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There
is something “big” going on in the world today. It seems
as if the culture is captured by a certain excitement…by a
certain electricity. This thing that’s going on feels big,
looks big and sounds big. It is almost larger than life. In
fact, millions upon millions will be drawn to it at some point
today. Young, old, rich, poor, conservatives and liberals will
all find common ground at some point today in this thing that
is about to happen. Its appeal is broad. It may affect both
your 90-year-old great aunt as well as your 8-year-old son.
There
must be something big going on today. I mean, consider this.
Today, Americans will eat 11 million pounds of potato chips,
13.2 million pounds of guacamole, 8.2 million pounds of
tortilla chips, 4.3 million pounds of pretzels, 3.8 million
pounds of popcorn and 2.5 million pounds of peanuts. In fact,
according to the American Institute of Food Distribution,
today rivals only Thanksgiving for the most one-day food
consumption among those living in the United States. So what
is this big thing? I know you know. Today is Super Bowl
Sunday.
In
a little less than an hour, a coin will be flipped, a ball
will be kicked and millions of television sets around the
world will tune in to watch this year’s clash of the titans.
For Americans, the Super Bowl has almost become a national
holiday. And with the kickoff and excitement about to begin,
here we are. That’s right. Here we are doing what we do
every Sunday at 5:00. And tonight we are doing it in the midst
of the larger-than-life spectacle known as the Super Bowl.
It
is interesting to pastor a community that finds itself
assembled for worship one hour before the biggest sporting
event of the year. It is interesting because you expect that
the congregation will be smaller (most pre-game festivities
are well under way). You worry that those who are in
attendance are eagerly waiting for the service to be over so
that they get home to watch the action. And, truth be told, it
is interesting to pastor a community that worships right
before the Super Bowl because, admittedly, the football fan in
me is anxious to see what happens during the big game. So when
it comes to worship on Super Bowl Sunday, I find myself
wondering, “Should we just cancel worship this year? Maybe
we should just move it an hour earlier? People want to be
somewhere else, don’t they?” When it comes to Super Bowl
Sunday, I often find myself asking, “Why worship at all?”
Why
worship at all? Wow. Just to suggest it—“Why worship at
all?”—makes you snap back to reality, doesn’t it? I
mean, come on, cancel worship? For a football game? I mean, I
know this isn’t just any old football game, but cancel
worship? Not an option, right? There are things bigger than
the Super Bowl, right? And being here tonight at worship is
one of them, right? It is important to be here, especially
tonight, right? We are here tonight because this is when we
are always here, right? This when we always meet, right? This
is how we always do it, right?
But
wait a minute. There is more to it than that, right? I mean,
we are not just here tonight to say we were here, right? We
are not just here because, well, this is when we are always
here, right? You all aren’t here tonight because nobody
invited you to a Super Bowl party, right?
I
wonder. Have you ever been to a meeting where you felt like
you were meeting just for the sake of meeting? A meeting to
say that you have met. I’m not sure there is a bigger waste
of time than that. A meeting for the sake of meeting. It does
not matter if anything was accomplished because we met. It
does not matter if things change or stay the same because we
carved out time, gave up precious time with family or friends,
in order to meet. We are just meeting for the sake of meeting,
meeting just so we all are able to say that we met. It is just
one of those things we do—go to the meeting because everyone
expects us to be at the meeting. Have you ever been to that
kind of meeting? I think most sane people stop attending those
meetings, and only those with a high sense of guilt continue
to show up even though they know nothing is going to come out
of it, be accomplished or change as a result of the meeting.
Meeting
for the sake of meeting. Meeting so that we can say we have
met. Boy, I hope that isn’t what we are doing here tonight,
right? Having church just to say we had church. I mean, why
are we here? There is something else we could be doing, right?
Even if you are not interested in the Super Bowl, I am sure
you could find something else to do. Are we meeting just for
the sake of meeting tonight? Wow. When you think of it that
way, I guess it does beg the question, “Why worship at
all?”
In
our scripture lesson, we find the prophet Isaiah encountering
persons asking these same questions. These folks have been to
worship week after week. They have been putting in their time,
doing all of the things that were expected of them. But you
get this feeling that all of their worship activities have
left them empty. They are wondering if this makes any
difference. They are wondering if anybody cares. They are
wondering if God cares. In verse three they cry out, “Why
have we fasted and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled
ourselves and you have not noticed?” Look God, we are
starting to wonder if we are meeting here just for the sake of
meeting. Does any of this really matter to You? To anyone?
Because if it doesn’t, then hey, I think I’ll just stay
home next week and catch the game. Come on, God, really, why
do we worship at all?
Listen
to the answer that God gives through the prophet. Why worship
at all? In verse five, God responds by asking a question:
“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a
man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like
a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you
call a fast…is that what you call worship…a day acceptable
to the Lord?”
In
essence, God is saying to those good, well-meaning,
Sunday-after-Sunday church folk who are wondering if they are
just going through the motions and if they are only meeting
just to say they have met, that this is not the kind of
worship that God is interested in. And if you are here just to
be here—if you are here and only going through the
motions—then your spiritual life will feel empty and every
church experience will feel cold and lifeless. God declares to
those who challenge Isaiah, “I am not just looking for
people who know all the right words to say or know all the
words to the latest praise tunes. No, I am not interested in
worship that concerns itself with pious language, elaborate
ceremonies, or the ‘proper’ church-going clothes. No!!
That is not the kind of worship I desire. If worship is only
about putting your time in, if it is only going through the
motions, then hey, why worship at all!!!”
But
God does not leave us to wonder about the kind of worship to
which we are called. Immediately after exposing the emptiness
of ancient Israel’s worship, God responds right there in
verse six: “Is this not the kind of fasting…the kind of
worship…I have chosen, to loose the chains of injustice and
untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and
break every yoke?” There it is. There is the answer. Why
worship at all? Because worship can change things. It can
change us. It can change the world.
It
is not things we do in
worship that interests God, but rather what worship does
to us that is at the heart of today’s scripture. What kind of worship does
God desire? The kind that loosens the chains, lightens loads
and releases folk. “I am looking for worship,” declares
the Lord through the prophet, “that changes things. I want
worship that dares to break open the hearts and souls of
worshipers. I desire worship that changes things. So sing
songs that will loosen the chains of addiction, depression,
hopelessness and despair. If you are going to pray, then pray
prayers that lighten the load of grief, heartache, sickness
and death. And if you are going to preach, if you are going to
dare to stand in public and proclaim the Word of God, then
proclaim words that free people from the burdens of guilt and
shame, free people from a life of isolation and meaningless,
free people from a life of fear and brokenness. If you are
going to preach, then preach the good news so that people can
be free—free to be the people I have created them to be,
free to live the life I have called them to live. If you are
going to worship at all, then worship in ways that will allow
you to be changed.” That is the worship God desires. Worship
from worshipers who are ready for something to happen to them,
ready for something to happen in them, is the kind of worship
God desires. That is why we worship.
But
before we let our worship turn into something that is
individualistic and private (“I worship only for the change
God is going to effect in me”), before we stop there, God
interjects again. The
very next verse, verse seven, continues to reveal the nature
of honest and genuine worship.
God explains that, “Yes, I want worship that changes
people, that transforms people, because changed people can
change the world.” God explains that the fullness of worship
is that transformed people will then share their food with the
hungry and provide shelter to the homeless. Those who worship
in spirit and truth will clothe the naked, visit the prisoners
and the shut-ins, and proclaim with their very lives that God
is alive and active in the world. Why worship at all? Because
worship has the opportunity to heal every inch of our broken
world.
And
that is why we are here tonight, one hour before the kickoff
of the Super Bowl. And that is why we are here 52 Sundays a
year, in good times and in bad, no matter what else is going
on in the world. We are here, week in and week out, because we
need to be here week in and week out.
We are here because the world needs us to be here. We
need to worship. We need to sing our songs, pray our prayers
and tell our stories—and not just so we can say we did it or
to check it off of some spiritual checklist. We are here
because we know that God is going to show up and do something.
We come knowing that if we are open, if we are honest, if we
are ready, then we may leave here tonight a little different
than we arrived. And maybe, just maybe, if we are different,
then the world will be different as well. Why worship at all?
Because it is truly a matter of life or death. Why worship at
all? Because we know that it is truly a matter of life and
death.
The
rest of today’s scripture makes this pretty plain. If you
come to worship expecting to be changed, it is then
that your light will break forth like the dawn, and your
healing will quickly appear. Do you want healing? Then be
ready and willing to have all of your sickness and sin be
transformed. Be ready to let go of destructive habits and ways
of thinking that we cling to so desperately. If this is the
kind of worship we desire, then
our righteousness will go before us, and the glory of the Lord
will be our rear guard. It is then
that we will call and the Lord will answer. When we come to
worship truly open to conversion, it is then
that we can cry for help, and God will say: “Here am I.”
If your worship does away with the yoke of oppression, if it
does away with the judging finger and gossip, and if you spend
yourselves on behalf of the hungry, then
your light will rise in the darkness, and your
night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you
continually and satisfy your needs in parched places.
Do
you have any parched places? Then the closing lines of our
reading are for you. Isaiah says if we worship in this
life-changing way, “You’ll be like a watered garden, like
a spring of water whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins
shall be rebuilt, and you’ll raise up the foundations of
many generations. You will be called the repairer of the
breech and the restorer of streets to live in.” (Isaiah
58:11-12)
That
is why we are here tonight. We are here because at some level
we are hoping that God’s spirit will enter into our lives in
real and powerful ways. Maybe you have brought with you
tonight a hurt that needs healing, a relationship that needs
mending, or a passion that needs nurturing. Maybe you are here
tonight with a storm that needs calming, a path that needs
lighting, or a hope that needs igniting. I trust that if we
come here tonight believing that God can be truly active in
our lives, if we worship as if God can indeed bind up our
broken hearts and make straight our crooked places, then
tonight will be the night that God begins to answer the
prayers we carry deep within us—even on the eve of the Super
Bowl.
And
so tonight, as we come to the communion table, let us come
expecting to experience God’s presence in real and lasting
ways. Come to this table prepared to meet God. Prepare your
heart for genuine, life-changing and world-altering worship at
the Lord’s Table. And how will this happen? Our scriptures
seem to suggest this kind of power happens in worship when it
is done in a spirit of expectation. So come to the table
expectant tonight. This is so important, because I worry that
too often churches do communion because that is what they
think they are supposed to do. And if at the Lord’s Table we
eat just for the sake of eating, we will miss the opportunity
for genuine healing, empowering and transforming that this
central act of our worship has to offer.
So, let us
come to the table tonight. But when we come, let us be
especially mindful that when we eat from the loaf and drink
from the cup, we are indeed allowing the very presence of our
God to enter into our lives—a realization that, when
considered in its fullness, cannot leave any of us unchanged.
After all, isn’t that why we worship?
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