we live like that. We think we can live without the vital cord that relates us to the God of the universe. So, we sever it, and we go our way without any kind of focus on God. Then we wonder why our life seems to be caught in the rapids of destructive elements which toss us in all directions. Worship sustains us; without it we die spiritually. To be meaningful, worship is not an occasional affair, but is practiced day after day, week after week, and year after year.
The Bible depicts many persons falling prostrate before God in worship and declaring: “Holy, holy is his name.” They freely acknowledge the mystery, power, and the awesome nature of the God of the universe. I worship for many reasons. I worship out of a sense of thanksgiving. I recall the time when my wife came back from surgery, and we received word that everything was fine. A sense of thanksgiving came to my lips. When my children were born, I remember going in their room and examining them and, then, expressing my sense of thanksgiving to God. I can still envision standing as a young man in the mountains of Virginia on an early summer morning and watching the sun rise above the lake as it sent its silhouette against the water and expressing a sense of thanksgiving to the Creator – God.
I also worship out of a sense of need. I acknowledge my own vulnerability. I acknowledge that I am not sufficient in and of myself and that I am not self-made. I need the great God of the universe, and I need the fellowship of the community of faith. I acknowledge my need as you also have a need. Some of you have moved to this community full of strangers, and there is a need. Some of you look across the table at an empty chair, and there is a need for worship. Some of you are struggling with problems with your family, with your husband or wife, your children, or aged parents, and there is a need in your life. There are those present who have financial problems. Many here are struggling with all kinds of dilemmas and difficulties and need the strength and power that comes from a source beyond ourselves. We have to acknowledge that we are not sufficient for all of this. I worship because of my own vulnerability. One accident in the bathtub, or one drunken driver who has lost control of his automobile, can change my whole life in an instant.
Worship becomes for us an oasis in time. We set apart a segment of time to focus our lives on the eternal God of the universe. We worship to draw on the strength and power of his presence to face the difficulties of life, as well as to express our thanksgiving. The word “sabbath” comes from an old Babylonian word which means “stop doing what you normally do.” Every one of us needs to stop doing what he or she normally does in one’s work and play and focus upon God so that each of us can draw the power of God’s presence into our lives. We are a holy temple, the people of God gathered to worship. We need worship as surely as our eyes need light to see, our ears need sound to hear, our lungs need air to breathe, and the body needs food to sustain it.
The Foundation of Community
The Church is also a community. It is a fellowship. It is a group of people who reach out to one another to draw strength from each other. As Paul reminds us, “We are bonded and knit together, no longer aliens, strangers, but we are fellow citizens.” We belong now to the community. We are not strangers; we are a part of the family. That is what the Church is — family.
I recall seeing a movie several years ago in which two prisoners, a black man, and a white man, were chained together in a prison camp. Anything they tried to do could not be done if they worked in discord. They had to learn to work in harmony. One day they escaped from the prison camp and, they learned quickly that if they were going to run, they had to do it together or else they would continuously fall. They were bonded together. Since we are bonded to the life of our neighbor, whether they are sister or brother, here in the fellowship of the Christian faith, we are involved in the lives of others. Our faith is always very personal, but it is never private. As a part of the Church, we live in relationship to others and never exist just in isolation. We reach out to others in their particular needs to show them that we care for them.
I know something of the concern and community of this congregation which has reached out to touch the lives of many in this community and I hope it will spread even more. Some of you are not really a part of that kind of community yet. In the Sunday School classes, W.M.U. circles, youth groups, and sometimes in other kinds of organizations within this church, you find persons who have bonded together into a strong fellowship in the church. It is amazing to see what community has meant to the Church as individuals were knit together one to the other down through the centuries. It was the early Church community which nurtured Paul and commissioned him to found other communities. It was the Christian community which sustained him and to whom he later wrote his epistles. The Church never exists merely for individuals, but individuals bonded together in fellowship in the body of Christ.
In one of Charles Schulz’s cartoons, Charlie Brown is sitting down watching television when Lucy enters the room and changes stations. He turns around and asks: “What gives you the right to change the station? I was watching that program!” She holds up her hand and says, “See these fingers. Individually they are not much, but when brought together like this, they become a force that’s mighty to behold.” Charlie Brown says, “That’s reason enough.”
When problems, difficulties, pains, aches, turmoil, demands, and hardships come upon us, they may be too much for us individually to withstand. The power of community helps us withstand these forces. When there is an awareness of each undergirding the other as a part of the fellowship of Christ, we sense the bond of togetherness which has knitted us together as a part of the Body of Christ. As “a building together,” we can withstand the strain or difficulty because we do not attempt to stand there isolated or alone. We share them with a brother or sister, and we find the strength of the community of faith.
The Foundation of Concern
If we are to build the Church, there is also the stone of concern and caring in its foundation. If we are a Christian community, it means that we really care for one another. We cannot be concerned for one’s own selfish ends, but we must learn to reach out and see the needs and demands of others. I am convinced that life teaches us early that caring is a very powerful emotion. We have signs all around us which remind us about the importance of caring. We see the sign when we pass on a two-lane road, “Pass with care.” We used to send “care packages” during the Second World War. We talk sometimes about getting tender loving care and a lotion with that same name. We have, stamped on some of our packages, “Handle with care.” I suppose one of the worst phrases that anybody can ever say to us is, “Well. I couldn’t care less.” But the Church is supposed to be a community that could not care more for one another. The Church is the place where we reach out to touch one another with our concerns and our needs.
As the body of Christ, the Church is like a web. When any one part is touched, the whole feels the vibration. When there is an ache which hurts over in this corner of the Church, another part senses it as well. We are attuned and knit together as a part of the body of Christ, and experience each other’s needs and, then, seek to reach out with arms of love, support, and concern for one another. The authentic Church, then, is a community of caring people. The Church is concerned about the educated and the uneducated, the wealthy and the poor, the young and the old, the singles and the married. The Church addresses all kinds of needs. It reaches out to the sick and to the well, to those whose marriages are sound and to those whose marriages are trembling with discord. The Church reaches out to the ill and well, the lonely and happy, the grieving and the rejoicing, and the strong and weak. It says to all people we care for you. In this community the Church reaches out to express God’s love and grace.
“We are a holy temple,” the Scriptures declare. The word “holy” means to be set apart. We are set apart not for our own glory. We cannot go over into some private corner and say: “Oh, aren’t we wonderful boys and girls and men and women.” We are set apart to serve. To be Christ’s people in the world means that we will be involved in the life of our own community where we care for one another. Where there is lack of caring and concern, we have to question whether that structure is really the Church.
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