Acceptable Worship

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
August 12th 2007

Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Acceptable Worship”
Isaiah 1:1-20

God is really angry in this passage. It turns out that the people of God are acting like they don’t know God. The language is powerful. The donkeys and oxen are smarter than the people of God. The whole body, the whole community is sick. It is so bad that God finally says: I am offended by your offerings, weary of your worship, and sick of your festivals. God will no longer tolerate this and will not listen to their prayers or worship.
God’s anger has nothing to do with the ritual practice. In fact, it is clear that the people Israel took their worship very seriously. It takes six verses to list all of the activities. It appears that the pomp and circumstance of worship has taken center stage. The worship may please the people but God is not amused.
God’s indictment is this: You worship me with fine festivals bearing no expense but outside of worship you do evil and practice injustice. They have refined the ways of murder and war; they ignore the poor, and even take advantage of widows, and orphans. It turns out that there is enough money for elaborate worship but not for those in need. Finally, God says enough is enough.
It is a passage about the need for repentance. It is a call to return to the roots of their faith. You may worship me, but you do not know me. The repentance God seeks is; learn the ways of God. In doing this, you will remove evil, do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. It is an invitation to learn and practice God’s intention for life.
This passage is not a polemic against worship. Instead, it is an indictment of worship that is disconnected from the teachings of God. It is an indictment of worship disconnected from everyday life. In other words, what we do in worship must be connected with our lives outside of worship. Worship is not meant to be an escape, distraction, or even entertainment. Worship is to be the ground of our daily living.
My first reaction to passages like this is to ask: How is it that people, who are supposed to know better, end up doing such things? How is it that people who claim to worship God, who claim to follow the God we know in Jesus Christ, end up with hands full of blood, or in positions as oppressors, or more concerned with personal gain than the poor? The answer, I believe, is this; we have forgotten God and have chosen religious ritual and certainty over living faith.
Unfortunately, history is full of examples of how followers have forgotten what God expects. When this happens, people begin to believe that God is not concerned with events and actions outside of worship. This sort of amnesia has allowed Christians to willingly accept such horrors as; chattel slavery, Apartheid, the Jewish Holocaust, War, and even Genocide. And if they did not accept it, they were unwilling to take a stand in the name of faith.
But, in each horror there were those who were willing to do be witnesses. One such witness was Dietrich Bonheoffer. When many Christians embraced or refused to take a stand against National Socialism, Bonheoffer gave his life to say no to this evil. His witness is even more amazing in that he was sustained in his efforts, and even drawn to them through regular bible study, prayer, and the Lord’s Supper. It was in these regular disciples, in growing deeper in his knowledge of God, that he knew the only course of action was to take a stand, rooted in faith.
I believe there is a crisis in the church of Jesus Christ in North America. It is not a crisis on par with that faced by Bonheoffer. However, it is a crisis that I believe leaves the church unable to act should such a crisis arise. The crisis today is one in which church divide themselves into congregations which fall along racial, class, and political lines. Beyond that, we have churches for every taste of music, and style. In fact, many churches have become concerned with providing more and better programs to feed every need and whim so much so that we have lost sight of something very simple: Prayer, Bible Study, and Worship. As a result our corporate witness, in many places, has become enmeshed with ideology and personal taste.
I am reminded of an encounter I had just a few months out of seminary. Some of you may not know this but I was one of the organizers of the anti-war movement in Chattanooga. At the time it was not a particularly popular stance but through discernment in community I believe my stance with in line with my faith. It was my first call and I was just getting to know the congregation. Fortunately, I was supported by the senior pastor and the leadership of the church so long as I made it clear that my involvement was not on behalf of the church.
This arrangement worked well until a young reporter forgot my explicit instructions and included the church name in a story she was doing. Late that night I received a rather angry phone call. For the next thirty minutes I listened to a barrage of angry words. As I listened, I did not know how I would respond, since her explicit intention was to see me fired from the church. But when she finally finished her tirade, we both received what I believe was a gift from the Holy Spirit.
The last thing she said before giving me an opportunity to talk was: “I am first and foremost an American and a Republican.” I believe those words were a gift from the Holy Spirit because it allowed me not to say what I was thinking which would have surely gotten me fired. Instead, without much thought I said to her: “Well, I am first and foremost a Christian.” To this day I give thanks for the gift of my response which I can only categorize as a gift of the Holy Spirit. These simple words allowed me to witness to her how my involvement in the anti-war movement was rooted in my faith in Jesus Christ. I did not convince her of my beliefs, but that was not the goal. But, it did defuse her anger and allowed her to hear me. I have always hoped and believed that it helped her to find the grounding for her beliefs and actions not in nationality or party affiliation but in the faith we shared in Jesus Christ.
As a people of faith our lives are to be guided by prayer, bible study, and worship. It is the way we come to have a deeper understanding of God. Unless we are rooted in these disciplines, we cannot be effective witnesses. No matter what way the wind blows we are always called to be first and foremost Christians. Our life of faith does indeed begin in worship. But acceptable worship is about being transformed so that when we leave this place we will be living witnesses to God’s truth in Jesus Christ. So let us commit ourselves to the simple discipline of prayer, bible study, and worship so that we will be active witnesses to God’s truth in Jesus Christ. Amen.