May 11 Sermon notes on worship for Acts 2:42-7

Acts 2:42-47

I fear that we are mistaking style over substance. When folks mention a different style of worship here, I remind them that we have a small informal service Saturday at 6, but they rarely show there. When they continue their complaint, i note that they use entertainment as the analogy they are drawing.

I brought a book for the plane called A More Profound Alleluia. we .use Acts 2 as worship template and gift of the spirit. I just read a defense of contemporary styles of worship as a party, but I do not recall that Scriptural reference, but that may be a fault of a memory that is not as strong as it once was.

What is the result of Pentecost in this story? Worship. What worship elements are mentioned? To me it sounds like a synagogue service.Where do we encounter the spirit in worship, or better put, where does the Spirit encounter us. Of all things, let’s go to the Book of Order. Some of its governing sections have been slimmed down, but not this fairly new revision of how we look at worship[. Let me just pull out some sections and make brief comment on them All time, all space, all matter are created by God and have been hallowed by Jesus Christ. Christian worship, at particular times, in special places, with the use of God’s material gifts, should lead the church into the life of the world to participate in God’s purpose to redeem time, to sanctify space, and to transform material reality for the glory of God.” Hear that ending piece-the glory of God.

“Prayer is at the heart of worship. In prayer, through the Holy Spirit, people seek after and are found by the one true God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. They listen and wait upon God, call God by name, remember God’s gracious acts, and offer themselves to God. Prayer may be spoken, sung, offered in silence, or enacted. Prayer grows out of the center of a person’s life in response to the Spirit. Prayer is shaped by the Word of God in Scripture and by the life of the community of faith. Prayer issues in commitment to join God’s work in the world. “

I went to church and sat through sermons. I understand the antipathy toward them, but I am mystified by the frequency of complaints about 15 minutes. In a Bible Study I attend at times, a gentleman never fails to strike out at sermons as long and boring, and another never fails to mention that he did not get much out of them and his appalling ignorance about Scripture proves it .  People went to college and hear sometimes 1 ½ hour lectures but don't get the grief of sermons. At their base, in our tradition they  try to make a passage clear. I offered to run some sermon preparation groups where we study the passages beforehand but we have no takers.

worship as the flock together’

I Peter (w/ living stones?) Perhaps some of our antipathy to worship comes from a poor grasp of it. this is a plea to consider doing some sessions on our worship style as a study.

The glory of God is the living man, but the life of man is the vision of God', says St. Irenaeus, getting to the heart of what happens when man meets God on the mountain or  in the wilderness. Ultimately, it is the very life of man, man himself as living righteously, that is the true worship of God, but life only becomes real life when it receives its form from looking toward God.” ― Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy