Worship for the week of February 9, 2023

Let us worship!

God’s spirit dwells in us, for we are God’s temple.

We belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 

Therefore, in this time and place, let us join together as God bearers and worship God together.

A prayer to center you

Dearest God,

you built all things and created us each out of dust

You formed our most basic foundation

you provide us with pillars of knowledge, faith, wisdom and strength

As we gather near your word this day,

continue to build us up

May your Holy Word give form to our deepest beliefs

and guide us in all of our ways

By the power of your Holy Spirit, reveal to us your word today.

Strengthen the foundation so four faith

Let us be a holy temple built on Christ who is our sure and strong foundation.

Amen

Scripture to Ponder

1 Corinthians

Chapter 3,

verses 16 through 23

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?[b] 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’,

 and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
    that they are futile.’

21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Reflection:

The idea of church has been changing over the past several years.  Can we worship online?  Or does it have to be in person?  Do we pass the peace?  Or keep our distance?  Do break bread from one loaf?  Or do we need individual packets?  Is everyone welcome to worship alongside us?  Or do we limit who is in full fellowship with us?  Being church has felt very difficult the last few years, as have many aspects of life.

As I read over this letter to the church in Corinth however, perhaps the shape of the church was never really as set as we would like to believe.  This ancient text is telling us about the issues in the early church.  It speaks to how even in the beginning of Christian tradition there was arguing about different views of how the church should be, what it should look like, what parts of worship should be include, and which people should be included.

May division is always been and will always be a part of the church.  It is hard not to look around and see denomination after denomination arguing and splitting.  As colleague of mine from the Methodist Church said this week, “there are no winners in this situation”.  I think Paul would agree that when there is so much division without care for our brothers and sisters in Christ everyone loses.  Indeed what Paul is arguing in this letter.

As Paul writes to the ancient church that is dividing and arguing, he pleads for unity.  Paul pleads saying that each member of the church is needed for who they are and where they are.  The whole community of believers, each member, fit into the whole community.  Everyone has a spot, a purpose, something they are bringing to the table. 

God has brought each of you here, to this place for a purpose.  God has brought you here because here is where you are suppose to be.  You are here for God’s divine purpose beyond anything we as humans, with our human knowledge can understand.  We are each here for God’s good purpose for this time.  We are called here to work to show the love and ministry of an incarnated Christ, revealing God to the world around us. 

God’s house of faith is not necessarily a building, God’s house of faith lives with in each of us, lives within our community, our support of one another and our missional works.  God’s house of faith is built when each of us follow the plan that God has for us.  It is build in our actions, in our work in the community, in our coming together to worship and explore God’s calling for us and for our worshiping community.

God does not have just one path, one place for God’s children.  There is not just a simple one size fits all way to serve and be a temple to God.  We are not each made just like, but we are made to complement each other, to help build one another up with gifts.  To come together to build a beautiful temple to God.  It is not so much like following a recipe or a precise blueprint.  We build God’s temple when we each take the form of a servant, accept the gifts and skills given to us by God, and lean into the calling that God places before each of us.  When we take bold steps into the spaces that God has presented us with and we live in to our gifts to complete whatever faith community we are called to form together God’s temple.  We are the temple; our actions, our interactions, and our presence.

It is through our relationship with each other, with our community and with the world around us that we have the opportunity to build ourselves into a strong temple for God.  In so doing, we can be examples to others.  When we live into our calling we not as if our lives depend on it, but the lives of our brothers and sisters depend on it, that is when we see God’s temple.  That temple is not just any building but a building worthy of God.  The size of a temple does not matter.  The size of our faith community does not matter.  What matters is not how grand our physical buildings are, or how many wings of a building we have.  What matters is how well we step into our calling and allow God to build us up in faith together to be God’s temple.

A Hymn for thought: The Church’s One Foundation

(May these words echo through us and bind us together into a temple worthy of God)

The Church's one foundation
  Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation
  By water and the Word:
From heav'n He came and sought her
  To be His holy Bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
  And for her life He died.

Elect from every nation,
  Yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation,
  One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
  Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
  With every grace endued.

'Mid toil and tribulation,
  And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
  Of peace for evermore;
Till, with the vision glorious,
  Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
  Shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
  With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
  With those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
  Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly,
  In love may dwell with Thee.

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/miscellaneouslyrics/christianlyrics/thechurchsonefoundationlyrics.html

Prayer of sending

Let us see humanity in one another, O God.

and help us build one another up, instead of tearing each other down.

May build upon the strong foundation that is Christ Jesus

When differences arise, may we look for growth instead of brokeness

When we disagree, may we seek understanding instead of falling into hatred

So often we fall short of your glory O God,

but pick us up and help grow

Help us to do better and to be better

and help us to help others along the way.

May we continue to move towards becoming a glorious temple for you, now and always

Amen

Going out.

Be faithful in a little, that you may also be found faithful in much.

Be faithful in much, that you may be entrusted with the true riches that come from above.

Go to be faithful children of light,

And come to know the deep grace, hope and peace of the one who is truly faithful at all times.

Let all God’s people say: AMEN