Today’s sermon was preached within the context of an Instructed Eucharist service. We worship as acknowledgment that there is a God; that God is bigger than we are; that God made us, cares about us, and loves us; and so, in joy and gratitude, worship is the time-honored way of saying thank you. We worship at set times to honor God, saying by our actions that, while God is always with us, once a week we will subjugate our plans, patterns, and desires to show up for God. If you think about it, two hours a week for God, given that God is God, is rather a modest obligation. We worship in community, because we are made in community, for community, to care for the world as community. We do so in the pattern of our liturgy, because liturgy is an exercise, fine-tuned over the generations, to orient our will with God’s will, and to refresh our soul. Like any exercise, the liturgy reforms our will, slowly, over time, with effort, and by God’s grace. It acts upon us imperceptibly, and then, like learning a language or mastering a sport, we find one day that not only have we fallen in love with worship, but we have become more whole and healthier and our best selves because of it.
Reflection Questions for this Week:
- How does the sermon fit into the liturgy?
- In what ways does listening to a sermon serve as a spiritual exercise?
- Think of a particularly meaningful sermon you’ve heard; what made it work for you?