My brief series of messages dealing with worship continued this Sunday with “How is God worshiped?” In this sermon, I’ve attempted to offer a biblical perspective on the question of ‘worship style’ that so frequently creates conflict in churches. I’m blessed to be in a church that is not in a conflict over these issues; and yet, I’m convinced that there is some tension not too far below the surface. Like many churches, we’ve got both: people who grew up in and long for worship that is rich in reverence and tradition and people who yearn for worship that is energized by new expressions and casual interaction. As someone who has benefitted from the blessings of both these styles, I present my sense that we need not choose between them but can embrace a ‘blended’ style that claims (or reclaims) the broad range of Christian worship practice.

How Is God Worshiped?

My congregation and I started a new message series this morning–one which will occupy our attention through much of the month of November. The series focuses on The Worshiping Life and draws on a number of sources to help us understand worship better and to inspire us to “worship in Spirit and in truth.” This first Sunday tackled some foundational matters: “Why do we worship?” and “What is worship?” Our youth praise band participated in the service today, which gave things a little extra ‘zip.’ All in all, it was a great day to be in God’s house, adoring Him.

The Why and What of Worship

Today concluded my three-part sermon series focused on the question: “Where Is God When It Hurts?” This last message focused on “Our Response to Suffering,” and–while there’s so much more that could be said–I get the impression from members of the congregation that they have found the series to be useful. That’s important, because we’ve got some folks in our church who are really going through some difficult times right now. If you happen to come across this blog, please do me a favor and offer up a prayer for them…and for me, as I seek to be a faithful pastor and friend in the midst.

Our Response to Suffering

Today, my congregation and I continued our 3-week journey through the question: Where Is God When It Hurts? Having talked last week about the ‘up-sides’ of suffering, we spent time today talking about different answers that the Bible offers to the question: Why do we suffer? Obviously, that’s a big topic–and one that yields no easy answers. But several folks in worship this morning suggested that they found the overview to be meaningful.

The ‘Why’ of Suffering

If you look closely, you’ll notice that I missed my sermon post last Sunday. That’s because my congregation was joining with the local Methodist and Presbyterian churches for our second annual “Faith in Action” Day. The first time around, we actually ‘canceled’ our worship services to worship through service in the community. This year, we did our community ministry on Saturday and then shared worship together on Sunday for World Communion Sunday. Either way, it was a great opportunity to celebrate our Christian unity and to make a difference for Christ in our small town.

With “Faith in Action” Day behind us, my congregation and I started a new sermon series this Sunday, this one focusing on the theme: Where Is God When It Hurts? This is a particularly timely topic for us right now. Begin a small church, we’ve had what feels like more than our fair share of difficult illnesses and injuries as of late. But–as I say in this message–I hope that the next several weeks can give us some biblical perspective on ‘the problem of pain,’ even if they can’t answer all our questions.

This week’s message invited hearers to put the whole issue in a larger context by considering The Up-Side of Suffering

A quick glance at other posts will reveal that I’ve skipped a week. That’s because Sunday the 20th of September was “Homecoming Sunday” at my church. In addition to a guest preacher, we had a great turnout of former members and friends–possibly because this may be the last Homecoming that we’ll celebrate in our current facility. My congregation is in the midst of building a new church home, and the process is really moving along (visit our website for a slideshow of the building’s progress).

In any case, on Sunday the 27th of September, I was back in the pulpit and was wrapping up a collection of sermons (I wouldn’t say a ’series,’ since no particular effort was made to connect over-arching themes) from the book of James. This message grew out of James 5:13-20, which deals with prayer–a topic about which I care deeply and yet, about which I also feel like a continual neophyte, in spite of my many years as a Christ-follower.

I certainly made no Herculean effort to answer all the very difficult personal and theological questions that this passage (and others like it) create. But we did make an effort to ‘be obedient’ to this text, inviting members of our congregation to come to the altar and be ‘prayed over’ by leaders of our congregation. In the end, it seemed like a powerful experience for everyone in attendance.

Prayer Stories

Today’s sermon continued this month’s emphasis on the book of James. This particular message–taken from James 3:1-12–examined the power of our words, both for good and ill. Most of the people I’ve known (including me) and churches I’ve participated in (including my current congregation) would benefit from regular reminders about this power. Unfortunately, even when we acknowledge the potential of our words, we are not always prone to give them the attention they deserve. However, because our words reveal much about the condition of our hearts, such attention is essential.

How about you? What do your words reveal about your heart when you Open Wide and Say, “Ah.”

For most of my Christian life, I have experienced a tension between the ‘gift’ and the ‘call’ of the gospel…between the fundamental truth that the whole Christian experiences stands or falls on the grace of God (on the one hand), and the clearly biblical notion that the lives we live matter (on the other). For my own part, I’ve never been able to resolve this tension entirely, and–as I say toward the end of my sermon from Sunday–maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe this is one of those tensions or paradoxes that actually help us more than they harm us.

In any case, I sought to address this tension in my most recent sermon. This is the first in a brief ‘collection’ of messages from the book of James. I hesitate to call it a series, because the messages are intended (more or less) to stand on their own…and because the group of them will be interrupted by my congregation’s Homecoming celebration later this month.

Living in the Tension of a Faith that Saves

Today’s message wrapped up my congregation’s 4-week series on the Minor Prophets. Personally, I’ve gotten a lot out of this opportunity to dig a little deeper in some parts of scripture that don’t always receive adequate attention, and–based on the feedback I’ve received–I’d say that the members of my church agree.

Of the four sermons in this series, I think that this is the one that I’ve been looking forward to preaching the most. There is a much-needed ’spiritual honesty’ in Habakkuk…an honesty that can look at the brokenness of the world and ask, “How long, O Lord?”

Habakkuk: How Long, O Lord?

Today was the third week in my congregation’s late-summer message series: Major Truth from Minor Prophets, and the focal passage that I selected for this sermon was Malachi 3:6-12. Now if you don’t recognize this citation right off the bat, these are probably the only verses from Malachi that I’ve ever heard in the corporate worship of any church, and they deal with tithing. This is both a very good thing–because giving is certainly a theme that shows up repeatedly in scripture–and a challenging thing, because Malachi is about a whole lot more than tithing.

In the end, I decided to deal with the issue of tithing head-on, but not before examining some of the rest of Malachi’s message…a message which, to my way of thinking, has a lot to say about whole-hearted devotion. Our worshipers seemed to hear the message in the way I’d hoped they would. What do you think?

Malachi: Prophet of Whole-Hearted Devotion