Anger often lowers the trust
we have in the angry person. It can also
emphasize our own vulnerability. The
news recently of a shooter invading Edmonton City Hall is a good example of this. The beautiful glass pyramid was the location
of celebrations, heated debates and controversial presentations, but it was
open to everyone, adults, children, new Canadians, First Nations, rich and poor
alike. Now because of one man’s anger,
that has gone from City Hall.
It's easy to imagine that
being the response of the temple authorities to Jesus having his little hissy
fit. Whether we read the Mark version or
the John version, the leaders were not happy. They wanted to know why Jesus
thought he had the right to pull such a stunt.
It was upsetting enough that his disciples all remembered it a little
differently. Mark’s story has Jesus
quoting scripture, John’s has Jesus predicting his death and resurrection. Mark remembered it happening just before
Jesus was crucified, and John told it as happening as the start of Jesus’
ministry. Either way it was so memorable
that it got into all 4 gospels. Even
Christmas doesn’t get into them all. So,
this is right up there with Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. This is an important story.
It is easy to point a finger
at the scribes and Pharisees and say, “boy did they ever get it wrong! At least
we don’t worship like that!” This is
problematic on two counts. One is that
it assumes that they were bad, and that assumption has sometimes slipped into
anti Semitism. The other assumption is
that we aren’t like them, and that too is not helpful. It says that the way we do things in our
church or our denomination is perfect, and so are we so we don’t have to change.
Worship isn’t perfect. And maybe it should never strive to be
perfect. Oh sure, there are the churches
who have teams of technicians, multitudes of musicians, a preponderance of
polished preachers, and a horde of happy hosts clamoring to greet you at the
door. There’s a church near Halifax that
went from 20 people to a congregation of over 500 people in the space of three
years, whose preacher got on the cover of a magazine! The church even put out souvenir dvds of that
day’s service that they sold to folks as they left the sanctuary. They were pressing those dvds as fast as
others were pouring coffee in the fellowship hall. It was quite the entertaining event. For many, it was a powerful spiritual
experience, complete with laying on of hands, speaking in tongues and spiritual
warfare. Heaven and Hell were mentioned
as both bribe and threat. The lighting
was superb and the slide show was flawless.
Is that what worship is supposed to be?
It’s easy for us to look down
our noses or be jealous of that kind of worship, but worship is supposed to be
a time when we come together to support each other on our faith journey. It’s a time when we look and listen for signs
of God at work in our our world. It’s a
time when we open ourselves to learning something new, something we hadn’t
thought of before, something that may spark new ideas and new insights. It’s a time where, as one theology writer
said, “we are to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. So those of us who are in a good space
support those of us who are struggling.
And those of us who are struggling will pay it forward to the next
person when we can. All this is
happening in worship. We hope.
The ancient Latin word for
worship was ‘liturgia’ which translates to literally public service or may also
be work of the people. Something we all
do together. Something that helps us all
serve each other together and serve the world.
It’s not something one person does to others. It’s not a stand-up comedy routine or a
dramatic monologue. It’s work of the people by the people for the people to
serve and love God.
When we read the scripture of
Jesus knocking tables over in the temple, it’s a time to ask ourselves how we
are doing? Are there things getting in
the way of our worship? Are there things
that we can be adding or taking off?
This is a constant process. Pews
weren’t introduced into churches until the 1200s and there are Alberta churches
that had no pews until the 1930’s or later in the Ukrainian tradition. There
was a church in New York that split in the 1880’s when a newfangled organ was
put in, others rebelled at the 'honky-tonk pianos or the Methodists that belong only in bars' or even singing. We substituted grape juice because of the
temperance union movement, and I’m sure that annoys some folks, and comforts
others. But however we worship, whatever
way we worship, Jesus calls us to focus on God.
Not on our performance of worship.
The temple leaders were
shocked at Jesus. If he came here today,
we might be shocked too. But as we
worship, as we wrestle with the scriptures in this place with our community of
faith, we are also wrestling with Jesus, who continues to call us to look at
why we worship and how we worship. We
are called to celebrate God’s presence here among us. May it all be to the
glory of God and to loving our world.
Amen.
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