WORSHIP
Genesis 9:8-16
Mark 10:13-16
“Worship Regularly”
Elliott Grow
Much earlier in the week, I was sitting with my mom watching television coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and studying the path of Hurricane Milton. When it went to commercial, she muted the sound...
and asked, “So which of God’s covenants are you talking about this week?”
And when I said that we would be looking at God’s covenant with Noah, she said, “Hmmm…are you sure you want to do that?”
You might be wondering the same thing!
Over the past two weeks, the story of God flooding the earth has seemed so incredibly real. We have seen the devastation that powerful swaths of water can do as it rushes back to the sea. We have witnessed the jaw-dropping upheaval that is caused by natural flooding.
Homes have been washed away.
Businesses are unable to operate.
Natural habitats have been permanently disrupted.
Roads are now impassable.
Lives have been lost.
But natural flooding isn’t the only kind of flooding that we experience. We might experience being flooded with bills that we cannot pay.
Or maybe that feeling of being flooded with responsibilities…
at work, at home, at church,
as a caregiver, as a patient,
as a faithful servant to God!
We all have been flooded with certain overwhelming emotions…
grief, anger, hopelessness, greed, bitterness, guilt, shame, or fear.
And whether we admit it or not,
we are all flooded with doubt at times.
That’s the kind of flood that voices the question, “How could God allow such horrible things to occur?”
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When we feel threatened by the floods in our lives, our promise to worship regularly keeps us focused on God’s everlasting covenant to care for ALL of creation on earth.
“As God’s faithful people at Providence, we promise to worship regularly.”
It’s another one of the promises that we make each week, but how can we possibly worship when we are in the midst of life’s floods?
When every one of our earthly choices is covered in mud and grime,
when we are drowning in financial debt,
when we are overwhelmed by the needs of so many others,
when we are buckling at the knees from the weight of our raw emotions?
Lord God, Creator of All, really?
Worship regularly?
Our weekly order of worship might give us some kind of framework for how to do just that.
We begin with a call to worship, an invitation to come into His presence. Tim always selects our first hymn to be one that focuses on God’s central location as first in our hearts and minds.
You’ll notice that we then confess what it is that has separated us from God both corporately and individually. We spend time reflecting on the ways that WE have moved away from God, not the other way around,
And immediately after that, we are reminded of the Good News!
“In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.”
As we move into proclaiming the Word,
we spend time reading and considering the love that God has shown us throughout our scriptures followed by an affirmation of what it is that we as a community believe.
Usually, we then offer a part of what we have to the Lord,
ask God for his blessings in prayer, once again offer up hymns of praise, and go out into the world to live out what we proclaim.
Elliott Grow
COMMISIONED RULING ELDER STATED SUPPLY MINISTER
Providence Church
Powdersville, SC
Last week, we included participation in one of our two sacraments.
We gathered around the table of Christ to break bread and drink from the cup in remembrance of our Lord and Savior.
We use gifts of the earth, bread and juice, to give thanks and share in God’s bountiful feast. And this week, we will participate in the sacrament of baptism. Gathered around the baptismal font, we will remember the active waters of creation, the floods that washed the earth clean, the Red Sea that divided to allow Moses and the Israelites to exit Egypt in pursuit of the Promised Land, the River Jordan where Jesus was baptized by John, the water that Jesus turned into wine, the living water that Jesus offered at the well…
This water in our font comes from the earth and is used to express how God has drawn us out of our sin and into new life as one of His own.
Hallelujah! Thanks be to God!
But I hear you…what does all of that have to do with me drowning over here? What does that have to do with folks feeling like they are trying to swim upstream? What does that have to do with the inundation of hardship that can easily wash over every single one of us?
That framework for corporate worship is also the framework for our personal lives. If we trust in the covenants of God, we respond with daily, regular worship. We respond to God’s promise NOT to ever destroy all of creation again with faith. That faith, that hope, in God’s promises is what keeps us from being washed away by our circumstances. We are able to make the choice to worship regularly every single day through our thoughts and actions.
Throughout each day we trust in God’s promises…
when we invite God into each moment and live aware of His presence,
when we humble ourselves and admit our separation from God,
when we study God’s word and reflect on the way we have been loved,
when we affirm our beliefs through both word and deed,
when we break bread with the least of these,
when we live out our baptismal vows trusting in God’s grace.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus draws the little children into his arms and says, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter into it.” (Mark 10:15)
The faith of a little child who depends on his or her caregivers to feed, nurture, provide without any hesitation or doubt.
God desires our utter dependence.
God desires our worship when life’s flood waters are high.
God desires us! Thanks be to God!