Worship as inheritance - November 27

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 106:1-18; PM Psalm 106:19-48; Joel 3:1-2,9-17; 1 Pet. 1:1-12; Matt. 19:1-12

I’d like to offer three ways of considering our worship together that you might not have considered too intently before.  First worship is a gift.  Consider how you first arrived at your worshiping community.  Was there an invitation from a friend or family member?  People have put in planning, choirs have rehearsed, and the preacher has prepared remarks and reflections specifically for that day, but also through the course of their lives and formation.  Most of the time, when we gather, specifically on a Sunday, we receive a gift, a gift of a thoughtfully put-together response to God’s love and invitation to praise God.  That in itself is a gift. 

Second, worship is a privilege.  At Saint Stephen’s, it seems especially fitting that the American flag is not in our sanctuary, but in our narthex.  It is a reminder when we walk into our nave, it is a privilege to be able to worship how we gather, something that is not universally afforded to others in different places in the world.  For us, we receive a privilege when we gather together. 

The final image comes from our epistle reading today.  Worship is an inheritance.  While the reading suggests our faith as an inheritance, we can also see worship, which is our faith through liturgy lived out in the tradition of the church, as something that is passed down to us.  As it is written in First Peter, “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  

Inheritance is a gift, but it is also something more.  Faithfully for generations upon generations, people have worked to preserve the tradition that we have before us and have passed that down to us to carry on.  They have passed on the gifts they have made, beautiful art and beautiful buildings, the prayers, the traditions, and a way of faithfully responding to the world.  It is not just that we have arrived at a place on a random Sunday morning at some point in our lives, but we have inherited a faithful response to our humanity. 

What have you done with your inheritance, the gift and privilege of being together in worship?

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How does this reflection enhance your understanding of worship?  Does it change anything for you?