DID I SAY THAT? I PROMISED TO SUPPORT THE CHURCH BY MY PRESENCE
Rev. Dr. Dennis Winkleblack
Prospect United Methodist Church
Bristol, Connecticut
January 17, 2010
Hebrews 10: 19-25
Luke 4: 14-21
Sometimes the events of the day cause us to reflect on our own lives and see our troubles in their light. And sometimes this causes us to realize how much we have been complaining about something that is really trivial in comparison. This is certainly the case with the catastrophic earthquake that has flattened Haiti and caused massive loss of lives. And to think, that just a week ago I was worried about something like an ingrown toenail.
Sometimes there is also the temptation to think that in light of such a catastrophic event, sermons like this one on our promise to support the church by our Presence are irrelevant in light of something so much more urgent and important. That is certainly a question that must be asked and answered.
I want to state my belief, however, that in terms of what we, a local assembly of the people of God, might do best with an hour of our time this day the worship of God is a critically important thing to do. And, moreover, inasmuch as we are seeking to be a more faithful people of God, there is nothing more crucial to our long term ability to make a difference in the world than to hold each other accountable to our promise to support the mission and ministry of our church by our Presence. And so, here we are.
When I teach confirmation classes one of the most important virtues I try to teach them has to do with honesty. For one, I urge them to give voice to their doubts. I also encourage questions. In fact, I not only welcome questions, I require of each that in each session they come up with two questions about the subject for the day that they’d really like to know the answer to. I want them to know that their relationship with God doesn’t require them to hold back their honest humanity or that God is offended when they question God’s ways or have doubts.
So, when we come to study the portion of the vows in which they promise to support their church by their presence I ask them to write down just how many Sundays a month they will promise to be present at church. Some say 4 out of 4. Those are, I must say, this teacher’s pets. Others 3, others 2, others 1.
No one to my recollection has said 0, although sadly 0 has turned out to be closer to the truth for confirmation students throughout Methodism, I suspect.
However, as you know, even those who start out attending 0 Sundays often eventually return to church life such as when they get married or have a baby they would like to baptize. They remember then how important church can be.
I must, however, confess that I’ve grown somewhat cynical about membership vows having pastured eight churches and received hundreds and hundreds of new members. Please forgive me, but I strongly suspect that most folks who promise to support their church by their presence mean only that they will be present when it suits them. Meaning, for many if not most, that if they get a better offer, then church will probably lose out. Meaning, if it’s raining, they’ll stay home. Also meaning if it’s a beautiful day, they’ll stay home to play or do yard work.
Please pardon my cynicism. Gratefully, there are wonderful, blessed exceptions. People for whom coming to church is what they do like brushing their teeth. They don’t even think about not being present. It’s what they promised. It’s what they do. These are my later in life preacher’s pets. I love folks like these. I just love them!
Presence. We promise to support our church by our presence. Okay, you say, I get it. But why? Why be present in your church regularly? I propose this morning three reasons. For God’s Sake. For the sake of others. And for our own sake.
First and I would say foremost, it is a good thing to be present in church for God’s sake.
Worship. The word, worship, is derived ultimately from a word meaning to ascribe ultimate worthiness to. When we come together to worship God we give worth, ultimate worth, to God. We sing praise to God. We thank God. We promise to serve God. God is number one!
As noted in the Bible, when the early church gathered for its worship of the newly crucified and newly risen Lord, there would be the reading of portions of their scriptures which were of course the Jewish scriptures. In addition, there would be teaching, maybe some explaining or preaching, singing, praying, plus if they had copies available they would read a letter from someone like Paul.
And, of course, they would break bread together and drink wine together and remember how Jesus told them that whenever they did he was as good as in the midst of them. A practice that became our Sacrament of Holy Communion.
Going to worship God together was a big thing for members of the early church. If they were caught meeting together they could be arrested, or worse. The authorities claimed that Christians worshipped a king other than Caesar. And, of course, they did! They worshipped Jesus as King, their personal Lord, number one in their lives.
We affirm much the same thing in one way or another in our worship order each week, but are most specific when we celebrate Holy Communion. We say on this occasion, “We offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving.” If you think about it, offering oneself to God is just about the ultimate sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice to deny ourselves, to turn from self to God. It’s really what makes the worship of God, worship.
Most church-going folks in the 21st century think that they go to church in order to “get something out of it.” But, that really isn’t the main purpose of worship if you trust the Bible to be your guide about what worship is all about.
In classical biblical worship, those who gather for the worship of God are the actors. They don’t get. They offer. Their praise, their lives, their money. And who’s the audience? Can’t be you. The audience is God. And why am I here? Why is the choir here? To perform for you? Absolutely not. We are prompters. We guide your praise with the purpose of keeping it directed towards God.
This, of course, is not the way folks usually think about worship, is it? I’m afraid the overwhelming majority of Christian congregations have the roles reversed. That is, the congregation regards itself as the audience, while regarding the prompters as the performers. We perform for you. You either like it or not. And if you don’t like our performing, you may go elsewhere for your Sunday morning worship experiences where you will be better entertained.
If Christian congregations could change their thinking about just this one fundamental truth worship would be transformed and our lives and our churches also.
One reason, then, the most important reason for promising to support our church by our presence is that the worship of God needs to be at the center of everything we do.
Another reason for promising to support the church by our presence is for the sake of others. The person next to you, behind you, the one you will bump into at coffee hour. We might think we’re getting the most out of our relationships with others, but it turns out we’re giving just as much as we’re getting. One person has noted that “Sometimes I come to worship to affirm the faith I hold, but sometimes I come so that the faith of others will hold me.” Ever been there?
We need each other. Even if we don’t know how much we need each other, we need each other. For support, for encouragement, for validation of who we are, for examples of how to serve God best, for examples of how to get through life’s tough places, for someone to laugh at our lame jokes.
We also need each other to keep hope alive in the church.
In one of my first sermons when I came I asked that everyone put worship attendance at the forefront of their lives. I secretly harbored the fantasy that attendance would skyrocket from 100 or so to at least 200. Well, it hasn’t. And that’s too bad. It easily could have.
And, if it would have, here’s what would have happened. Everyone would have gotten excited. Everyone would have wanted to come to church because of the excitement. Everyone would have wanted to come to church, to be the church in the world because hope and possibility would have been so much in the air that you could have cut it. And, if another 75 folks were coming presently, we all, including them, would be even more inspired to give as much money as we could and this church wouldn’t be scraping bottom for lack of it.
If only folks would have listened to one of my first sermons.
So, we need to honor our promise to support the church by our presence for the sake of the church at large and for the sake of others.
Last, we promise to support the church by our presence for our own sake. Many would put this first. But if God is first, then I can’t be first. And if I put myself before others then that’s not the gospel. And so, the third reason we promise to support the church is for ourselves.
Although you likely need the least proof for why you should come to worship for your own sake, permit me to offer you one really good reason which, in fact, also incorporates the reasons for worship for God’s sake and for the sake of others. This reason is from the life of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.
John was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church, but was not a happy camper. He tended to depression and worked so hard he daily did battle with burn out. In his journal for May 24 in 1738 he writes that one evening he went “unwillingly” to a church meeting. They were discussing something that Martin Luther had written. Well, here, listen to Wesley himself:
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
This was Wesley’s heart warming experience and he was changed from head to toe. And the Methodist movement which today touches the lives of more than 60 million people around the world was begun.
Unwillingly. He said he went unwillingly. You know how that feels. You don’t really feel like going to church, but, because you promised, you go.
Now, what if Wesley would not have gone? And what if you would not have gone to church on a particular day in your past? A particular day when, if you were able to look back and examine what went on in each of your times of being present in church for worship, you would discover seeds were sown that led to life-changing forgiveness or comfort or direction or decision or insight.
What if, instead of going to be confirmed, you stayed home and never went to church again? What if many years ago you decided to give up on this God and on faith? What if you got ticked off about something and never went back to church?
What would you have missed out on? Who would you have missed knowing? What strength of God would you have not known? What would have become of your life? Your life? All because you missed one Sunday?
We promise to support the church by our presence. For God’s sake; for others’ sake; and for our own sake.
As we read in the Gospel of Luke: “When Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom.” Let it also be ours.
