Give God the Glory

Read: Revelation 1:6

 

Second Sunday of Easter - April 7, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

Today we begin by borrowing an old line: “The proof is in the pudding.”

We remember what it means: something about ...talking is fine, but what really matters is what actually gets done by the talker, what is accomplished, what are the results.

 

These days it seems that the results are thoroughly messed up.

Why are so many things in our personal lives and our communal lives in such disarray?

 

As usual, we can discover that the problem is not really something new.

It is the same old things that have been deviling us all along, but they seemingly have grabbed us in this generation even more firmly than ever.

What did St. Paul discern way back there in the first century?

 

When he began his letter to the Romans, he listed the chaotic things he saw: envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, idolatry, sexual perversion.

Pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV; it is all there today as well.

We could come up with a number of reasons why these things are bad:

-because people don't follow the law,

-because we don't live our lives in accord with the Bible's teaching,

-because too much money and bad behavior go hand in hand.

-the list could continue...

 

But Paul does not give any of those usual sorts of answers.

Rather, Paul says, people give glory to the world and to human creations which they should be giving only to God.

They sang doxologies to creatures that only ought to be sung to the creator.

In other words, bad behavior begins in bad doxology.

Praise the wrong god, and soon one will be wallowing in complete moral chaos, Paul says.

 

Is Paul exaggerating, or is he chasing an important point here?

The word liturgy means literally “the work of the people.”

The worship service is our first and chief work as the people of God.

This is not some new imposition; it is simply what the word means from its Greek root.

And then our ethics is intimately connected with our worship.

The test for Sunday's effectiveness is what happens with us on Monday, and vice versa.

The energy and rationale for what we do on Monday is what we have sung on Sunday.

Worship is the service we do for God especially on Sunday or whenever else we gather together.

The service we do for God the rest of the week is as tremendously varied as we are varied.

In Affirmation of Baptism we summarize it this way:

-to live among God's faithful people,

-to hear his Word and share in his supper,

-to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ Jesus through word and deed,

-to serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus,

-to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

 

The Sunday service and the Monday service need to be linked together.

Sunday worship alone would be hot air; Monday's work alone is aimless do-goodism.

We need to remember always that the emphasis here is not on ourselves but on God.

One of our hymns reminds us: [LBW#555]

       When in our music God is glorified

       And adoration leaves no room for pride,

       It is as though the whole creation cried:

       Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

 

When one of us leaves worship and says “That last hymn didn't do a thing for me,” on one level we'd want to investigate why, but on another level not, because we don't sing them for us, but for God!

The worship service is not about my wants, feelings, needs, what I can get out of it; it is for God.

It is the first installment of the service we render to God who has given so much to us.

On other days we serve God by how we use our time and our money, by helping our neighbor in need, by standing up for those with no voice, and so on.

On Sunday we serve God by listening to what's on God's mind, by telling God what's on our small minds, and especially we serve God in song.

We acknowledge that we are joining the whole of creation in our proper task: [LBW#527]

       7. Let all things their Creator bless

       And worship God in humbleness.

       Oh praise him. Alleluia!

       Oh, praise the Father, praise the Son,

       And praise the Spirit, Three in One,

       Oh, praise him! Oh, praise him!

       Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

 

There are so many things working for dis-order and cacophony.

We long for harmony in our lives, a sense that we are singing with one voice.

As we praise God, we are being formed into God's likeness.

We begin to want what God wants,

we begin to see the world as God sees the world, as a beloved place, created and still being created, still moving toward that great shout of praise called the kingdom of God.

So the better job we do together here on Sunday, the better we'll do on Monday, and also the better we'll do on that eternal Sunday.

The song that begins here, continues forever: [LBW#165]

       2. Holy, holy holy! All the saints adore thee,

       Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

       Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,

       Which wert and art and evermore shalt be!

 

The hymns matter tremendously, because they are the bearer of so much of our theology, of what we say about God, and what God wants to say to us as well.

So hymn-selection is not a popularity contest, but rather a very serious inquiry into whether the Lord God is being well-praised by a particular hymn and whether disciples are being well-formed.

Not just any ditty that comes along will do.

We must always ask if it passes the test set forth in our passage from Revelation today: “...to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

If it is placing glory somewhere else, then it doesn't belong in our worship.

 

Of course there are always grouches around.

Mark Twain reportedly said that if heaven is one endless choir rehearsal, he didn't think he would bother to try for it.

But one day, all those things that get in our way, that keep us from singing – whether it is pain, or sadness, or anger, or estrangement, or being overburdened with life's cares, or just having a tin ear – all these things will be overcome.

And that great and final song will break out, when all will be singing “Worthy is the Lamb; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”

 

In the meantime, we have much else to do.

By far the larger proportion of the week is spent praising God in ways other than common worship.

Of course we have a song to send us on our way: [LBW#260]

       On our way rejoicing Gladly let us go.

       Christ our Lord has conquered; Vanquished is the foe.

       Christ without, our safety; Christ within, our joy;

       Who, if we be faithful, Can our hope destroy?

Just as Thomas, once he had seen the risen Lord, did not linger,

so we, when we have received the presence of the risen Lord Jesus in our hand and in our heart and ear, get going for the next part of the service that takes place throughout the scattered community.

 

The Easter festival is in the service to God on Sunday in worship, and the service to God on Monday in all our many activities.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.