SUSTAINING SPIRIT:  Passionate Worship
Psalm 150   Acts 4:23-31
The Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart
Epworth United Methodist Church, Berkeley, CA
 

Passionate worship can be magnificently noisy with drums, guitar, violin, flute, organ, voices... with trumpet, lute and harp, tambourine and dance, --
Passionate worship can also -- be silent and still.

Worship is encounter with the living, loving God that arises from awe and wonder, from remembering, from gratitude, from crying out in lamentation, from dancing with ecstasy, from being.

When Marcia McFee led a workshop for our worship planning team, she showed us how worship sustains spirit just as breathing sustains life.
And so, I invite you as you breathe in....breathe out...to pay attention to the flow of breath, as prayer: breathe in God; breathe into God.

Marcia said that in worship:
We breathe in - in-spire - God's peace and presence, we take in the story of Jesus, we breathe in grace and love.
We breathe out - ex-pire - cast off, let go, the things that weigh us down, hold us back, making room for new breath, new life.
We breathe with - con-spire - in the world - living, loving, struggling into God's future.
It is our willingness to open all of who we are that infuses our worship with passion.  

Imagine - anticipating worship with the excitement of waiting for midnight Harry Potter parties; or losing our voices from shouting praise at the same noise level of a World Series final game or rock concert. Imagine -- worship as an adventure of  "spiritual free-diving" -- while being completely still.

When we encounter the living loving God, we engage the things that matter the most ... we explore the everyday struggles and blessings of our lives and world... and we find the sustaining strength and grace to hold on, carry on, and move on.

This morning's reading from the Book of Acts describes worship in a context of threat and danger.

After Jesus had been put to death by the authority of empire, people still followed Jesus and gathered in his name.  The leaders of Jerusalem tried to silence these disturbers of the Pax Romana after Jesus' death just as they had during his life.

But the early followers of Jesus continued to speak and act in the name of Jesus.   Peter and John were arrested in Jerusalem and brought before the Sanhedrin because Peter had healed a lame man in the name of Jesus. The Sanhedrin was the Council of economic and religious leaders charged with preserving public order, and they exercised their authority under the government of Rome.
(Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol 5, p. 977.)

In this story, the members of the Council were caught in a double bind ... They knew, everybody knew, that a man had been healed, by Peter, in the name of Jesus.  According to Acts 4:16, they said, "It is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through (these men); we cannot deny it.  But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name."  

It didn't work.   Peter and John heard the warning to be silent ...  Then they "went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and leaders had said to them."    Then, the scripture tells us that they prayed together:  

"God who created all that is, look at these threats, and grant your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.  

When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness."

After being arrested and warned they, they did not pray to be spared or to be protected ... they prayed for boldness and they experienced a second Pentecost.

In reading this text, I could not help but think about Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, where a dear friend and colleague, Romeo del Rosario serves as President.  

In recent years in the Philippines, several hundred people have been disappeared and killed. Hundreds of church leaders (both clergy and laity) working to help the poor have been among them.  These extra-judicial killings have led to outcries from around the world, some of us have been active in a network of support and solidarity. Leaders from this annual conference, including our Bishop, went on a fact-finding mission to the Philippines, and lobbied Congress to send its own delegation.  The "War on Terror" has been taken as license for the elimination of human rights, and for violent acts of political repression around the world.

Yet God is doing amazing things. Sustaining the people in their struggle, by grace. Last month, an unprecedented Summit was held on the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. And just last week, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ordered the armed forces and the defense department not to detain two persons who had escaped arrest and torture.

Union Theological Seminary has had its own students detained and tortured.  And in the face of serious threats and warnings, UTS has offered sanctuary to those in danger in the name of Jesus. This fall, when UTS celebrates its 100th anniversary, I believe that their special celebrations, as well as their regular weekly worship will overflow with prayers for boldness.

Dorothy Bass writes, "Sunday worship is not just about 'going to church.'  It is about taking part in the activity by which God is shaping a new creation." (Practicing our Faith, p. 87)

In a state where just yesterday budgets are balanced and profits secured on the backs of the poorest of our brothers and sisters, let us pray for boldness!

United Methodist Bishop Robert Schnase writes that, "God uses worship to transform lives, heal wounded souls, renew hope, shape decisions, provoke change, inspire compassion, and bind people to one another."                 (Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, P. 34)

I don't know which of us needs any or all of these to break loose in our lives this morning.  But any time ... every time ... we gather for worship ... whenever two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus,... one or more of those things just might happen ... to any one of us ...   to us all.

Elizabeth Gilbert, in her book Eat, Pray, Love, writes, "Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark.  If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be ... a prudent insurance policy." (p. 175)

We do not pray for insurance.  We pray for boldness -- even, especially, in times of threat.

I hope and pray that here and now we ... encounter God ... that higher power and deeper source that holds us all.

I hope and pray that we rejoice in bold encounters with grace ... that transforms ... heals ... renews ... shapes ... provokes ... inspires ... and binds us together ... this morning and always.  Amen.