Sermon for April 1st, 2018

Matthew 28:1-10

1 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Luke 24:50-53

50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Romans 15:1-7

1 We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. 3 For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

FPC Worship is Welcoming

It was the day before Easter, and Joe was blissfully driving along the highway with his wife, Mary, when they saw the Easter Bunny hopping across the middle of the road. Joe swerved to avoid hitting the Bunny, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped right in front of his car and was hit. The basket of eggs went flying all over the place. Candy everywhere.

Joe, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road. He and Mary got out to see what had become of the Bunny carrying the basket. Much to their dismay, the Easter Bunny was dead. Joe felt terrible--thinking of the poor bunny, and all the children across the world who would be disappointed the next day. He turned to his wife, and said, "What should I do?"

Mary told Joe not to worry, she knew exactly what to do. Opening her rather large purse, Mary pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead Bunny, and sprayed the entire contents of the can onto the little furry animal.

Miraculously, the Easter Bunny came to back life, jumped up, and quickly picked up all the spilled eggs and candy. Then he waved his little paw at Joe and Mary, and hopped on down the road. 20 yards down the road, the Easter Bunny stopped, turned around and waved again. Then he hopped on for another 20 yards, turned, waved, hopped another 20 yards and waved again!

Well Joe was just astonished, and understandably quite impressed with his wife. He said to Mary, "What in Heaven's name was in that spray can? What did you spray on the Easter Bunny?"

Mary gave a knowing smile, and silently handed the aerosol canister to Joe, pointing him to the label. It read, "Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave."

Today's message, of course, is not about the resurrection of the Easter Bunny.

And even though our scripture passage begins with the resurrection of Jesus, that's not ultimately the message today either. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the resurrection of Jesus is ALWAYS the message, every Sunday...but our focus today and for the next seven weeks is actually the first thing Jesus' disciples DO when they encounter their risen Lord. We read in verse 9 of our Matthew passage that "Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him."

2018 is a "back to basics" year for us here at First Presbyterian Church, and I can think of nothing more basic, more essential to the life of any church than that simple act of coming together at the feet of the risen Jesus, and worshiping him. So for the next seven weeks--from Easter to Pentecost--we're going to look at what the scriptures have to say about Worship, and more specifically, what kind of worship experiences we strive to create here at First Presbyterian Church, whether it's a contemporary service, a traditional service, a Wednesday night service, a Celtic service, a Christmas Eve service, a Wedding service, a Funeral, or anything in between.

Several years ago, I put together an acronym for our Deacons as a simple way to remember some key principles of Presbyterian worship. The acronym WORSHIP stands for Welcoming, Orderly, Reformed, Sacred, Honest, Intelligent, and Public. We'll talk about one of those principles each week, and today, Easter Sunday, we'll start with "Welcoming" and what it means to be a welcoming community of faith.

First though, I want to talk just a little bit more about that word, "Worship." What does it mean, really? Outside of the church, it shows up a few places--sometimes we'll say "He just worships the ground she walks on." Or we'll talk about celebrity worship.

But really, it's just about one of the most Christianese, churchy, religious jargony words I can think of. And it's in decline. A Google analysis of printed texts for the past two hundred years shows that usage of the word "worship" peaked around 1840 and has continued to plummet downward ever since. Kind of like attendance at most Christian services of worship...maybe those two things are connected!

So now more than ever, if we're going to keep doing this...if we're going to convince ourselves and anyone else in our community to do what you are doing right now, we had better have a rock solid understanding of what it is, and why it's something worth doing at all.

Something worth doing. That's actually, more or less, what the word "worship" means. The word is evolved from an Old English composite word, "weorthscipe" or worth-ship. Say that five times fast, and you can see how the "th" in the middle dropped out, giving us "worship."

Worth (then as now) has to do with value or esteem, as in "worthy" and "ship" is a suffix that indicates the art or practice of cultivating a discipline, as in penmanship, sportsmanship, bipartisanship, or membership.

So worship, or worth-ship is simply the art or practice of ascribing worth or value to something, in our case, to God. But why God? Why not Taylor Swift or Dark Chocolate or your favorite Basketball Team? All of these things have value, and in that sense, are objects of worship for many.

But what has the *most* value? What is more *worthy* than any other thing?

If you ask most people in our society today, they'll say something like, "my family" or "my children" have the most value to me. But that can't be the highest, most valuable, most worthy thing, because you certainly wouldn't say my children are the most valuable thing to everyone in the universe.

So you might say, well, then education is the most worthwhile thing, or happiness, or love, or freedom, or world peace.

All those things (as wonderful as they are) are limited and one dimensional. Love does not guarantee peace, and sometimes is the cause of conflict or war. Freedom does not guarantee education, and education does not guarantee happiness.

But if you take the sum total of all those virtues and ideals--in the words of the Apostle Paul, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable...excellent or praiseworthy" and you all that goodness a name...say, "God" (in Old English, God and Good are the same word), then perhaps you finally have something you can truly say is worthy above all other things, has more value than anything else.

Recognizing this worthiness, naming it over and over again, ultimately centering our lives around it, and teaching it to our children and to others--that's the heart of what worship is, and does, and is for.

As Christians, our primary source for learning about this goodness, our primary connection to all that we call God . . . is centered around our most sacred text, the Bible, and around the story of Jesus Christ, a person we recognize as having had a special relationship, a unique connection to God, so much so that we say that Jesus was and is everything that God was and is.

And when his first followers realized this fact on that very first Easter Sunday...they worshiped him. Not just then and there, but for the rest of their lives. In our passage from Luke, we read that even when Jesus finally "withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven" they continued to "worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God."

So this Easter Sunday, my challenge to you is this: What do you think is the most important thing in the world, the most valuable, worthwhile thing, not just for you and your family, but for the world and everyone in it? And what are you doing in a disciplined, consistent way to name and acknowledge that, to grow and learn and center your life around it? If you don't have an answer to that question, then boy do I have a great opportunity for you:

Welcome! to First Presbyterian Church. This is what we do. When we gather together for worship each week, not only are we