September Newsletter

 Communities of inspirational worship....What does that look like? Sound like? Smell like? Feel like? I think truly inspirational worship touches many different senses, not just our ears.

It may in fact be a hard question to get one’s head around, so I have a different way of asking (it is always good to have a few different ways to ask about the same thing). If you could describe your ‘perfect’ worship experience what would it look/sound/feel/smell like? And is the answer to that question always the same or does it vary over time?

Full disclosure, I am not sure that my ‘perfect’ worship experience would necessarily look exactly like our standard United Church worship experiences. In fact I remember a discussion amongst a group of clergy many years (close to 20 now) ago where the question was asked “If you weren’t in leadership would you attend your worship service/church?”. At most there was a conditional maybe from some of us. All these years later I still ponder how best to answer that question.

To be honest a large part of me thinks that this edition’s theme is one where I need to do more listening and less talking. I may know what I find inspirational, but what does the rest of the community think? Then there is the very real fact that what Bill finds deeply moving Sally absolutely detests and what Carol comes to church to find is the last thing Frank is looking for. Sometimes as a worship leader and planner you know that you are having to juggle a lot of different styles and wants and needs.

At the same time this question is very timely for me. As my vacation drew to a close I found myself pondering if it is time to shake up our standard order of worship and, if so, how. DO we need more silence? Less silence? More interaction? More visual (I admit as a word person the visual rarely comes into my head as something to consider)? If worship is meant to inspire and strengthen us to live as followers of God’s Way then what is the best way to do that?

For me inspiration in worship can come from the music. It can come from the sermon (or maybe not). It can come from being in a safe place where I can allow my mind to drift and float and wander. It can come from the fact that there is a community of friends gathered together. It can come from prayers. AT eh same time, on some days any of those things can make the experience less inspirational. For me it often depends on the day and what stat I am in that day.

None of which helps me truly understand how best to build a community of inspirational worship....

In the end I think we keep trying things and hope that in the long-term balance people get what they need for spiritual sustenance. I don’t think any one worship experience will meet everyone’s needs. But I hope that over a period of weeks that does happen. There is a place for the tried and true, the traditional and comfortable. There is also a place for the different and new and even uncomfortable.

I announced last Sunday that I am adding a time for folk to answer “where have you seen God this week?” into the service, at least for a season. Will this add or detract from how we are inspired in worship? Time will tell. Are there other things that you would like to change about how worship sounds/feels/looks/smells? What do you think would inspire you?
Gord.

Looking Ahead to September 3, 2023

This being the first Sunday of September we will be celebrating the sacrament of the Lord's Table. If you are joining us virtually you are invited to have food and drink available so that we can all break bread together.

The Scripture Reading this week is Exodus 3:1-15.

The Sermon title is Who Am I? Who Are You?

Early Thoughts: How would you respond if you were Moses? Would you jump at the chance to serve? Or would you be a little dubious (once you got past the part about talking to a burning bush that is)?

I have known the story of Moses and the burning bush for decades. As part of the Exodus saga, it was one of those "keynote" stories we were taught as children. But still every time I read it I see something a little different.

I have long recognized that Moses is a little reluctant to take on the task. But this year as I read the story it jumped out at me that in his reluctance Moses asks two distinct questions. 

First is "who am I that I should take on this task?". Why me? I can't be the right person, I am not qualified. Why would anyone listen to me? I suspect that many of us sympathize with Moses in this moment. How many of us have been asked to do something we were sure we are not suited for?

In this case the answer is a bit of a sidestep. God never says why Moses is the right person (actually in the course of Scripture God rarely tells someone who is reluctant to take answer God's call why they are they right person). What God does is tell Moses that he will not be doing this task alone. God will be doing it with/through Moses. Is that what makes Moses the right person?

Next in Moses' bag of reluctance is "well who are you anyway?". Great you will be with me but who are you? When the people ask on what authority I am setting the Hebrews free what do I say?

In Jewish tradition the Divine name is not uttered. But the rough translation of the Name is the past present and future tenses of the verb 'to be' all at the same time. Of course that makes no grammatical sense. But then God is beyond our ability to define and name. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has suggested that this strange grammar means the God is pure being (I wonder if that can be linked to Paul Tillich's expression that God is the Ground of All Being???). Rabbi Ruttenberg also points out that if one were to attempt to pronounce the Tetragammaton (often placed in our alphabet at YHWH) you would in fact be making the sound of breath.

The one who fills us with the breath of life, the one who is existence itself is calling Moses to take on the task of liberation. No wonder Moses is first told that he is on sacred ground.

I am not sure Moses gets great answers to either of his questions. However he is moved to take on the task. Despite his fear (after all he fled Egypt as a wanted murderer), despite his feeling of inadequacy, Moses heads back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh "let my people go". [Anyone else hear Charlton Heston's voice as they read those words  or it that just me?]

What has the burning bush (probably a metaphorical one for most of us) asked you to do? Have you wondered who you are to take on the task? Have you wanted to know who t was that was asking you? What might have convinced you?

Being curious may lead one to sacred ground. Sacred ground might be a place where we are challenged. Being in God's presence can be comforting, challenging, terrifying, and awe-inspiring all at the same time.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to August 27, 2023 --13th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16A

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Exodus 1:8-2:10
• Psalm 124 (Read Responsively from VU p.848)

The Sermon title is Creative Disobedience

A picture of some controversy
from earlier this summer

Early Thoughts:What do you do when the rules are unfair? What do you do when the government is not acting in the best interests of the whole community?

Pharaoh felt threatened. The Israelite/Hebrew people were very numerous. What if they took power or joined with a foreign power? Imperial societies often worry about revolts by those who are not in power. Pharaoh's first response was to increase the hardships faced by the people, to turn them into slaves. (Which seems an odd choice -- we are worried these people might revolt, let's oppress them and give them more reason to revolt -- but maybe that is just me, after all the British acted similarly in a variety of places, as did the white rulers of South Africa.) Then Pharaoh decided that if the problem was too many strong Hebrews (particularly men) the obvious solution was partial genocide.

First it was the midwives job to commit infanticide at the moment of birth. All male babies should die. The midwives know that this is wrong so they refuse to do it. To cover themselves they tell a story about how robust the Hebrew women were. So then a general rule goes out: see a male Hebrew child and drown them in the Nile. We are not told what the response of the general populace was to this rule.

Enter a family from the house of Levi. A son is born to them. Not wanting her child to be slain his mother (traditionally called Yocheved) fashions a small boat/basket and gives her son to the Nile. Technically she follows Pharaoh's rule, with a bit of a twist. The basket boat is discovered by Pharaoh's daughter who quickly figures out what is going on here. However she is moved by pity and instead of following her gather's genocidal command she arranges for the child to be raised and protected and cared for. The child becomes her adopted son, a boy named Moses. As the faith story continues he plays a pretty important role.

Many of us have heard the story of the baby in the basket since we were toddlers. But it was not until I was an adult that I fully recognized the importance of disobedience in the story. Without the disobedience of the midwives, of Yocheved, of Pharaoh's daughter, the story would not be possible. When one is in the midst of a tyrannical, genocidal, oppressive system the faithful response is disobedience.

Within Canadian constitutional thought we have the idea of "peace, order and good government". Within our religious tradition, our Presbyterian forebears, working from the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 14;40, spoke of doing things "decently and in good order". Many times church people have pulled up Paul's words from Romans 13 about submitting to authorities. Few of us were raised to be rule-breakers. But are we also sometimes called to be disobedient?

I think so. The challenge is to know when and how. I think of the idea of non-violent non-co-operation espoused by Ghandi in India and in the US Civil Rights protests of the 20th Century. These were acts of disobedience that helped make significant changes in the world.

A few forms of this have shown up
in my Facebook feed over the years

What are the criteria we use to determine when we need to engage in acts of disobedience? In a world where we are taught as children the importance of following the law how do we know when to intentionally challenge that law?

In the course of the pandemic this question has come up more than once as people protested what they saw as government over-reach with masking requirements or gathering limits or vaccination requirements. Many of those protestors saw themselves in the same category as the Civil Rights protestors of the 1950's and '60's. Others saw those protestors as working against the common well-being of the society.

For me the way we approach the question of disobedience is rarely about one specific rule. It is about  the big picture. AS people of faith our first loyalty is not to a specific government. Our first loyalty is to God. As Christians we are called to participate in the growth of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus proclaimed. Our call is to obey the law of love, the rules that work for the full and abundant life for all of GOd's beloved children. When other rules or laws impede the ability for all of God's beloved children to have full and abundant life we may well be called to disobey. 

At times to disobey (without doing damage or violence to others) may well be a duty. That is a challenge for many of us. After all it is now how we were raise.

Can we be creatively (and non-violently that may be critically important for followers of Christ) disobedient when God calls us to be? Can we help weaken the powers of oppression and death by refusing to follow their rules?
--Gord