one of the men tripped and fell on a fallen down tree branch. "I'll
catch up," he said. As the two other men reached the object, it turned out
to be an old oil lamp. They picked it up and starting to rub off the mud and
out came a genie. "I am the great genie of the north and I will grant you
each one wish." The first man was so excited so he said, "I wish I
was at home with my wife and kids." Poof, he was gone. The second man,
also excited, said, "I wish I was at home with my wife and kids."
Poof, he was gone. Finally, the third man caught up and saw the genie standing
there. "Who are you?" ""I am the great genie of the north
and I will grant you one wish." "This is great. My friends and I have
been lost for two weeks, boy I wish they were here to see this!"
I guess being together was
more important for him. But, when we come to the prayers of intercession in
worship, we are coming together as the body of Christ on earth to lift up our
prayers for everyone and everything. We should want the whole town to be here
for that. By praying these prayers it ensures that we don't respond like the
nine men cured from leprosy. Prayer ensure that we do not consider only
ourselves in our response to hearing God's Word but that we pour out our
prayers so that others would hear that same Word and benefit in the same way.
The prayers of intersession cause us to show our "unselfish concern for
the church and for all the world and everyone in it in their several callings
and necessities" as is encouraged of us from the book of 1 Timothy.
Therefore, our prayers must go beyond our individual self. Traditionally,
prayer petitions will include prayers for the whole church worldwide, prayers
for the nations of the world, prayers for those in need, prayer for our
congregation here in Trufant, as well as prayers for and special concerns. We
give glory to God by considering other people. We give glory to God through
prayer.
We Give God
Glory Through Care
That being said, it leads us
right into the last way in which we give glory to God, care. We do this through
the sharing of the peace and the offering. Not only have we confessed our faith
in the Triune God who redeems us and not only have we expressed our concern for
other people in our prayers but now we actually take that one step further and
begin to cultivate relationships with those around us through the sharing of
the peace. With regard to the sharing of the peace itself, there are a few ways
we give God glory.
The first is that sharing
the peace is a sign of family love referred to numerous times in the New
Testament. The peace was originally a holy kiss which followed a pattern. The
priest would kiss the altar or the bread as a way of getting the peace from
Christ. The priest would then kiss the assisting ministers who would then share
that same peace with the congregation in the same way. We have modified this
sharing of the peace to include handshakes and hugs if preferred. So, at this
point, not only do we offer our prayers for others but now we are sharing in
the worship of God by caring for those around us in that sharing of the peace.
The second way we give glory
to God in the peace is that the peace prepares us to give our offering and to
commune. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that if you are making an offering but
remember your brother has something against you, leave the offering and be
reconciled to your brother and then come offer your gift. The sharing of the
peace is a time to give glory to God by restoring any broken relationships. We
respond to God's Word of forgiveness and freedom by offering that same stuff to
our neighbors. In fact, the very words used to start the peace are like another
announcement of that Good News. "The peace of the Lord be with you
always." Martin Luther loved that introduction for that very same reason
because it offers that Gospel, that Good News to the people once more and in a
different way.
Still, giving glory through
caring, not only have we reconciled with each other and given ourselves to each
other through the sharing of the peace, now we have the opportunity to
physically help those in need by giving our offering. In the earliest Christian
gatherings, offerings were not received, but rather they were brought. People
would bring gifts of bread and wine for Communion along with other gifts for
the poor and needy. They were brought forward to the altar by the congregation
as their offering. There was no passing of the plates. Each person wanted the
responsibility of giving their own offering. This action of bringing the gift
forward helped to show it being a self-offered voluntary offering. The recipient
of the gifts at the altar would then present them and elevate them slightly to
symbolize this self-giving attitude.
* * *
So, how do we respond when
we encounter Christ? We respond by giving glory to God in faith, in prayer, and
in care. We do this in worship, but we are also called to respond this way
beyond our worship. God, of course, does not require us to give thanks or to
give him glory but if have truly received him with open hearts our only desire
will be to give Him the glory. Encountering Christ should change something within
us that drives us to faith, that drives us to prayer and that drives us to care
for one another in the world. It's that kind of good news that motivates,
encourages and guides our lives even after we leave this place.
You know, during the week, I
come in here and I do my daily devotions in here and as I walk among the pews,
I pray for you. Even this very morning, I looked out and I prayed that if you
are here sitting in this pew that the Christ would do something to your heart,
that it would transform you in some way that you would be ready to encounter
the week ahead with a new outlook.
Each of us encounters Christ
differently in worship which means each of us may have a slightly different
response. But, just as we are all unique in God's eyes, our responses should
also be unique. How do you respond in faith? How do you respond in prayer? How
do you respond in care? We do so by being like the one Samaritan who returned
to Jesus giving thanks. Worship should prepare us for the week ahead to be that
one foreigner. Confessing our faith, praying with the community around us and
caring for our neighbor and the world should be an example to what we do each
day in response to our encounter with Christ. Not sure where to start? Then
consider our worship as a guide. Perhaps even consider the following words as a
diving board to jump in... To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.