What's Going On Here?
Some Thoughts on Worship from the Pastor
We do not “come to church” on Sunday mornings. We are church wherever we are, on whatever day of the week. Monday through Saturday the church is scattered throughout the community, the nation and even the world, living out their Christian vocation in home and business, at work, study and play, in all of the ups and downs of life
On Sundays, the Lord’s Day, the scattered church assembles in a sanctuary where a table, a font and a pulpit remind us of our corporate identity as the Body of Christ. Drawn together by the call of God, we gather as a particular expression of the “one holy, catholic and apostolic church” to offer prayer and praise to the Triune God who created us to live in communion with one another, and with God.
Worship at MPC is truly an intergenerational and inclusive experience. People of every decade of life -- children, youth and young adults, middle-aged and seniors meet and greet one another in worship, and as they do, they are in turn met and addressed by God.
Strong preaching and excellent music are hallmarks of worship at MPC. But we do not believe that corporate worship is a religious program designed to support the individual devotional needs of the audience who has assembled to watch “the show” put on by the preachers and the musicians! Corporate worship is a holistic experience which engages our entire self – heart, soul, mind and strength – in acts of prayer and praise, listening and response. Corporate worship invites the whole congregation to take part in a liturgy (the word means more than a script in a bulletin – it means “the work of the people.”)
In our worship we re-enact the drama of salvation “by grace through faith.” We celebrate God’s initiative in reaching out in love, not only to us, but to the whole world through the gift of God’s Only Son, Jesus Christ. The simplest summary of the gospel I know comes from the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 1:20 he writes: [In Jesus Christ] every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God. That’s the Good News in a nutshell: God says “Yes” to us in Christ, and then calls and empowers us to respond with our “Amen! So be it. Your will be done.”
The pattern of our worship mirrors this simple understanding of the Gospel. God says Yes; we say Amen. God calls, we respond. You can see it throughout the whole service. Call to Worship then Hymn of Praise. Call to Confession then Prayer. Assurance of God’s Pardon, then Glory be to the Father. Old Testament Scripture Reading then Psalm; New Testament Reading then Anthem. Sermon, then Affirmation of Faith and Offering.
Finally comes the Charge and Blessing and as the organist plays a rousing postlude we all go out we go to become the church scattered once again -- living in our daily lives the Good News we have so recently celebrated in worship. On Mondays through Saturdays we become living embodiments of God’s “Yes” to us and to all. In our homes and in our businesses, in our work, our study and in our play, we try as best we can to say our “Amen” to God through lives seeking to grow in faithful discipleship.
Come Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the church scattered will become once again the church gathered, and we will do it all again to the Glory of God.
The peace of Christ be with you all.
Ron Rosenau, Pastor