What Happens to us When We Worship Together? Can We Be Transformed?

 

Consider 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG

Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

Every week, as we gather in the Living Room of Love, Rev. Donna reminds us that God is always there first.

We enter the chapel, greet each other, and leave the world outside. We turn to face God as Moses did. Wow…really?  Can I honestly say that I am doing justice to this opportunity every single week? 

No, I cannot. Sometimes I find it difficult to leave outside whatever I am thinking about. Sometimes I am worried that I'll sing the wrong note or say the wrong thing. 

But I do want to do the very best that I can.  Because I know that if I put my heart and soul into worship, I just might be transformed by it. 

How about CVC, is the group transformed?  If we put our hearts and souls into worship and show up for each other, perhaps St. Paul is suggesting that the group will be transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

In Worship this week, we will read more of what St. Paul wrote about this group, this body of Christ, to the church in Corinth. 

 1 Corinthians 12:12b-13 (MSG)

Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells, but no matter how many parts you can name,   you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives.  We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

Colossians 3. 15-17 (MSG)

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing.  And cultivate thankfulness.