Alternative Worship

What is worship about, anyway? Is it just about "food for thought"... or is it about something much deeper and much more important? This sermon suggests an answer, as well as why it matters to our world!

I was skimming through my Facebook posts recently to see what my friends had posted. Among their random thoughts, videos of kittens, and political opinions from both sides of the aisle, I found a link to an essay titled “Alternative Worship.” That sounded interesting. I had expected it to be against “traditional worship” – the kind of worship that we offer here at Nashville UCC every Sunday. Instead, it suggested that any worship, traditional or contemporary, shouldn’t always be the “same old, same old.” Diversity in worship, it argued, offers worshippers different ways to encounter the Divine. Yep, I’m on that page, for sure! The last thing that I want here in this sanctuary is boring worship! But what really struck me was the conclusion of the essay. “Every worship service should be ‘alternative,’” it said, “an alternative to the violence, selfishness, and loneliness of the world, an alternative to the never-ending drive to fuel our self-esteem with material goods and other addictions, an alternative to seeing ourselves as small, petty, and isolated; and instead, as part of something larger than ourselves. Every worship service is an opportunity to encounter the living God. …every time we show up for worship, we have the right and duty to expect and demand no less.” (V. R. Marianne Zahn, huffingtonpost.com)

Ponder that for a moment. Worship is always alternative, because when we encounter God in worship, we experience an alternative to the meaningless rat race that the world offers us. In worship, we are offered a taste of life in the kingdom of God! That is what worship is all about. It’s not about learning creeds or memorizing scripture or singing familiar hymns. Now, those are all good things. If, however, we learn and sing and memorize but don’t encounter the God who stands beyond the world around us, then our worship has been very thin, indeed! Worship, at its best, should move us away from the ways of the world and closer to the ways of God.

Several weeks ago, as I was just starting to organize my thoughts for this sermon, we heard the news of a massacre in Charleston, South Carolina. On June 17, a young white man named Dylann Roof killed nine members of the Emanuel AME Church, including their pastor. After being welcomed into their weekly Bible study, and after praying with them for over an hour, Roof pulled out a gun and shot nine human beings in cold blood. This act of terrorism didn’t take place in Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria. It happened right here in our own country – the country that just recently celebrated its birthday with speeches about how all its citizens are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But even though our country was founded on the principles of equality and opportunity for all human beings, and even though our legal system tries its best to guarantee those things, the reality is that we fall far short of that ideal. We can only find that ideal in God’s realm of love and peace. And so, we are called to worship the God who offers us that realm, not any group or political party or nation.

The difference between worshipping the ways of the world and worshipping the God who created us and sustains us is the difference between the actions of Dylann Roof and the response of the congregation into which he brought so much pain. Let’s take a look at the actions of Dylann Roof for just a moment. Let’s look evil in the face. Dylann Roof believes that some people are not as worthy as others are. In his twisted thinking, African-Americans are less worthy of life than whites are. In fact, African-Americans deserve to be killed – exterminated like rats that have infested the garage. That kind of warped thinking is rooted in hate; and Roof bought right into it. He hates African-Americans just because of the color of their skin. They have done nothing to him except to live in the same country. But he has been indoctrinated into hate, Dylann Roof used a gun to snuff out nine innocent lives. He bought right into the violence that is pervasive in our country, and into the thinking that not only permits violence, but encourages it. After all, we’re entitled to whatever we want, aren’t we?

Now, you might protest that Dylann Roof doesn’t represent the majority of people in our country. And – thank God – he certainly doesn’t! But his actions are representative of the kind of thinking that the world offers us. It tells us that some people are better than others. It tells us that it’s OK to hate people who are different than we are. It tells us that violence is an appropriate way to change things that we don’t like. When people worship the ways of the world, they risk being corroded by hatred and spewing violence like a broken sewer line. That’s what happened to Dylann Roof. What a waste of a life!

But there’s another way to think and to behave; and that’s how Christians are called to behave as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Compared to the ways of the world, we’re absolutely radical! In God’s kingdom, no one is better than anyone else. Remember what Paul told the church in his letter to the Galatians: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” These days, we might say this instead: “There is no longer black or white, native or immigrant, liberal or conservative; for all of us are one in Christ Jesus.” We’re supposed to love one another as Jesus Christ has loved us!  That’s why the members of Mother Emanuel Church welcomed Dylann Roof into their Bible study. Welcome is what we do as children of God! And when, after praying with them and hearing God’s word in the midst of their fellowship, he pulled out a gun and shot nine of them point blank, it’s why they returned love for his hate. Those Bible study members took seriously what Jesus said when he told his disciples to “love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.” A friend of the pastor – who, by the way, was the first one to die – called Roof’s grandfather to tell him, “I love you.” The daughter of one of the slain women told Roof to his face, “May God have mercy on you. I forgive you.” Not one of the members of Mother Emanuel Church responded with violence. They didn’t join together to burn and loot businesses, or lob Molotov cocktails at homes in white neighborhoods. No, they responded with compassion, with prayer, and with hope. “The doors of Mother Emanuel are open,” said one of those members on the Sunday after the massacre, “and it sends a message to every demon in hell and on earth.” “Through all of this, God is still our refuge,” said another. “I’m still heartbroken, but it’s gonna get better… day by day.”

Friends, we can’t talk ourselves into behaving like that. We can’t do it by just wanting to be better people. We can’t even do it by gritting our teeth and trying our best. No, we can’t convince ourselves to reject hate and violence in favor of forgiveness. But we can worship into it – if we’re worshipping the One who made heaven and earth, who redeemed us by his death and resurrection, and who transforms us by his Spirit. When we gather for worship each Sunday morning, we have an opportunity to encounter the God who stands above all cultures and nations. We are invited to worship the God who offers us not a political kingdom with a congress and a court and a president, but an eternal kingdom of peace, harmony, and joy. We are invited to worship the God who can change even us into good citizens of that kingdom!

Jesus was absolutely right when he said to the Pharisees, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; and give to God what belongs to God” (Mark 12:13-17). Yes, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Be a good citizen. Participate in civic affairs. Love your country! Offer thanks that we are a free people, and that we have opportunities to live fully! But to give to God what belongs to God; and that is our worship. Because in the end, it is that alternative worship that will help to usher in the eternal kingdom of God.