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Ritual
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
Hey. If we haven't had the chance to meet before, my name is Kevin, and I'm one of the pastors here at Commons. And this morning, we get to start a fresh series together called Ritual. See, for the next four weeks, we are going to discuss together some of the practices of the Christian faith. So this week, we're gonna discuss singing and worship.
Speaker 1:Next week, Joel is going to be talking about prayer. Then Jeremy, the last two weeks on confession and spiritual gifts. We recognize that there are more practices within the Christian faith, but these are the ones that we wanted to start with. Now we just finished a six week series on Romans. Yes, Six weeks.
Speaker 1:And clearly, Jeremy loves his job because he only got through two chapters. So he really wanted to dive deep in those texts. And, hey, if you missed any of that, it's available on our YouTube or our podcast. Just search Common Church, you'll find it. In that series, we took a portion of scripture and then broke it down together.
Speaker 1:This series, we're gonna conduct a little bit differently because we're looking more at topics of singing, prayer, confession, and spiritual gifts, and then seeing what we can learn about those from the scriptures. I want to mention again as well that to go along with this series, this coming Saturday we have our final weekend university and it's around the same the same topic of spiritual practices. So if that's something that interests you and you want to dive more deep into, then you're in well invited to come to that this Saturday. Now, as Commons, we've talked about practices before at points through the year, but we've never pulled together a four week series like this by exploring the Christian practices. And we're really excited about this, and I'm sure it's not going to be the last time.
Speaker 1:Because as a church, whether it's here on Sunday or in home churches throughout the week, we'll be constantly exploring these ideas of practices that help us grow towards growth with God. In this series, we wanna refocus ourselves around how singing, prayer, confession, and spiritual gifts can be meaningful ways for us to engage with God, and not only as individuals, but as a community. But before we get started on talking about worship and singing, would you pray with me? God, this morning, as we begin a new series together, we ask that as we discuss these practices, it wouldn't be left in the space of dialogue, but that we would sense you in inviting us to actually engage in these practices, not only as individuals, but as a community. Help us to understand how these practices can be meaningful ways to engage with you.
Speaker 1:In your name, pray. Amen. So I feel like the word worship can scare us sometimes. I feel like it can mean a lot. Sometimes looking back in my life, I feel like I spent my entire four year degree and now my career here at church trying to define that single word, worship.
Speaker 1:So if we look at it simply, it can mean to provide worth to something or someone. But when we simplify worship down to this meaning, sometimes I feel like it can lose its significance. I mean, thinking about it, does God really need my praises in order to exist? Well, of course not. I don't think that God that God has that kind of ego requiring our worship to him.
Speaker 1:Let me explain. A few weeks ago was Trinity Sunday where we reflected together on God's being, who he is, and we were reminded that God has this three in one, one in three identity. God as father, son, holy spirit is his identity. In that community, God has everything he he needs. He is fully satisfied within himself.
Speaker 1:Creation then is simply an overflow of God's generosity and satisfaction. Creation isn't meant to meet a need for God. So no, God does not need me to praise him. He has everything he needs within himself. And it's not that worship doesn't have an effect on God, but worship just isn't about his narcissistic ego that he may have.
Speaker 1:He doesn't. Because God is different than us. See, sometimes I think that when we imagine gods, it's actually very unhelpful because we think about a god who's an old man on a throne waiting for us to worship him, like a like a mythical God like Zeus. This is not our God. God doesn't have that kind of narcissism waiting for us to praise him.
Speaker 1:He is not a needy God. And that is why we have to be careful with the way we define worship. Because if worship is giving worth to God, then that could skew the way we see God as needing our praises. God isn't someone who needs to be the center of attention all the time. In fact, God is surprisingly okay with falling into the background, and that's one of the most incredible things about God is he's not trying to be in the spotlight all the time.
Speaker 1:God has actually created a context where we have to look for him and seek him out. God is actually comfortable with not asserting himself and allowing us to recognize his beauty. And this is what fascinates me, that God invites us, humanity who he doesn't need anything from to be in relationship with him. He invites us towards a life with him even though he has everything he needs. So then, what is worship and why does it even matter?
Speaker 1:So to answer this question, I want to pause here to look at the story of the beginning of it all in the book of Genesis. This week in preparation for my message, met with Jeremy. And one of the pieces that he mentioned to me that is helpful when thinking about the Genesis story is how we view God's involvement in it. He's not only creator, but he is beginner, the beginner of this creation. Often, book of Genesis is referred to the book of beginnings.
Speaker 1:See, God's creation is intended to create. God began that. He started a creation that keeps on creating. God started a creative force. I love watching, planet Earth because and not only because of David Atborough's wonderful narrating voice, which he could narrate every move of my life and I'd be okay with that, but also because the moral of the story always seems to be the same.
Speaker 1:Life on this planet, no matter what the natural disaster or whatever comes its way, is always fighting to create new life again. This universe is doing what it was always meant to do, create. Consider the aspen tree. It grows its roots into the ground, and out of those roots, more aspen trees grow. The tree is doing what it was meant to do, and that is create.
Speaker 1:And in that creation, God is being glorified. This also applies to people. People creating more people. This act of creation is beautiful, and it is glorifying to God. In the beginning, God began this creative force, and it is still happening today.
Speaker 1:I love the way that Thomas Merton says this. He says, a tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be, it is obeying God. It consents, so to speak, to God's creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God.
Speaker 1:And therefore, a tree imitates God by being a tree. Trees be creating trees, people creating people. God started this world so that we could join him creating a new world. In these creative acts, there's an imitation of the divine, and worship is taking place. All creation intent doing what it was intended to do, create.
Speaker 1:That is glorifying to God, and that is worship. And this is this is why when we think of worship, we should think of creation. The beauty is that worship and creation go hand in hand. In the act of creating, worship is is expressed. Now looking at create creativity in the arts, why do you think there is so much music in the world?
Speaker 1:Because there's something about creating music that feels like something we were meant to do. I want to pause here for a story or just actually, I just want to pause here to talk about my nephew. His name is Winston. So Winston is three years old, and he seems to have this really intense connection and understanding with music that is far beyond his years. Let me show you a little video compilation that I've put together of my nephew.
Speaker 1:Let's watch. We can all agree that Winston is awesome. His favorite band is Nirvana. How cool is that? Now I show you this to say that you don't have to be some child prodigy like Winston or even some ultra artistic person to worship God.
Speaker 1:See, considering the arts and how that is worshiped to God is something that I think we all can grasp. And we talk about music, and we'll talk about music and art more specifically later. But I mean, there is this creative act that is happening through things like art, music, dance, and design, but there's also this creative force that happens beyond the arts. That is that all of us play a part in. I would say that all of us are artists in some way.
Speaker 1:We have all been given the gift of creativity, the gift of creating. Because whether you believe it or not, you are creative. I think about someone like my mom. At her work, her role is helping people who who need child care find those who want to provide child care. In her work, she is being creative.
Speaker 1:She is creating space for children and parents to have relationship. She's fulfilling their needs. And I know that in that creative act, God is being glorified. God is being worshiped. And see, it is important to know that creating doesn't just happen in your job.
Speaker 1:And it's not like when I find my life calling, then I will be creating something meaningful. Therefore, I will be worshiping God. This is more accessible than that. This is more ordinary than that. It just has to be.
Speaker 1:I love the way that Erwin McManus says this in his book, The Artisan Soul. He says, what humanity needs most is for us to set creativity free from the singular category of the extraordinary and release it into the hands of the ordinary. Creativity should be an everyday experience. Creativity should be as common as breathing. We breathe, therefore, we create.
Speaker 1:So to create must be accessible to everyone here. So in what areas of your life do you feel like you are creating? Because in that, you are reflecting the image of God, the image of the divine. You are doing what you were intended to do. God is being glorified, and, yes, you are worshiping.
Speaker 1:I wonder if we were to pause regularly and consider, in my life right now, how am I worshiping God? How would that have an effect on us? Regularly pausing and considering that. But keeping that question in the context of, in my breathing, there is worship. In my job, in my hobbies, in my relationship, there may be worship.
Speaker 1:See, there's so much guilt around this thing called worship. There's no way my life could be worshiped, you might be saying to yourself right now. Am I enough? Am I really enough for God? I have a job I don't like.
Speaker 1:My relationships are broken. My life just isn't where it should be. There's no way anywhere in this life there could be worship. But see, the big see the big from the beginning reality is that worship is life giving. Recognizing how you are creative, how your life is worship, that will make you feel alive because you were doing what you were intended to do, create.
Speaker 1:Creativity is there in your life somewhere. I promise you. Trust me. God is not displeased with you. And the thing is you may have been worshiping God, and you didn't even know it.
Speaker 1:This doesn't mean we don't need to be intentional about our worship to God, but part of our journey as individuals is recognizing the ways in which we are worshiping God in our ordinary lives. This, we need to recognize more on a more regular basis, and we need to press more into that. But if we were to stop there, it would only be half the story. If the act of worshiping is a reflection of God's image, then a complete reflection will be to worship God in a community. Because as we talked about earlier, we believe in a triune God, father, son, holy spirit.
Speaker 1:And to reflect him fully, there must be more than just the individual. I believe there's a personal worship that each of us are living out, and that's what we've been talking about, this idea of creating. But there's this community expression as well. Each week, we gather here at Commons. We have coffee and conversation.
Speaker 1:We sing together. We recite creeds together like we did today. We read scripture together. We learn and respond to that scripture together. In that liturgy, there is worship.
Speaker 1:And while we could break break down each of those elements, I would like to talk today specifically about singing. Because I don't think it's by coincidence that music is one of the central ways that throughout history the church has chosen to worship corporately. Singing seems to be something that God's people have always done, and there seems to be something significant about singing as a response to God. Even looking way back to the Old Testament in Exodus, God used Moses to lead his people through the Red Sea to escape Pharaoh. Then right after the story is told, the next chapter, the people respond to God with singing.
Speaker 1:And they say, the Lord is my strength and my song. He has given victory. And looking today as we as we gather regularly, singing is still something that seems to be important. So why do we sing? Well, there seems to be two pieces to a song, the instrumentation and the lyrics.
Speaker 1:Both have a part to play. Now with lyrics, historically, there have been some really beautiful songs written and some really bad ones, to be honest. Some that have some really unhelpful theology or some that basically just sound like a Backstreet Boys song, where we have substituted God's name into the song. And I feel like if you'd never been to church before, these words would be strange and maybe even oddly intimate. You are my fire, my one desire.
Speaker 1:Worship song or Backstreet Boys song? But then there are some beautiful songs and hymns like, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Or songs from today with lyrics like, you give hope, you restore every broken heart. Great are you, Lord. So it is really important that when we sing these songs together, they point us in the direction of the God that we are affirming.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing though. Lyrics in songs we sing are important, but maybe it's not everything. Just looking at it musically, the way we harmonize together as a community when we sing with one voice. Yes, there's actual musical harmonies going on the room, but there is this incredible metaphor in that. But in that moment, when we are creating one sound together, and whether you can hold a note or not, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Because in that moment, we're singing together, and it is the great reminder that you are not alone. We sing every week as a reminder that we are better together. Let's think about it from a music perspective for a moment, something like drums. Drums are not as pleasing on their own. Now I love the drums personally, but compared to hearing drums when accompanied by a band, it's a lot better.
Speaker 1:It's just different. You know, if I take this floor tom and if I hit it, yeah, it sounds okay. It's definitely a little out of tune, but there's something about when you take that, you add a bass guitar, you add voices, you add keyboard and other instruments. And they're all bringing their own part to the song and play in harmony with each other. There's something beautiful about that.
Speaker 1:And I think we all get that. I mean, we all go to concerts. We stream our favorite band's new album right when it comes out. Even though we all have different styles, there's something about music music that makes us want to be around it. And whether we understand singing in church or not, we want to be around music because it speaks to us.
Speaker 1:For most of us, every time you get into your car and you are alone, you turn on music because you don't want to be alone in the car. And not in a negative way, but you want to be with music because it sounds good and it is beautiful. Because you know it is good and you are not alone in that car anymore because you have music. But then think about the experience of going to a concert. Now you don't only want to be with that music, but you want to be in the collective experience of being with people and that music.
Speaker 1:We are drawn to these moments, whether it is in the car or at a concert, because it's a human thing to feel this. And see, that is what we're doing in church as well. But in church, we make a pattern of that, and we ritualize it. We sing together every week because there's something meaningful about that. The idea that we harmonize when we sing with each other.
Speaker 1:There's something about the way that the sound goes into the air and different notes work to each with each other. And no two people in this room will sing the same. Depending on your background, you may have different phrasing or different accents than the person next to you, and that is beautiful. And I love this. Even if you can't hold a certain note or any note, that is okay because in that moment, we're doing it together.
Speaker 1:Again, singing is the great metaphor that we are not alone. Something that a lot of writers who study worship think about is the directions of our worship together. That when we sing there's this horizontal and vertical reality happening and both are important. Horizontally when we sing, we recognize that there's someone to our left and to our right, that we are doing this together as a church. And I think that is important because a lot of the words we sing, especially in modern worship music, is aspirational.
Speaker 1:The lyrics focus on not where I am, but where I want to be going. Phrases like, I surrender all or Jesus, all for Jesus. These words are tough. And for me, I can actually have courage singing these words with my community because I know it doesn't land on my shoulders alone, but we are working at it together. And then looking at it from a vertical reality, this worship which we are doing together, we make sure our focus is vertical towards Christ.
Speaker 1:Both the horizontal and vertical realities are important. It's a little bit odd though, isn't it, corporate worship? It's one of the only place public places where you would get together and sing. And, yes, there's corporate singing that sometimes happens in in concerts, but this this is a sacred space where we would do things that we wouldn't normally do at other points in our daily living. But when we ritualize worship into a pattern like here, where we do this every week, you may lose the sacredness of this space and these moments.
Speaker 1:See, a concert feels sacred because you may say to yourself, this is the only time I get to see this band in a room full of people who also love this band. Sometimes in church, we lose sight of the sacredness of coming and being with music and being with people. Or if you're newer to church, the sacredness can actually just be misunderstood as awkward and strange. But part of our role is restoring that sacredness, and it simply starts by just being aware of it. That what we do in this space and in these moments is sacred.
Speaker 1:An awareness of singing and music and harmony and being together here. An awareness of this sacred space and moments. Some of my favorite moments as a church are when we share Eucharist together, communion. That is a sacred moment in a sacred space, and that extends to our singing as well. And in this sacred space, there are also different postures in our worship.
Speaker 1:Let's pause here for a story. Some of you may know the Braun family. They're great. And specifically, this is Frank Braun, and he is the best. Well, Frank and I have this thing where when he arrives at church, he generally enters through the gym doors at the back.
Speaker 1:And I always seem to be near the same spot in front of the room. I'm usually up in this area helping the band as they rehearse getting things going before the first service. And when Frank comes in, he always seems we always seem to make eye contact with each other. When he walks in, we wave at each other. It's the best.
Speaker 1:We do this every Sunday. I'm pretty sure Frank thinks I live here, but one Sunday, Frank walked in Frank walked in with his mom, Hillary, but worship had already started. And I was in my usual spot, but this time I was facing forward, I was singing, and I had my hand up in the air. And Frank, bless his heart, as usual, thought I was waving at him. So he started to wave at me like normal.
Speaker 1:But, of course, I didn't see, and he quickly realized that something isn't right here. And so he asked his mom, mom, is he waving at me? And she paused, and she thought for a moment how to respond and said, well, no. He's he's waving at God right now. I love that response that Hillary gave because the posture that we see in worship should be explained in simple ways like that, where even a child could wrap their head around.
Speaker 1:Because there's nothing actual magical happening there when we raise our hands or we kneel or we open our posture. There's nothing special or magical about that. What if we stop thinking these postures as only for an exclusive club where only the confident people in the words that we're singing can raise their hands and let everybody know in the room? Now our church isn't particularly expressive all the time, but what if in our church we looked at these postures in a simpler way like Frank might? That in the same way we are reaching out to God with our words, we are reaching out to God with our posture.
Speaker 1:Whether it is reaching out to God to express our need for him, like it says in Psalm one forty three, I lift my hands to you. I thirst for you and as parched land thirsts for rain. Or reaching out to God to bless God like it says in Psalm 63, I will praise you as long as I live. In your name, I will lift up my hands. Sometimes, even posture like this, with our palms that represent our hearts being open to God.
Speaker 1:Now just imagine this with me for a moment. You don't have to do this with me, but where you're sitting, just imagine, if you were to put out your palms like this, what does that feel like? You can actually feel it in your chest because our posture influences the way that we think and feel about things. And that way of physically signaling an openness to God can be a pretty powerful moment. So so in our singing and in our posture, may it have a childlike simplicity to it, whether it is us reaching out to God or us opening our posture to God or us simply waving hello.
Speaker 1:In a moment, we are going to sing together to close our time, and I invite you to stand with me now. As we sing today, may we ever be more aware of the person to your left and to your right. And as we lift these words vertically to Christ Jesus, have courage and remember that you're not alone in doing this. And may you know that you are not obligated to worship, but you are invited to worship. You are invited to participate in this creative moment we're about to have.
Speaker 1:And in this moment, yes, we are worshiping together. Let's sing. There is no more beautiful of a sound than the church singing together with one voice. Let's pray. Christ Jesus, I pray that we would have a sense of the invitation that you give us to participate in the creation that you have started.
Speaker 1:And as a community, may we know that we are not doing this alone. In the name of Christ Jesus, I pray, who is our worship. Amen.