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Worship Service

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Matthew 5:33-37, James 5:10-12

March 6, 2005

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

 

OK class, you will need to pay special attention to what I'm about to say because there will be a written test following this sermon.  It will be a closed book exercise with no talking and each of you will be expected to do your own work.

Actually, I am not kidding.  Confirmation students always have to do a written exercise on each sermon and so it's only fair that the rest of us do this as well.  There really WILL be a written exercise following this sermon and it will, in fact, be based on the sermon.  And it will be a test.

Immediately following the sermon the ushers will distribute a survey for each adult to fill out, from tenth grade on up.  After the service, you may return your survey to a table in the narthex.  As you know, there has been discussion around here about whether or not we should leave the ELCA denomination.  The background on this issue is included as an insert in the bulletin, though I am going to ask you to NOT look at it right now.

In this sermon I am NOT going to talk about the issues at all, much less where I stand on them.  You already know that.  What I AM going to talk about is HOW we deal with this matter from this point on.

As described in the letter which the Church Council sent out a couple weeks ago and which is reprinted in the bulletin insert, the Council wants to be cautious about making any major changes unless and until there is an overwhelming consensus among the congregation to do so.  The survey is intended to find out what the congregation is thinking.  It is meant to give every single adult worshiper the opportunity to safely express his or her opinion on the matter.

The survey is NOT a vote.  The survey has no official or binding status whatsoever.  It is simply meant to "take the temperature" of the body before the Council considers what to do next.

We are doing this during a worship service for two reasons.  First of all, this is the best way to get the most people to participate:  we worship better than we return mail or phone surveys.

More importantly, as your pastor, I want your response to be an expression of your WORSHIP - not your politics, not your gut level feelings, not you relationships to particular people or anything else.  In other words, I want you to respond to this issue as you clearly stand in the presence of God.  I want you to fill out this survey before the cross of Jesus who admonished us to love one another as HE has loved us.

I want us to fill out the survey moments before we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus.  And when we walk out of this sanctuary, I want the Body and Blood of Jesus to course through our own bodies to affect how we treat on another and talk about one another...in the coffee area, in the hallways, in the coffee shops and the grocery stores and in our homes in front of our children.

I mention all of this because of my one reservation about even doing a survey at all.  I am afraid that even opening another round of conversation on this subject can be the excuse for some people to give themselves permission to lose Christian control of the way they treat others.  I believe that Christians can have all kinds of opinions on all kinds of matters.  But we cannot be faithful to God and nasty to one another at the same time.

By offering a survey and by doing this as part of a worship service, it is my hope that we do not forget who we are, and Whose we are.  And He is the One who said, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No' be 'No';  anything beyond this comes from the evil one."  (Matt 5:33-37)  The survey gives every single worshiper here the opportunity to do just that:  to simply let your ' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'."

In the Epistle Lesson this morning, you may have noticed that the brother of Jesus put it a little more forcefully:  "Let you "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned," (James 5:12).

Your opinion matters.  State it.  Let your yes be yes or let your no be no.  But be careful how you carry it beyond this.  If you need to express a comment on the survey, do it with charity.  If you talk with others about it, do not presume to know the personal motivations of others since Jesus said that no one know the spirit of another.  Do not dismiss other people or their opinions with labels or name calling since Jesus said that anyone who does this is liable to very serious judgment by Him.  I could go on, but you get the point.

Let us use this awkward moment to show our children how Christians can disagree in a Christ-like way.  Let this be an example that they can apply to their own conflicts at school and at home - that you yourself can apply at work, that you can apply in your marriages.

View this survey not just as an invitation, but as a privileged duty.  Let this survey be the way you connect your worship to your service.  That is why this is called a worship SERVICE.  This is shat we're supposed to be good at.  So let's do this thing.