Foundry UMC DC: Sunday Sermons

You’re a Firework! - February 27th, 2022

You're a Firework!

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC February 27, 2022. “Shine On!” series.

Text: Luke 9:28-43

You’re a Firework!

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC February 27, 2022, Transfiguration Sunday. The last sermon in our “Shine On!” series.

Text: Luke 9:28-43

It is common on Transfiguration Sunday for preachers to focus on what the disciples experience on the mountaintop—the way Jesus’ face and clothes “dazzlingly” change and the appearance of Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus about his upcoming “departure.” 

But today I want to focus on the next part of the story, what happened when they’d come down from the mountain. Evidently, while Jesus was busy praying and preparing for his exodos (ἔξοδος, Greek for departure or death), a man brought his son to the disciples who’d remained in the valley, desperate that they should save the child. But they couldn’t do it. Jesus was, to put it lightly, disappointed—in a way that may seem harsh. After all, disciples of Jesus aren’t…Jesus. I’ve often heard it’s not fair to say that we are expected to live, love, or serve like Jesus since Jesus had the whole “God-human” thing going for him. But that’s a cop out.

Because Jesus was clear that his disciples were to follow directly in his footsteps. At the beginning of the chapter we read from today you’ll find, “Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” (Lk 9:1-2) And then, when more than 5,000 people who’d gathered to hear some good news and receive healing got hungry, the disciples wanted to send them away. But Jesus said to the disciples, “you feed them.” And in the chapter following our story today, Jesus appoints 70 more to go out and proclaim the Kin-dom and heal! (Lk 10:1,9)

Recently as part of my spiritual practice for Black History Month, I’ve been drawing inspiration from the wisdom of Marian Wright Edelman, human and children’s rights activist, founder and President Emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund, and a part of the Foundry family for many years. She says this: “A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back—but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.” 

In this moment when a new war has broken out, racial, economic, and environmental injustice continues to thrive, divisions grow wider and more fortified, and shadows of helplessness and hopelessness threaten to overtake us—the voice of God speaks from a different kind of shadow, the overshadowing cloud at the mountaintop, and calls us to listen to Jesus! And again and again, in a variety of ways, Jesus says to us: It’s up to you. YOU are called to proclaim in word and deed the good news of God’s Kin-dom and to be an agent of healing grace for bodies and spirits. Jesus knew he was not long for this world. He knew he would be gone. And he started saying it early: it is up to you! You feed them. You heal the suffering children… You proclaim love and justice… You stand up to the bullies and tyrants… You heal, mend, and make gentle this bruised world. Jesus honors disciples through the ages, honors each one of us saying, “I’m going away—don’t wait for me to come down the mountain or wait for me or any other leader to return before you get to the work that is yours to do. You are made to reflect the life of God, to embody the love of God, to shine with the courage, peace, and hope of God just like me.” 

On this transfiguration Sunday, we see a “dazzling” Jesus on the top of the mountain. The word translated “dazzling” is the Greek exastraptó which means “to flash or gleam like lightning, be radiant.” And all the stories surrounding this mountaintop moment reveal to us a very important truth: Jesus isn’t the only one made to dazzle, to gleam like lightning, to shine. We who follow Jesus can try to make excuses, but we are given grace to live, love, and serve in the way of Jesus.

To reflect the life of God and truly dazzle in the way of Jesus doesn’t just happen. That has been a theme for our reflection since the beginning of January. We began this season of Epiphany focused on the light of the star that shines on our path as we seek the Holy One. I said, “The nearer you are to the beating heart of God’s love and life, the more you will ‘come alive’ (as Howard Thurman says), the more you will shine with God’s love.” We gathered the next week to remember our baptismal covenant, and to celebrate that by the grace of God we are siblings of Jesus, part of the “Beloved” clan, and incorporated into the mighty works of God’s saving love and mercy in the world. And each Sunday following, we have reflected on the practices that make up our covenant with one another in this community: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. We have been reminded that all these practices are ways we grow in grace and in capacity to live, love, and serve like Jesus. We don’t do any of it alone. Spirit empowers and guides us, and we support one another on the way. 

I’ve been hearing from some that having been separated from congregational life and the habit of regular worship, things feel strange upon return, the weirdness of what we do and how we do it (compared to everything else in the world) is set in stark relief. I’ve been told that folk find themselves asking whether there’s any point to regular engagement in a spiritual community. What possible difference does it make in a moment of tragedy and madness such as this one? I understand this. And I wonder what I’d be feeling and doing were I not in the role and vocation I inhabit. 

But I must say that the Wesleyan way of personal and social holiness and transformation, of disciplined practices with an emphasis on grace, of insistence upon authentic connection with others who share the path—this Way of living faith, hope, and love makes a difference. It can be a life-sustaining resource in moments when we are on the edge, in grief, or suffering. It can form and inform persons who understand that it’s up to us to carry and shine the light of God’s love and justice in our lives and in the world—wherever we are and through whatever means are available to us. It can strengthen us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. I am persuaded that our life together matters, our communal witness matters, our best efforts—even when we aren’t at our best—matter. 

I know this may feel exhausting since the realities of the world are so heavy. The disciples didn’t think they could do what they were called to do. They didn’t realize yet that we have all been made to dazzle, to “gleam like lightning.” And as I’ve struggled myself over the past weeks (and months) to hold on to Jesus’ call to be brave, to be hopeful, to be and to share myself fully with and for others, to keep showing up and doing what I can where I can, I’ve drawn energy and encouragement from a song and video released by Katy Perry almost 12 years ago but timeless in its message. It feels to me like Gospel:

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
One blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause, baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go, "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go, "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

Jesus calls us and gives us the grace to be a firework, to dazzle. “It’s always been inside of you, you, you. And NOW it’s time to let it through.” The world needs us to shine. And Jesus believes we’re able. So what are you waiting for? Shine on together, my friends, SHINE ON!

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Kin-dom Economy - February 20th, 2022

Kin-dom Economy

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC February 20, 2022, the seventh Sunday after Epiphany. “Shine On!” series.

Text: Luke 6:27-38

Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens
with a love like that:
it lights the whole sky.”

This poem attributed to the Sufi poet Hafiz is a beautiful illustration of what Jesus says in our Gospel for today. Again and again, Jesus names things that, according to the world, would expect or require a certain “payback.” In the world, if someone hurts you, hurt them back. If someone speaks ill of you, you give your version of a smear campaign right back. If your property is taken, take it back. The worldly relational economy is tit for tat, an eye for an eye, an economy of gifts only on loan, always with fine print, an economy of debts to be paid and always with interest. 

But, as Pastor Kelly pointed out last week, in Jesus’ sermon “on the plain” what Jesus says is directly counter to worldly expectations. Not only does he teach not to seek “pay back” for harm. He says love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Like the sun who never says to the earth, “you owe me…” This is a whole different economy. This is a Kin-dom economy.

These provocative teachings of Jesus can easily get twisted. And “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies” have been used to encourage persons in abusive relationships to stay and continue to take the blows. That is not the point and it must always be spoken aloud when these verses are shared in public. Jesus isn’t saying that to be a good Christian you have to be a doormat for abusers or remain in a life-threatening relationship. Jesus is teaching an ethic of love based on the love of God for us. This ethic of love calls upon each of us to claim their own sacred worth, voice, dignity, and agency such that we know we deserve to be treated with gentleness and care; AND, when we’ve been hurt, to not “go low” by retaliating in kind. But to “go high,” maintain dignity, and choose not to return evil for evil, hate for hate, or violence for violence.  

It’s also easy to twist these teachings of Jesus such that we focus on the “reward” that’s promised. Upon quick review, it may sound like Jesus is saying that if you don’t judge other people, they won’t judge you; or if you don’t condemn others, they won’t condemn you; or if you give, without expecting anything in return, you’ll get it all back because you’ve been so good. But let’s be serious. You can hold your tongue, work hard to be gracious toward others, give generously of yourself and your resources to other people and they can turn around and betray, hurt, and judge you. Sometimes others might do unto you as you’ve done unto them. But so often in the world, it’s harm that gets reciprocated. Mercy, generosity, and kindness, aren’t as regularly given back. So what do we do with that? 

Notice in verses 35 and 36 that the reward isn’t coming from other people. The reward comes from the grace of God present and active in you. The reward for following the teaching of Jesus is that you aren’t living beneath your dignity. Or, said positively, the reward is that by allowing the love, generosity, and mercy of God to be manifest in your life, you are reflecting God, you are being merciful as your Mother/Father is merciful, you are living as the child of the Most High that you are. 

This is among the powerful insights Howard Thurman illuminates in his book, Jesus and the Disinherited. Thurman is painfully aware of the ways that Christian teachings about heaven, forgiveness, love and the like can sound like a call for Black Americans and others with their backs against the wall to stay there, to forgive their oppressors 70-times-7, and wait for liberation in the great by and by. But Thurman is insistent that Jesus’ teaching is “a technique of survival for the oppressed” and calls for “a radical change in the inner attitude of the people.” Thurman claims that “anyone who permits another to determine the quality of [their] inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to [their] destiny.” When others “go low,” what do you allow that to do to your inner attitude? This focus on the inner attitude is not about disconnecting from the real suffering and injustice of the world, but is rather a way of not being utterly destroyed by it. It is a way of maintaining dignity and agency when everything around you wants to steal or destroy those sacred gifts. Thurman highlights Jesus’ teaching that, regardless of our outward circumstances, we have agency of our inner attitude. Our inner attitude affects our outward response and action.  

Over the past number of weeks, through both sermons and witnesses from siblings in the Foundry family, we’ve been focusing on the spiritual practices that are part of our covenant as Foundry UMC. These practices are all ways that we attend to, nourish, strengthen, and form our “inner life” and attitude. You don’t just wake up one day and have the inner resources to persevere in peace, love, and dignity in adversity. You can’t just click your ruby slippers and grow in love or capacity to trust. Because everything in the world around us trains us for retaliation, for defensiveness, for quid pro quo. 

Part of John Wesley’s genius was creating a system and method to assist human spiritual growth, to create spaces and intentional community where people like you and me can regularly put ourselves into the flow of God’s unending grace, love, and mercy and, as a result reflect more of God in our lives. Practices and partners with whom to share the journey are key. We need one another. Prayers and scriptural reflection, presence in worship and small groups, generosity and faithful financial stewardship, service of all kinds, and being and sharing a witness to God’s grace are practices we promise to share as part of this beloved community. Foundry is only as strong as these practices among us. When any one of them is neglected, the strength and vitality of our communal life is diminished. Over the past number of years, we have worked to systematically strengthen the resources that help us practice and live out all the parts of our shared covenant. 

As part of that work, the Foundry Board has set as an ongoing priority that we work to deepen our understanding of generosity as a spiritual practice and to increase awareness of the ways that we can practice faithful financial stewardship. I like to remind us that financial giving is one of the most profound ways we practice Jesus’ Kin-dom economy instead of the worldly economy. The worldly economy is transactional, an economy where the Sun would throw the moon in debtors prison and jack up the interest rates just because it was possible. There are some who bring this way of thinking about giving into faith community. They figure that if they are giving, they should get to stay in control. “I’ll give, IF…”

But part of the spiritual practice of giving is to loosen our grip. When we give to support the shared life, mission, and ministry of Foundry, we do so in relationship with one another. It is an interaction, not just a transaction. As a member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference delegation to General Conference, I’ve been engaged in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training. Our trainer, Dushaw Hockett, highlights this distinction between interaction and transaction. Interaction is being in mutual relationship with someone we perceive as a sibling and fellow child of God. Transaction is using someone, more like a thing, to try to get what you want or think you need.

When we give, it’s in the context of mutual, covenant relationship. We allow our gift to flow into the community of which we are part and within which we have a voice and agency. We can participate in crafting and creating vision and mission. But the gift we make isn’t ours to control. It isn’t given to hold the community hostage. It isn’t about only getting what we ourselves need. It’s about creating community that provides for the needs of the whole family as much as possible—and that then reaches out beyond the family to do justice and kindness in the world. 

The spiritual practice of generosity in financial giving is risky. It can make us feel vulnerable and afraid that we won’t have enough. So much in the world’s economy trains us to be afraid and to do whatever we can to assure our own comfort and sense of safety. The Kin-dom economy—the upside down way taught by Jesus in the sermon on the plain—encourages us to practice being uncomfortable and vulnerable for the sake of others, for the cause of love and justice, for the common good. It encourages us to trust that, together with God and one another, we will always have enough. 

Just look at what happens when our gifts shine with the love, grace, and generosity of God. They give light to the whole world!

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Rooted In Love - February 13th, 2022

Rooted In Love

A sermon preached by Rev. Kelly Grimes at Foundry UMC February 13th, 2022. “Shine On!” series.

Texts: Luke 6:17-

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Cast a Lifeline - February 6th, 2022

Cast a Lifeline

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC February 6, 2022, the fifth Sunday after Epiphany. “Shine On!” series.

Text: Luke 5:1-11

“Evangelism is a good word with a bad reputation.” I love this line from A Disciple’s Path Companion Reader. It goes on, “The term has been so abused by slick preachers and manipulative politicians that people inside the church are afraid to speak it and people outside the church run for cover the moment they hear it.” Isn’t this true? The word “evangelical” carries so much baggage in our country it’s difficult to remember that the word evangelism comes from the root word meaning “good news.” To be “evangelical” in its unsullied form is simply to share good news.

Because of evangelism’s well-earned bad reputation, some may feel an impulse to willfully avoid the part of our covenant promise to faithfully participate in the ministry of the church not only by our prayers, presence, gifts, and service, but also by our witness. I think for many of us, however, we understand this piece of our discipleship as “walking the talk,” that is, “proclaiming” or sharing our beliefs and values through our actions. This is a core part of Christian witness. It’s summed up in the quote attributed to St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” 

We “walk the talk” both as individuals and as communities. What we do and how we are as a community says a lot to other people. The way we share life and set priorities is a critical part of our witness, what theologian Douglas John Hall calls “ecclesial body language.”

 

And in conversation about our Gospel story for today with my friend and mentor, Rev. Jesse Jackson, he emphasized the responsibility we all have as individuals. He reminded me that God didn’t send a document or an email, God sent a person. And as disciples we are called not just to admire Jesus, not just to worship Jesus, but to follow Jesus. 

In our Gospel, Jesus didn’t send those anxious to receive the good news of God a press release or as an article about the good work of his congregation, Jesus showed up in person among the people. A key piece of witness is showing up where people need to receive some good news.

Jesus shows up and asked a certain person, Simon Peter, to take him out a little way in his boat, and from there he shared with the crowds. When he’d finished speaking, Jesus got Simon further involved, simply by asking him to do what he already knew how to do: “Let down your nets for a catch.” Simon had no reason to believe that there would be any fish. He had no reason to believe there was any point to casting his net. But he humored Jesus and let down the nets. The unexpected happened, the nets were filled, and Simon is moved to confess his sinfulness. I find this part curious. Why is this Simon’s response? 

It makes me think of so many people who don’t believe they are worthy of notice, worthy of good fortune, worthy of others’ confidence, worthy of others’ love. I can hear Simon Peter thinking, “I don’t deserve this bounty. I haven’t earned it. I’m not worthy of your praise or attention for this work, Jesus.” Might that have been part of what is happening here? I think of the heartbreaking lyric from an old Sting song about a transgender sex worker who says, “And no, it’s just not in my plan / For someone to care who I am.” I imagine there are so many in a variety of contexts who sing that song.

Simon had no reason to believe Jesus would care who he was, no reason to believe he would be invited by Jesus to put on Rabbi Jesus’s yoke and follow him as a disciple. The way things worked in those days meant that if Simon had what it took to follow a Rabbi he would’ve already been in graduate follow-a-Rabbi school and wouldn’t have taken up the family trade as a fisher. According to the ways of the world, Simon Peter had little power and limited options. 

But Jesus showed up, recognized that Simon Peter had the resource Jesus needed to do his work (a boat), honored and encouraged Simon’s fishing skill, then called him to apply that skill in a new direction, to “fish for people.” Jesus said, in essence, you have gifts that can be used for the work of the Kin-dom. You are worthy of this call. You are important to God and loved by God. Jesus threw this unlikely fisher a lifeline, an invitation to step more fully into his giftedness, purpose, and place in God’s family.

This is the piece of our own witness that we may sometimes miss: invitation. We are called not only to share God’s liberating love with others through our presence and our action, but also invite them to explore and experience it for themselves.

You and I, like Simon Peter, are called to follow Jesus and to “fish for people.” That doesn’t mean that we manipulate, trap, or hook people, it means we cast a lifeline to those who need one. We’re not asked to be someone we’re not, to be inauthentic, or to insert some testimony in awkward ways. We’re not asked to force anything or try to change anyone’s mind. We’re simply asked to not only be aware of others’ physical needs such as food, clothing, housing, and safety, but also to remember that people are searching for meaning and purpose and belonging and hope and friendship and love. Some people who seem to have everything are looking for those last bits. And many of us find in our faith and faith community some or all of those life-giving gifts. We have good news to share! And you never know how a simple invitation might change everything for someone. Our assumption that people aren’t interested or will be hostile could keep us from being agents of God’s prevenient grace in another person’s life. 

If we not only admire Jesus, but truly follow Jesus, our witness will be both life changing and world changing. We know that Simon Peter’s life was changed forever; but it wasn’t just about him. Simon Peter became part of a community of friends and disciples who tried to follow, teach, and serve in the way of Jesus. That work was imperfect, but Spirit and grace fueled. And, as the story goes, the public witness of the first Christian communities provided a powerful vision and invitation into a new way of living together, grounded in the love, mercy, justice, and generosity of God. Their communal “body language” was a beacon of hope.

We may choose to avoid the word “evangelical” because it is so twisted in our time. But in our words and our actions, as individuals and as faith community, we are called to follow Jesus, to fish for people, to cast a lifeline, putting the net of our hearts and lives down deep into all the hopeless, cynical, wounded, weary places where people have no reason to believe that emptiness can be filled, that meaning can be found, that they can be loved, or that things can be different or good or life-giving. As we respond to the call, we will experience and share the bounty of God’s grace that always emerges in Spirit’s wake. And isn’t that good news

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Loving Presence - January 30th, 2022

Loving Presence

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC January 30, 2022, the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. “Shine On!” series.

Texts: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Luke 4:21-30

Do you have to “go to church” to be a Christian? Evidently there was quite the robust conversation on this topic amongst our last confirmation class. There are at least a couple of solid responses. First, I would pose a follow up question, does showing up for worship and other church activities on a regular basis make you a Christian? If, by Christian, we mean (as we say in our Baptismal liturgy) “a true disciple who walks in the way that leads to life” then the answer is a resounding, “no.” Going to a church makes you a Christian as much as going to a garage makes you a car. It is quite possible to be a card-carrying Christian whose life has little resemblance to Jesus—and perhaps even does damage to Jesus’ good name.

The story of what happens when Jesus goes back to his “home church” in Nazareth is a good example. Jesus reminded them that God’s prophetic work focused on those considered “outsiders” or “other,” implying this would be the case for Jesus’ ministry as well. The hometown crowd couldn’t stand the thought that he wouldn’t just share his gifts with them, they were enraged at Jesus’ implication that the miracle of his love would be offered to people whom they deemed enemies, to people they despised. When Jesus went to his home church to visit the adults with whom he had grown up, perhaps folks who had taught him the Torah, and played with him as a child, perhaps adults whom he had admired…what happened?  They didn’t just damage his name, they tried to kill him. They had somehow missed the part in scripture about caring for the stranger and sojourner, doing justice, and walking humbly with God. They wanted what they wanted for themselves, were looking out for themselves.

But, as Jesus points out and models, the Judeo-Christian story provides a stark contrast to this human tendency. The story we tell is not just about us as individuals, not just about “me.” It’s about “WE.” Our faith is all about relationships, it involves caring about more than just my own needs or desires, it involves being part of a community, it involves attending to the needs of the most vulnerable ones in God’s creation. These relational, communal, other-focused aspects of the faith are not peripheral to our practice of Christian faith. They are at the very core. And here is where we get to another response to the confirmands’ conversation. In short, “there is no such thing as solitary Christianity. Being a follower of Jesus means being in community with other followers of Jesus. We can be…spiritual without the presence of other people in our lives, but we cannot be growing disciples of Jesus Christ without the encouragement, guidance, wisdom, and accountability of other disciples.”

I often talk about the community of the church as the “lab” or training ground for the rest of our lives. It is in our faith community that we get to practice mercy, compassion, leadership, courage, speaking up, holding our tongues, sharing our gifts, honoring others’ gifts, and all the rest. The 1st letter to the Corinthians was focused on helping that congregation get clear about where they needed to do better in their practice. As Pastor Ben pointed out last week, Paul is speaking to the ways that some gifts were being valued more than others, some people being valued more than others. Paul encouraged them to practice a more excellent way of living in relationship and community, the way of love. We practice when we are present with one another.

Weekly gatherings for worship are our most regular, broadly shared communal experience of relating to God and to one another. For those who are new among us on any given Sunday, what they see, hear, and do as part of our worship tells them a lot about who we are and what we’re about. For those of us who worship as Foundry regularly, everything we do in worship is an occasion for rehearsing our faith. One writer says that “the repeated patterns and practices of Christian worship over time shape us in ways of being with God and one another. In the repeated patterns and practices of Christian worship, we are formed and fashioned into the values and vision of the gospel.”  “Repeated patterns and practices,” it is suggested, are necessary in order to be formed into the shape that more closely resembles the Kin-dom of heaven.  

Think of a body-builder: if he wants to change the shape of his body to emphasize certain aspects of his physique, then regular, repeated patterns and practices are required. The same movement, over and over, builds strength and definition. If we want our lives to look a certain way, to have particular characteristics and reflect particular values, then repeated patterns and practices—disciplined habits—are required to help our lives take that shape. We might also think about a sports team. Individuals can practice the fundamentals on their own, but the team won’t play well together or accomplish its goal unless each person is consistent in team practice and utilizes each team member’s different strengths.

The repeated patterns and practices of Christian worship, meant to be lively and life-giving can certainly become formulaic, boring, and, well…deadly. The founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, was deeply concerned that the Anglican Church of which he was a part had devolved into empty ritualism, seemingly cut off from the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit. His response was to organize small groups to study the Bible, pray, support one another in the faith, hold each other accountable, and serve the poor. These small groups provided a context within which folks were reminded of what they were doing, nurtured a faith that was really connected to their everyday life, and deepened their relationship with the God they worshiped when they showed up on Sunday morning. Wesley remained an Anglican priest his whole life and always expected members of the small groups within the Methodist societies to worship at their parish church, bringing their spiritual awakening with them into the pews to enliven the ritual with a vital and living faith in a living God!  

Our spiritual heritage as United Methodists, therefore, is rich with a model for small group community, with worship patterns and practices of the Anglican Church out of which we grew, and an intentional focus on the movement of the Holy Spirit who is always at work in our daily lives and in our worship to challenge, transform, inspire, and make us new. 

There is a basic pattern and movement of our worship—gathering in prayer and praise, being encountered by the Word of God, responding to the Word in acts of faith, generosity, sacrament, and commitment, and being commissioned and sent forth. Within the basic pattern, those of us who plan worship may add something creative or different at the prompting of Spirit. And in any given week, something may happen “on the spot”—something unplanned or uncontrolled. The regular pattern and practice of communal worship creates the trusted “container” in which Spirit can move in surprising ways.

I will never forget the Ascension Sunday when, after preaching a sermon inspired by an image of Christ dancing into heaven, I planned to have my friend sing the song “I Hope You Dance.” I knew I would invite the congregation to respond during the song, but wasn’t sure what form that response would take—whether it would be an invitation to pray at the altar or in the pews, or—well, I just didn’t know ahead of time. When the time came, I simply invited folks to respond however they wanted to…they could pray, they could just ponder, they could dance, whatever. And, lo and behold, people got up and started dancing together, right there in church! 

Communal ritual—whether in worship or participation in a small group—helps create trust that allows taking risks like that. It’s also important because of its consistency. It helps us remain in relationship to God and to one another through the varying conditions of our lives and the inconsistencies of our feelings and moods; this is why I encourage those who are grieving—or those struggling in their faith—to get back into regular worship or connection with their small group as soon as possible; the ritual helps provide something constant, a place to be held. It has also been said that ritual practice is necessary for us because of our persistent amnesia—our forgetting who we are, whom we live for, and why. And so we gather in small groups to share what’s real in our lives and to receive encouragement, support, and prayer for the journey. We are present with one another in worship to pray, listen, and ponder, to sing our praises to God, to speak words full of poetry and mystery that call us to remember the story, to remember who we are and who God is and why we are here anyway—that it’s not all about me or just looking out for Number One, that there is something larger of which we are a part and that there is hope for our lives no matter what the circumstances.

Perhaps the most poignant example for me of the power of communal ritual to form and shape us and to become so much a part of us that it lives in our bones is the experience of praying and singing with folks who suffer from Alzheimers Disease or dementia. Somehow the Lord’s Prayer, the favorite Christmas carol—whatever was repeated and enlivened through the rituals of the Church for that person—those things remain when so much else is lost. The disease can’t touch that part of them; they can still recite those prayers… Those rituals live in very deep places in us. They form us; and they remind us who we are even when so much else of our lives is forgotten.

And, of course, the thing that matters most of all in life is the love we give and receive. Cultivating relationships, caring for one another, sharing life in all its complications, and highs, and lows, working shoulder to shoulder for things that matter, laughing, crying, and persevering together—this is the heart of it all. Our worship and our intentional connections in relationship with one another in small groups, classes, ministry teams and committees provide the place for us to practice living faith, hope, and love. Only when we’ve been at it awhile, will we be able to create enough trust to do the really difficult things and work together in ways that truly honor every gift and member. It is in these contexts we are formed and grow in the love and compassion that reflects the life of God revealed in Jesus.

Do you have to “go to church” to call yourself a Christian? No. Do you need to be part of intentional covenant community—even with all its challenges, needs, disappointments, and foibles—to be fully shaped and formed over the course of your life in the perfect love of God in the image of Jesus? Well… yes. The good news is that God’s faith in us, hope for us, and love for us abide. And that loving presence will guide your steps…and always on a path that leads to life.

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