Marrying This Week's Sermon and Worship

In the post right below this one we talked about God not being the Lord of the Perfect Life, but the Savior who walks with us through every time and situation, good and bad.  We also talked about how unfortunate it was that church has been defined solely as a happy or perfect place...a place for people whose lives are going well.

It struck me on Sunday how much of our worship service is centered around welcoming those who are suffering.  The language of need and imperfection is woven through our dialogue with God.  That's not to say church is depressing or non-celebratory.  We certainly praise, lifting up joyous moments and words every Sunday.  But if you look closely that joy is always mingled with the need for redemption which is an outgrowth of our imperfect condition.

We begin each service with words of confession and forgiveness, stating publicly that we have not lived perfectly, that we suffer and that we have caused other to suffer.  Our first words to God are, in essence, "I'm sorry".  His words in return are, "I wash you clean".  Without the first we couldn't properly hear or understand the second.

The Kyrie comes next.  Its words are simple:  Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.  We admit our need for tender care.  We pray for peace and unity, knowing that our lives and spirits lack them.

The Prayer of the Day follows soon after, a petition for God to help us see new ways to live our lives, better than the old.

After the readings, sermon, and creed we have the prayers of intercession.  Here we pray directly for the things we need most:  comfort, hope, health, helping hands, and the ability to share all of those things with our neighbors.  Again this open admission that we need God paves the way for his presence.  If we weren't suffering and lacking, we'd not be able to pray and hear him come.

After this we share God's peace, broken people shaking hands with other broken people, finding comfort and hope in togetherness.

The offering comes next, our own sacrifice for the sake of others.  Here we give up something, confronting the fear of losing, the fear of not being able to make it unless we keep everything we have for ourselves.

Finally it's time for communion, the meal where we share the body of Christ broken on the cross to redeem us.  We do not come forward proud and in control.  We come forward suffering, knowing that only Christ can save us.  We leave filled, reassured, given strength to make it through another week no matter what may come.

If we weren't suffering people, if God was not present with people whose lives were less than perfect, we couldn't do any of these things.  They'd be meaningless.  Church is a joyous place, full of praise.  But that praise comes from admitting our imperfections, laying them before God and each other, not from ignoring them.  Somehow by accepting suffering--our own and that of others--and being able to walk together through it, we find more strength, more love, and more of God than we ever could alone.

Next time you're doubting whether you should come to church because of something bad that happened in your life, remember this description of worship.  Maybe church is exactly the place you should be...you and all the people you know who are experiencing any of life's imperfections.

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)