Why Worship?

I served as an intern pastor some 20 plus years ago at Central Lutheran Church in Bellingham, Washington.  A wonderful congregation in a beautiful city in a gorgeous area of the country.  One of the conversations I remember having was with a woman named Cindy.  Cindy and I talked about worship.  Specifically we talked about why we worship.

For me, going to church was something that I had always done.  I grew up as a pastor's kid.  Sunday morning consisted of delivering newspapers, going to church, and then Sunday school.  There was never any question about whether or not we would go.  We went.

I also remember learning (in a rather painful way) that if I happened to be sick Sunday morning, I would be sick for the whole day.  Even if I felt fine by lunch time.  I had been sick in the morning so I just better stay in my room and rest all day just to make sure I would be healthy enough for school the next day.  No TV.  No going outside to play (I think I was only sick once on a Sunday morning).

During my college years I normally attended chapel on Sundays.  I cannot really say that I found the preaching stimulating or the worship itself all that exciting.  I went in part because going to worship had been ingrained in me. It was a habit.  But I did find that I felt better about myself when I worshiped.

Cindy, who started this conversation with me, said:  "Well I go to church because I figure I have nothing to lose.  I mean going to church will assure me that I'll go to heaven.  And if heaven does not exist, well then I haven't really missed out."

For Cindy, going to church was kind of a life insurance policy.  If she found at the end of her life that she was in heaven, then going to church had paid off.  And if there was no heaven (or hell), then she really had not missed out on anything.

Cindy and I had several conversations throughout the year about worship.  It lead me to begin asking the question of others - "Why do you worship?"  And I began to explore that for myself as well.

In our world today there are so many options available to us on Sunday mornings.  Shopping centers are open.  Children have basketball games and volleyball tournaments.  There is the opportunity to sleep late; go to coffee shop and catch up with a friend; catch up on laundry and some of our home-keeping tasks.  There are any number of options for us on Sunday morning that did not really come into play 25-30 years ago.  And for many of us today, if worship fails to connect with my daily life; that is, if I fail to see a connection between what happens in a church on Sunday morning and what happens the other 167 hours of my week, I likely will not bother worshiping.

To answer my own question (why do you worship?) is simply this:  After seven days are past, I need to be reminding again that God has created me, that I am worthy of love and respect, and that God is at work in my life to change the world.  I just find it hard to believe that God actually cares about me for more than seven days at a time (and even that is difficult).

My colleague David Lose puts it this way:  "Each and every week, we hear the news that the God who created and still sustains this vast cosmos not only knows that you and I exist…but actually gives a damn. More than that, that God cares deeply and passionately about our ups and down, ins and outs, hopes and heartbreaks, successes and failures. And even more than that, that God cares about us enough to send Jesus that we might know and believe just how much God loves us."

Pope Francis asked a similar question: Why do sinners go to Mass?  And basically what he says is that we sinners go because we know ourselves to be in need of Christ's forgiveness and look forward to being renewed in worship.  We go to hear of God's forgiving love.  

So how about you?  Why do you worship?  Send me a note or an email and tell me why you worship.  If regular worship is not one of your habits, I would appreciate knowing why not - why do you not worship?  I look forward to seeing in worship!

Do Not Feed the Monster

Yesterday I headed out for what was to be a tempo run.  Your first mile will generally be slower than your overall average pace but your last miles are faster than your overall average pace.

There are days though, when I just do not have it.  After I had run one mile, I knew this was not going to be a tempo run.  My legs were sluggish.  My focus was not there.  I had trouble maintaining good running form.  No tempo run today.  This was going to be a struggle to simply finish.

On runs like today's I hear a voice in my head: "Give it up!  This run won't do you any good!"  I call that voice Monster McHenry.  Monster McHenry - also known as dementors* - is my negative voice which always tells me to quit.  It doesn't matter if I'm running, working on a sermon, trying to find a new way to teach confirmation, or do work at home.  Monster McHenry seeks to tell me that I am not enough.  I am not good enough or wise enough or smart enough.  Monster McHenry tells me I can't do it anyway so why try.

The good thing about running outside instead of running on a treadmill is that it is much harder for me to quit midway through a run.  After all, I have to get back home again.  And so I ran on.  The miles did not get easier.  But I kept going and I finished a 5.5 mile run.  In spite of the run, I felt a sense of accomplishment.  Monster McHenry did not win today's battle.

Walking the way of Jesus is sometimes like today's run.  You wake up roaring and ready to go.  You get to your place of work and all of sudden you know it's not what you had planned.  The negative voice in your head tells you to give it up.  That voice tells you that you can not do it.

Those days are some of the harder days to run joyfully the life of faith.  When you hear that voice, do not feed the monster.  Be reminded that you belong to God, and that God is working through you to change the world.

*Dementors: Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself...soulless and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life."
—Remus Lupin to Harry Potter

Beginning

I've wanted to start a blog for some time now, but have not found the impetus to do so.  This morning while on the treadmill listening to a runners podcast, the speaker mentioned that he likes to be able to run joyfully. I love that phrase.

Running joyfully.  I see that in two ways.  I think of the verse from Hebrews which says: "Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us."  As I journey with Jesus through life, I like to think of it as running joyfully with Jesus.  Not a demand.  Not a law.  Not in the sense of you are not doing good enough.  Run joyfully.  That is how I wish to live my faith.  I hope that others see that in me.

Running joyfully.  I don't know that I will ever win a race.  I don't know that I will ever win many medals in my age category.  But that is not why I run anyway.  I seek to run joyfully.  Not as drudgery.  But enjoy the running.

So this blog will be about running.  Running with Jesus and running for my physical health.