7 Then on that day David first appointed the singing of praises to the Lord by Asaph and his kindred.
8 O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him,
tell of all his wonderful works.
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Seek the Lord and his strength,
seek his presence continually.
12 Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
13 O offspring of his servant Israel,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
28 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come before him.
Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
30 tremble before him, all the earth.
The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice,
and let them say among the nations, “The Lord is king!”
32 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it.
33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
34 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
What speaks to you most in worship?
When does the Spirit touch your heart?
Often people have a very clear answer to that question. Music, sermon, prayers, the gathered people, being quiet in God’s house. Maybe St. Andrew feels like the church you grew up in with the liturgy and music. Maybe you can’t say one thing because it changes- one time you feel convicted by the prayer of confession, another it sounds like angels are singing in heaven, or sharing a meal with our Lord feds your soul and speaks to your heart.
Spirit-Inspired Worship is one of the Marks of Vital Congregations. I must admit when we did the Bible study with elders and the congregation on this topic it was the one people were most silent about. That is why I started with you today. Also why I changed the question. What is meaningful to you? What speaks to you? A little different from Spirit Inspired Worship. But what is being addressed is avoiding self-gratifying worship, stale worship or worship as entertainment. Because worship is the common denominator of our experience as a church family, how we do it and how it speaks to us is vitally important. Yet worship is always more than the sum of its parts.
When one of you is seated in a pew and tears start welling up,
when a sense of peace descends with a prayer,
when you know I wrote that sermon just for you. That is when God is moving.
God’s Spirit is inspiring us in ways we can’t know and don’t quite understand. Often that happens within the context of worship.
I’m not saying it only happens in worship. God speaks to us in the beauty of a sunset, in the mountaintop experience of grace, in the day to day moments of life. Yet worship is the time and place where the holy and the ordinary intersect through the interpreting of Scripture, singing of hymns and the sacraments. It is why we come back week after week. To see when God will surprise us with an offering of manna, an answered prayer, a glimpse of the sacred.
Both passages today are moments of worship. The Old Testament is a Psalm-like prayer of thanksgiving from King David. A moment when the Ark of the Covenant is being placed in City of God. A moment when God’s presence was brought to God’s city and David dances with joy. As you know the Ark was the dwelling place of God for a nomadic people, which is now finding its place in Jerusalem. A moment when the holy intersects with the ordinary.
Thanks, praise, proclamation; song, offering, glory all come to life when the ordinary meets the divine, when we enter God’s presence saying, “Save us, O God of our salvation…” and all God’s people say “Amen!” That is what we do every week in worship.
Worship affects our conscience, our mind, our imagination, heart and will. And you just thought you were praising God. According to William Temple, the renowned archbishop of Canterbury,
“Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness;
the nourishment of mind with his truth;
the purifying of imagination by his beauty;
the opening of the heart to his love;
the surrender of will to his purpose–all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable” (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis, p. 119). Worship is submission to God and adoration of God and everything in between. Worship truly is our lifeline to God. The way we bring the fullness of our life into the realm of the holy. How we connect and reconnect to the God of our salvation. The place and practice of merging the ordinary with the divine.
The ordinary and the divine merged when Cleopas and his companion were traveling the road to Emmaus, when a stranger joins them. A time of travel rather than worship, and yet it can show us some important points.
First, the two men invited Jesus to stay with them. They had shared the journey and yet still did not recognize Jesus. It was only when they had invited him to stay and they shared a meal that their eyes were open. A common meal that was made holy because Jesus was present. We too get to invite Jesus to stay with us, to come with us to worship. I can certainly relate to the two men who are so caught up in what has happened that they miss their Lord standing right in front of them.
So when you sit down in your pew on Sunday morning, I encourage you to invite Jesus to be with you during worship. To pray for his presence in our sanctuary and our time together glorifying God.
Secondly there was lots of teaching and telling but only a brief glimpse of Jesus.
Cleopas tells the story of Jesus, tells of their hope he is the Messiah and how he was crucified.
He tells of the women visiting the empty tomb and seeing the angel.
He tells of the disciples validating the women’s account.
Then Jesus interprets or teaches them everything concerning himself and how it is fulfilled in scripture. Most of what they share is telling the story of Jesus; his life, his work, his death and his resurrection, even though they did not yet have that word to describe it. After telling the story of Jesus, interpreting and teaching what that means, they get a glimpse of Jesus. That is what we do in worship. We tell the story of Jesus and we interpret and teach about what that means, and we apply that to our lives some two thousand years later. I bet at times we wish we had more than a glimpse of Jesus.
We wish Jesus would come and be with us in worship. But even these two men who journeyed with the risen Lord only experienced a glimpse of Jesus in the breaking of the bread. What filled their time was the teaching and the telling.
And then in God’s infinite wisdom they see a glimpse of their risen Lord. And what do they do. They go and tell the disciples. They tell the disciples how their eyes were open in the common meal made holy with Jesus presiding.
One commentator wrote, “Surely the eucharistic symbolism is intentional. In fact, interpreters have often pointed out that worship practices in the early church have affected the telling of the story. The event is on a Sunday, and it involves the interpreting of Scripture, proclamation, and sacrament. It is in that event that the two disciples understand who the stranger is. They now know it is Jesus, who vanishes from them. Then too they recall that their hearts burned within them while he had been teaching them concerning the Messiah on the road to Emmaus (24:32)” (Arland Hultgrin Working Preacher).
Finally, people believe because our risen Lord revealed himself. The reason people back then came to believe in Jesus was that he appeared to them. In other words, it took divine revelation for them to believe. That was true for Peter (24:34), and it was true for the men who traveled on the road to Emmaus. Worship is a time we seek to invite Jesus to be revealed, to touch our hearts, minds and imagination.
Worship is a place where faith is sustained.
It is the place where Jesus continues to reveal himself.
Jesus does that in many ways. My question for you is do you seek, do we seek, new ways to ritualize the sacredness of worship. Can Jesus come to you in new ways? Have you been surprised finding Jesus speaking to you in fresh ways? I invite you to share with me the ways Jesus has revealed himself to you in worship.
A Catholic turned Presbyterian asked me this week, “What is an alter call?” I said think Billy Graham teaching and telling the story of Jesus and getting so much emotion and passion in the room that he asked people to come down to the front and give their lives to Christ. Certainly Spirit-Inspired worship. Many people have seen Jesus revealed in those moments. I shared that I have gone down 3-4 times in my youth for an alter call, because I never quite got it right. Yet it got me thinking is that the goal of weekly worship? I say no. We come here every week for the teaching, the singing, the community and ultimately to praise God. When Jesus graces us with a glimpse of his presence then praise God even more!
Spirit Inspired Worship is more than the order of worship on any given Sunday. It is our partnership with the Holy Spirit, inviting Jesus to reveal himself anew. At the same time that hymns are being sung, and prayers are being prayed, and sermons are being preached, hearts are reaching out to God and God is moving into life. It is on this personal and deeper level that the experience of worship really takes place. May this be your experience today as we tarry in worship here. Amen.
