Singing Sunday!

Why do we sing in worship?  If we are really present with each other in worship, what might happen?

Ann Lamott answers these questions for me, so much better than I could myself:

Singing is breath that is larger than yourself, so it joins you with space, with community, with other realms and our deepest inside places.  You are joining your strand to everyone else's, weaving something with the whole, and this extends the community outward into a force bigger than itself. 

Joins us to God and to each other……extends us outward…

There are many references to singing in the Bible.  Matthew 26 and Mark 14 both mention that before leaving the Passover Meal that we now call The Last Supper, Jesus and the disciples sung a hymn.  The poetry in the Psalms was meant to be sung. 

St. Augustine is reported to have said, "Who sings, prays twice." 

Our songs are heard by God, so let us lift them up to the Lord!

We're going to do this on Sunday in a special “Singing Sunday”.  Thank you to everyone who responded to the invitation to suggest songs that you want to sing.  We got a lot of responses.

Unfortunately we won’t be able to sing them all this Sunday, but we will sing many of them.  The others will be sung in upcoming services.

This week we’re going to soak ourselves in song and the scriptures that inspired them.  We’re going to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, and I hope you can join us.

Anguished

Have you ever cried out to God in anguish? Perhaps you were in mental or physical pain, or in trouble, as we will read in our Psalm this week.

Psalm 34:17  MSG

17 Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you.

              Anguish, Painting by August Friedrich Schenk

Last week, we read about the disciples In Luke 11, asking Jesus to teach them how to pray.   After Jesus teaches them the Lord’s Prayer, he tells them to be persistent in prayer, and then he says, 

9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The Bible is full of stories of people crying out to God in prayer.  These stories reveal a God who hears us, understands our pain, and does something to help.  He gives us a new beginning.

Hundreds of years before Jesus spoke about prayer to the disciples, when the Israelis were in slavery to the Egyptians, they cried out to God:

Exodus 2:23  NASB

And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God.

God understood, the Message translation tells us. 

Stories of redemption and hope.  I could use a little of that.  Could you?

Prayers of the People

Why do we pray in worship?  Could prayer be the most important thing we do in worship?

Rev. Donna worked with us to understand what we do in worship…GATHERING, SINGING, SHARING A PSALM, READING SCRIPTURE, REFLECTING, PRAYING, and BLESSING.

On Sunday we’ll be focusing on praying together.  The prayers we do in worship are sometimes called Prayers of the People. 

I believe that the Prayers of the People are the main reason why we gather to worship. Another word for worship is liturgy, which comes from Greek and means “public working.” When we worship, we are there to work: to do a public working or a public service. - Rev. Susan Lukey, Editor, United Church of Canada, gatheringworship.ca

Matthew 22 MSG

34-36 When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”

37-40 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

John 15:7 NIV

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

What do these scripture passages say to you about our Prayers of the People?

On Sunday we will pray for those who are on our hearts and minds this week.  Who would you like us to pray for?  I invite you to think about this before Sunday.

Chosen...Loved

Can you imagine yourself being chosen by Jesus to be an apostle?  Wow. 

The time is the second Passover of Jesus' ministry...just before he preaches his Sermon on the mount.  In Luke 6 we read:

At about that same time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles.

I admit that I have some difficulty placing myself there and being chosen.  My memory flips back to choosing teams at school.  I was never among the first chosen.

Last week, we read the beginning of John 15, when Jesus spoke to the chosen ones and said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.”

This Sunday, with Flo Kim, we will continue the story:

9-10 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.

11-15 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

17 “But remember the root command: Love one another.

In this passage, I feel like Jesus could be speaking directly to me:  “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you”.  He tells me that he loves me, he calls me his friend, and I believe him. I am secure in that love. 

How can this be?  How can it be that now I feel like Jesus is speaking directly to me? The more time I spend with him, the more sure I am of his love. He loves you too. Such is the power of Jesus, the mystery of Jesus.

Join us on Sunday as Flo speaks to us of his love for each one of us. 

Image:  www.LumoProject.com