Sunday Morning: What's the Hype?

The worship of God comes in response of liberation for those oppressed and seeking freedom under Yahweh’s covenant. Israel within immediate exodus sings of God’s wonderful deeds through praise and poetry (Exod 15). Altars are to be built in the name of Yahweh identifying faithfulness, atonement, and awesome power (Gen 8:20, Gen 12:8, Gen 22:9, Gen 35:1; 1 Kings 18:30-40). All aspects of worship whether at the altar, in the temple, or in procession, praise God the creator, maker and rescuer, recognizing the triumph of Jesus the Lamb. This is the type of worship that is going on in heaven and earth, all the time. As the gospel of John in Chapter 4 indicates, worship is not focused upon place but rather the person in “Spirit and in Truth.” Worship becomes about the community living transformed lives and proclaiming through various acts of liturgy, songs, sanctification, and sacraments, as Christians are a redeemed people, no longer conformed to the world (Romans 12:1-3).

The community shares in the communion of the Triune God, freely acknowledging the name (Hebrews 13:15). There are many ways that Sunday morning can be renovating. Baptism and other sacraments speak of the old death but presently living newly resurrected identities. The Lord’s Supper speaks of God through Christ where we encounter intimacy and renewal. As Robert Webber mentions, the assembled people are the primary symbols of God’s presence. “We sing, we pray, we give tithes and offerings, we confess our sins, we affirm our faith in creeds, and we offer testimony to God’s grace in our lives” (Webber, 2010, 89). Christians worship to know how to celebrate the gospel in such a way as to show its attraction. Worship is a great moment within modern context to center upon unselfishness and sacrifice because much of American ideology focuses upon self-centeredness and self-worth. Liturgy should be carefully planned, empowered by scripture, aesthetically and creatively driven, confessional, testimonial, and sacred. And as the Psalmist suggests wonderfully, the liturgical gathering shall praise God’s awesome creation, his grace to all nations, justice for all, and the covenantal expectation believers are to live by (Ps. 103-105).

Prayer:

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

-St. Francis of Assisi

Mic Biesboer
Stephenville, Texas