The Way of Love – Worship


“Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”  Psalm 29:2

The next ancient practice in following Jesus is worship.  Worship is a unique activity that invites mortals – the created – into a sacred space with the divine – the Creator.  It acknowledges our need, our dependence, on God to be loving, liberating, and life-giving.  We made the time to show our love and adoration through prayers and music, hearing the Word of God and reflecting on it, and then (in our tradition) enacting the sacred Feast to which we are called to partake and take with us into the world.

Our Catechism offers this reflection:
Q. What is corporate worship?
A. In corporate worship, we unite ourselves with others to acknowledge the holiness of God, to hear God’s Word, to offer prayer, and to celebrate the sacraments.

As a sacramental church, we believe in the sanctity of the seven Sacraments (Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation of a Penitent, and Unction [anointing with oil for healing, including Ultimate Unction, also known as Last Rites]).  When we think of church services, or rites, most of the time we think of one of these sacraments as the reason for worship.

However, worship does not have to contain a sacrament to be worship. If our intention is to offer praise and thanksgiving to God, we are offering our worship.  The essential element of Christian faith is making the decision that some entity (which we choose to call God) is WORTHY of our time and SACRIFICE of our place of importance in the world.  What I mean by that is we choose to recognize that God is more than we are and make the space for God to be God and for us to be human, in need of God’s salvation expressed by a love almost beyond human understanding.

I believe our practice of worship allows us to develop our understanding of God’s love for us as individuals and as a community.  It is from our shared experience of worship that we then move to fellowship and become beloved community (more on that at a later date!). 

We strive at St. Barnabas to make a worship experience that follows the Episcopal tradition while making room for the newcomer.  We use Worship Folders to make the liturgy easier to follow for those who may be unfamiliar with our style of worship and to allow us access to the many liturgical resources not in the Book of Common Prayer. We blend the traditional with a little more modern sensibly (specifically the New-old version of the Nicene Creed that gives agency to Mary and the Holy Spirit for Jesus’ birth and gender neutralizes the terms used to refer to the Holy Spirit). 

My intention is always to create a personal and shared experience of the holy.  I hope you feel that.  If there is something you would like to have in our worship, please let me know.  I have been told there is a desire for more praise music, so we are working on that.  If you have any question about the liturgy, I am always happy to talk about how we make meaning through our words and actions. 

Like the words of the Psalm state (several times!), we want to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.  So, consider what is beautiful and we’ll strive to achieve it!

In Christ,
Rev. Valerie+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Give God the Glory

Reflections on Chapters 12-14 of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles Years ago, I had a grandparent chargingly ask me if it was OK for her to be proud of her granddaughter, because she had been taught, “Pride goeth before the fall.”   I assured her that being proud of her grandchild was not a sin when the feeling was offered in thanksgiving of the accomplishment and not boosting up one’s own ego. “Look at what I have done,” has been the down fall of many people because they neglect or forget those that helped them achieve their goals. The Book of Acts shares story after story of the importance of acknowledging that all power and might comes from God, to whom we should offer our thanks and praise.   When our egos take over and we congratulate only ourselves for what we have done, we become idolatrous. Chapter 12 records an terrible story of King Herod’s response to the apostles.   He outright kills James and then arrests Peter, who is guarded by over 30 men....
Read more

Good Lord, Deliver Us

Today is the “Hallmark Holiday” Valentine’s Day.  Some of us will mark the occasion by wearing red or remembering at the last minute to buy a card or flowers of one’s beloved.  But my thoughts and prayers are with the 17 families of Parkland, Florida who mark today as the first anniversary of living without a loved one who was killed in a shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.  It seems hard to believe a year has past since that awful day, which also happened to be Ash Wednesday.   Due to that fact, I was not as “plugged-in” that day and only got snippets of information between services.   As the details emerged, it was tragic and heartbreaking, taking on a surreal shimmer as most unthinkable acts do. Unfortunately, it was quite real, and the aftermath will be felt forever. I don’t know any of the victims, however I feel a connection to Carmen Schentrup, who was a 16 (almost 17) year old senior with big plans. She was also Episcopalian. ...
Read more

Transformation

Reflections on Chapters 9-11 of the Acts of the Apostles A little over a year ago, on the Feast of St. Paul’s Conversion (January 25), I wrote a blog post entitled “People Don’t Change – Until They Do.”   In our cynical world, too often we dismiss the idea that transformation can be a reality: that a criminal can be rehabilitated; an addict can remain in recovery, a “sinner” can become a “saint.” It is true that, being human, many of us fall short of complete change (I’ve lost and gained the same 40-50 lbs. many times in my life). However, such skepticism neglects the power of the Holy Spirit at work in peoples lives.   As we continue to read through the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, an essential art of what the author is sharing with us are amazing stories of such radical transformation that the only thing that can account for it is the Holy Spirit. And it begins with Saul.   He is the perfect villain in the story of the apostles.   No one was more opp...
Read more