Calvary Episcopal Church

Memphis, Tennessee

THE CHRONICLE

The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
October 22, 2000
Volume 45, No.37

Rehearsing Our Important Lines!
What, in the name of God, are you doing?
That's right! When you are at worship, just what, in the name of God, are you doing? It is an important, even an excellent question.

Years ago a brilliant Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, concluded that, in our experience of worship, most of us do not understand what we are doing. Consequently, we do it wrong. Kierkegaard goes on to say that in the drama of worship, whether it be in Scripture reading, corporate prayer, homily or music, etc., we tend to think of the worship leaders (homilist, choir, etc.) as the actors ... that God is the prompter of their lines ... and that the congregation is the audience.

No, contends Kierkegaard. The more accurate understanding of the sacred drama of worship is this: The people of the congregation are the actors. The worship leaders are the prompters of the lines for your daily life. And God is the audience of this holy and human theatre.

The daily mail can be the bearer of good news. Like when that colorful, slick envelope arrives in your mailbox with the bold print: Open Immediately! And when you open it you read the startling announcement that You Are Pre-Approved! Pre-approved by some bank in Seattle or Chicago or Philadelphia. Thus, everything is all ready for your order and you can begin using their Platinum Plus credit card. I'm always bemused and slightly bewildered at my "pre-approval." How does that happen?

Why, it is enough to carry us to the Gospel. There, in the Good News of the Scriptures, you open the holy mail to discover that you are PRE-APPROVED by God. Just as you are, you are God's beloved kid. Just as you are, you are accepted, embraced, adored by the Holy One who is the holy audience for your life. It's amazing! Yep, amazing grace!

Remember your lines! Rehearse your lines, over and over again. You are pre-approved. You are God's beloved. Your life is God-blessed!

With lines like that, life becomes different.
Let's meet one another for worship to rehearse yet again our important lines.
~Doug Bailey+

 
     
 
 
Search
 
Copyright ©1999-2006 explorefaith.org