Sermon for August 19th, 2012

Last week we started our sermon series "The Heart of Worship" with an overview of what worship means for us as Christians and Presbyterians. We established that Jesus Christ, the living word of God, is at the heart of our worship and infused into every part of it.

Today we're going to zoom in on the very first part of our worship service--the things that, in your bulletin, come under the heading "WE GATHER IN GOD'S NAME." We'll look at what we do in this part of the service, why we do it, and what God's written word, the Bible, has to say about it.

We gather in God's name. Or as I have recently come to think of it, the "emotional roller coaster ride" of the worship service. We go from the hopeful heights of the Call to Worship and a rousing opening hymn down to the depths of despair as we are reminded of our sins in the prayer of confession, then right back up as we receive the assurance of pardon and pass the peace of Christ to one another. If we take these things seriously, we ought to be emotionally worn out by the time were just a quarter of the way through the service!

James 5:13 is not one of our scripture readings this morning, but it could have been. It reads, "Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise." This verse highlights the emotional roller coaster ride, but it also points out two important features of our worship: music and prayer. You'll find both of those things in all four movements of our worship service, and particularly as we gather in God's name. Music gathers us together. When we hear the prelude and the chiming of the hour, and when the choir sings the Call to Worship, we quiet our hearts and turn our thoughts to Jesus, in whose name we gather. Often the opening hymn is the very first thing that we all do together as one congregation, singing with one unified voice. Music gathers us together in God's name.

Sometimes the Call to Worship is sung by the choir, and sometimes it is spoken in the form of a responsive prayer. But always, toward the beginning of our worship service is a prayer of invocation. Because it isn't enough for us just to gather together by ourselves. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus tells us that "where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." That "in my name" is pretty important. So with the prayer of invocation, we invoke the name of Jesus, we ask God to be present with us as we worship, and at that point we can truly claim to be gathered in God's name. Like music, prayer gathers us (and God!) together.

You should know that I'm not a purist when it comes to what goes where, in what order, and what exactly we call it. I do like for things to make some sense, so probably we shouldn't put the prelude at the end of our time of gathering together. It's a "pre" lude, after all. But as for whether or not we have Announcements when we gather, whether the choir sings the Call to Worship or whether we pray it, whether our opening hymn comes before or after the prayer of invocation...I'm not picky. I hope you aren't either. What is important to me is that music and prayer be part of what gathers us together in God's name. What is important is that we come, in the words of today's first scripture reading, "into his presence with thanksgiving" (that's prayer!), and that we "make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!"

I'd like to turn now to a very important, and I think very misunderstood, under-appreciated part of our worship service. It's the "downer" part of the service as we gather in God's name: The prayer of confession. It is a prayer, but a prayer unlike any other.

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