Today, across town in a church building that looks like a refurbished Target store, a congregation sways in a darkened auditorium to the beat of drums and electric guitars. Four worship leaders sing earnestly into their microphones and the congregation sways in time to the music.
Today, across town in a church building that looks like a miniature Gothic cathedral, a congregation listens to the flourish of a pipe organ and searches the bulletin for the proper three part amen. Candles burn on the altar; a white robed minister prepares to preach.
Today, across town in a run down little room rented in a dilapidated strip mall, a group of worshipers shout and sing and dance down the aisles, hands lifted to heaven, jubilant expressions on their faces. The preacher mops his sweaty brow and bangs on the plywood pulpit with his fist, calling on the Holy Spirit to descend.
Today, in a church building across town, a robed and bearded priest swings a censer filled with incense. Robed acolytes process through the congregation, bearing crosses and icons and candles and banners. A gold plated Bible is held aloft as it is carried down the aisle.
Today, across town in a modern brick and glass sanctuary, a congregation follows the preacher=s sermon on two large overhead screens. Today the Powerpoint sermon includes a carefully edited video clip from a popular movie and bulleted highlights of the preacher=s points.
Think about all the ways that people gather on the Lord=s Day to meet and pray and sing and hear God=s Word. Imagine the diversity we would find if we slipped the bounds of our own culture and called to mind all the different international services of which we have been a part.
Today=s scriptures tell the story of two services of worship. The first worship experience, described in the OT book of Nehemiah, is an account of how the people of Israel, who had been exiled for years in Babylon reconstituted their worship of the Lord upon their return to their homeland. We don=t know everything that happened when they came together; we don=t even know if this was a Atypical@ description of their worship experiences, but let=s peek in on this assembly of the people and see what we can see.
Nehemiah tells us that the exiles returned to Jerusalem and began to pick up the pieces of their shattered nation. Nehemiah led in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. People once again took up residence in the city and in surrounding towns. On a set day, all the people assembled before one of the city gates to worship. Ezra, the priest, surrounded by a retinue of other priests and Levites, processed through the throng. He carried the sacred book, the Law of Moses...the Torah, the first five books of our Old Testament, through the crowd. After their long exile, the people gathered to once again hear God speak to them through His Word. A wooden platform had been built for the occasion. Ezra climbed up into the pulpit and the congregations went silent. When he opened the Book, a thrill ran through the group...they were caught up in holy expectation and they all stood up to honor God and show reverence for the Word. People shouted, AHallelujah! Bless the Lord!@ Ezra cried out to God and all the people lifted their arms to the heavens and shouted Amen! Amen!@ Ezra prayed, perhaps remembering the ways that the children of Israel had failed to keep the covenant, and a collective moan spread through the gathered crowd. People fell to their knees, they bowed their faces to the ground. Grown men began to weep, calling out for the Lord to forgive them...to save them...to help them start again.
Then Ezra began to read from the Book; his voice strong and clear. From early morning until noon Ezra read God=s covenant to His people. Every ear was attuned to Ezra=s voice. The priests spread through the crowd, helping people understand what was being read. The gathered congregation was cut to the quick when the people understood how short they had fallen from living the demands of God=s Word. With the oppression of Babylon behind them...with a new life in Jerusalem ahead of them, they were visibly shaken...and many tears were shed. Ezra spoke to their pain: AThis day you have been set apart for the Lord. Do not cry. Don’t put on long faces. This isn’t a day for weeping; it is a day for rejoicing. Go on home, and make a feast. Call your neighbors, have some fun, break out the good wine, roast a leg of lamb, send a take-out plate to your poor neighbor and do not grieve...for the joy of the Lord is your strength.@
Wouldn=t you love to have been there? I guarantee you, people went home saying, “Man, we=ve been to church today. When can we do that again?@
Today=s gospel reading tells the story of another church service, one with a very different set of circumstances. Luke tells us that Jesus came to his hometown synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath, as was his custom. As it was in Nehemiah=s day, The service was built around the Word of God and prayer. Like Ezra, Jesus stood to read the Word, finding the place in Isaiah where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.=
At first folks were really pleased. Small town folk tend to cut the home boy some slack...perhaps it was his first sermon and all...you=re just proud of his ability to read at that point. But when Jesus began to talk about the meaning of the text...that God had his eye especially on the poor, on foreigners, on helpless widows...to the exclusion of the chosen few...the room got really quiet. Nobody said AAmen.@ Nobody cried out, APreach it brother!@ Needless to say, church didn not end on a very high note that day. They went from singing Kum-Ba-Yah to forming a lynch mob to knock some sense into Jesus. Hymnals and dust and curses flew through the air. They shoved Jesus right out the back door and would have thrown him off a cliff had he not gathered himself up, stared down the mob and walked through their midst and straight out of town.
Two worship services. Two very different endings...Nehemiah=s service ended in repentance and joy. Jesus= service at his home church ended in hatred and violence. I=m going to guess you have never wanted to kill someone during a worship service...even if a certain song or prayer or sermon point almost drove you crazy...but we need to examine why the worship opportunities we read about today would elicit such different reactions.
What were the big differences that separated that first great worship service in Jerusalem from the worship in Jesus= home town? Let=s look more closely. There was a difference in the way the people reverenced the Word of God. In Nehemiah=s day, the people showed a deep awe and respect for the Word of God. All the people gathered to hear the Word...men, women, and all who could hear with understanding. This Word was for everyone; there was no need to separate the ages or sexes. The people built a special platform from which the Word would be read so all could hear...I wonder if that=s where our pulpits originated?
When Ezra opened the book of the Word of God, so expectant were the people that they were about to hear the very Word of God that they all stood to attention. They believed that God was in their midst and that he had something of great importance to share with them. We=re told that all the people listened attentively to the book of the Law. There was no fooling around, no one sleeping, no one made paper airplanes with bulletins. There was a reverence for the Word.
I wonder if the people in Jesus= hometown church had that same reverence for the Word? And I wonder if we do, too? We here at Hopwood believe in interpreting the Word, which is what I=m doing right now. But we believe even more strongly that it is not the interpretation that brings the heat...that comes when the Word is read over us week after week, uninterpreted, raw in its power. That’s when we catch a sense of the very power and wisdom and Spirit of God. He speaks to us through his Word. The Word communicates the very Presence of God, and so we must read it reverently. That=s why we try to have really good readers. That=s why we have constant reminders after we read: “This is the Word of the Lord!” We need reminding. That=s why we read pretty big chunks of the Word, week by week. We believe, as the writer of Hebrews says, that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword...that it pierces right down to the division of our soul and spirit if we will but listen and be changed by it.
We must be careful not to let it become just an empty, every week ritual. When we pray together, we pray reverently...no one talks, no one moves, everyone tunes in. That same reverence should accompany the reading of the Word. This is God=s Word for us today. Let us receive His Word with reverence. Sometimes it=s a shocking Word, a Word that cuts through our pretension and ugliness and sin. Sometimes it is a healing Word, soothing our souls and knitting the wounds of our soul back together. But this Word is not a message we can control, or spin, or modify. It is a Word that modifies, that changes, that addresses us. May we always stand under it...reverently...alert to hear the voice of God.
The reverence that the people of Nehemiah=s day had for the Word of God translated into repentance. As the demands of being God=s people became clear to them, they quickly realized how off base they had been and it cut them to the quick to know that their lives came up so short of God=s standards. They had failed God, rebelled against his will, and turned away from his love. They wept when they heard His Word call them back. In contrast, the people of Jesus= day heard the hard Words of God which pointed to the Christ and they stood over that Word in judgment...they were hard and cold and grew angry at the one who spoke that good Word to them.
When was the last time you cried in a church service? When was the last time the power and beauty of God=s word broke through your cool reserve? When was the last time you heard the Word read and were convicted of your own sinfulness and need to change? When was the last time your heart broke at the thought that you were piercing God=s heart? The Psalmist says that: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Ps 51:19) Isaiah heard the Word of the Lord and cried, “Woe is me! I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people unclean lips...” (Is. 6:5). Does the time you spend here...listening week after week to the Word of God really change you? Does it cause you to re-evaluate your life? Does it cause you to weep over your sins? Does it bring you to a place where God can get at you?
Jesus= hearers were left untouched by the Word of God. His Words just made them mad. I wonder sometimes what would happen if those who get so wound up about changes in worship order...or song selection...would really focus on having a listening ear and repentant heart... would they still react so strongly?
There was one more beautiful byproduct of the reverent, repentant worship of Nehemiah=s day...joy. I love this gift. Joy that was to be shared with family, with others, with the poor. Joy that was to be shared with the poor. The people who really listened to the Word were cut to the quick by their own sinfulness, and it completely tore them up. When Nehemiah and Ezra and the other servants of God saw the depth of the people=s pain, they knew that God never intends to leave us there. “Come now,” they said, “Your pain is never the last word with God. This is a day he has set apart...it=s not for crying, but for laughing, and loving, and sharing.”
It was joy that Jesus promised in his hometown synagogue...freedom, release, favor. “The Joy of the Lord is your strength,” said Ezra. His Word is sweet like honey, says the Psalmist. Jesus came to bring us Good News...Joyful news of a God who loves us too much to leave us alone. He came to us...He comes to us, he joins us here...he speaks to us...he sacrifices for us...he loves us.
What are we doing here, week after week? Listen reverently for His Word. He is the one who has something to say. Approach him with repentant hearts, eager to become the people he wants us to be. And come joyfully to the feast at his table, lovingly place an arm around each other, kindly embrace the stranger, the needy person in our midst. Come to celebrate. Come to worship. This is the Word of the Lord.
