Passionate Worship is Grateful Worship (Today the word is fulfilled)
Luke 4:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed–only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. – NRSV
This passage from Luke is one of the rare occasions that we see Jesus in Worship in the synagogue. What does Jesus do in worship?
Primary Work is to Read and Interpret the scriptures.
Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing….
Look what God has done and is doing today
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and upon you
I am authorized to preach Good News to those who don’t have it.
Preach hope to the hopeless… freedom to those bound and burdened.
Preach for clarity for those who can see straight…escape for the tortured
And Preach that NOW it is God’s turn to be in the world…
Initial Response is positive in hearing from
Mary/Joseph’s boy Read in Worship.
At the interpretation, calling on God’s Day being for the Gentiles, Sidon/Syrians
There were running him out of town.
Interpretation is that God’s message is for everyone, not just the comfortable members
• Worship is about coming to meet with God and God’s People. Not about Me.
• Worship is about hearing what God has to say, like it or not. (What does God get out of it, not what I get out of it.)
• Worship is about hearing with fresh ears and an open heart. (You have heard it say, but I say… Jesus freshen’s the message.)
What do you expect to happen in worship?
• Music is central to our United Methodist worship.
• Clergy’s freedom to preach within the bounds of the discipline.
• Ritual gives structure.. (both contemporary and traditional have ritual)
• Communion: Having it, but not to regularly, Don’t want to wear it out. (like telling your spouse or kids I love you once a month, don’t want it to loose it’s specialness.)
• Scripture Reading Seated or Standing? NIV, KJV, NRSV? From the Book, On screen, by memory
• Sermon? Long or short. Funny or Serious, 3 points, 5 stories, Sweet candy, whip, lesson
Offering: Some would make it less visible, others see it as a fee for service.
HEAR THIS. Our offering is between us and God.
God doesn’t want 10%, God wants 100%.
Our commitment Sunday is October 17th.
We will have a combined worship at 10am and Free Lunch at 11am.
We will worship outside, because that is where we are called to tell the Good News. (and Stewardship is how we make our work possible.)
SO HOW DO WE MEASURE OUR WORSHIP?
Christian worship, whether it is traditional or contemporary, is marked by joy & gratitude.
• When worship is not joyful—when it doesn’t reflect our deep gratitude to God—then it becomes primarily about us.
• What makes worship boring is not the style of the music or flow of the service; worship is boring when we looking with critical, judging, or disagreement and not about the God who makes all things new,
• What makes worship reverent is not how quiet and still we are, but how fully We give of ourselves to be in God’s presence.
CHEER: VOLS, COMADORES, DAWGS, TIGERS, WAR EAGLES, TIDE, JACKETS, & EVEN GATORS… The game is not about the spectators; it is about the action on the field. it’s not about ME, its about the God’s team..
Colossians 3:12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord* has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14Above all clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ* dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.* 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - NRSV
The 2nd Practice of Fruitful Congregations is Passionate Worship.
PASSIONATE WORSHIP…
(1) Anticipating God’s presence, (2) Come Ready to celebrate God.
(3) Give self as offering to God.
