Thought for Meditation:
In a real sense we are what we eat – or drink.  We take  on the color – the character – of what we worship (which is a form of eating and drinking).

To worship God is to be fed by God.  To continually avoid the worship of God is to starve – to be starved, to go hungry, to become a “poor tree.”

Strangely – God takes the risk where we are concerned.  God leaves the choice to us – to worship God or not to worship God.  And – not so strangely – the consequences are ours also.

Garbage in, garbage out.  Worship in, a renewed and healthy life out.
​H.R Anderson Jr

          Worship is the most important activity of the church.  Everything else that we tend to associate with the church is secondary.  We have a wonderful building here, but you don’t need a building to have a church.  If you read the history of Sharon church it talks about people worshipping in this community back in the 1790s. Sharon church was officially established in 1817.  It was first called Flaugherty Run Mission.  Yet the first sanctuary was not built until 1828.  For the first years the church worshipped in homes of the members.  They even bought a tent for worship.  The building is not a church.

​          My favorite activity in church is Sunday school, or small groups and Bible studies.  I love teaching and going to Sunday school.  However, Sunday school is a relatively new idea.  The first Sunday school started in 1782 and was not a common practice until probably the beginning of the 20th century.  The church existed for close to 1800 years without Sunday school. 

​          This is hard to say as a Presbyterian, but the church could even exist without committees and meetings.  One time I had a seminary professor who suggested that most congregations would be better off if, for one year, they canceled every meeting, and instead spent the time in worship, prayer and Bible study.  If all the other activities and programs disappear,  and worship continued, you would still have a church.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not suggesting that we get rid of anything.  I’m simply trying to point out that the most important thing we do as a church is worship. 
 
​          We have been looking at our new mission statement.  There are four basic parts to it – worship, caring for each other – that is fellowship, growing in our faith, and sharing God’s love and the good news of Jesus.  I like  to put them in that order because it is easy to remember – worship, care, grow, and share.  The mission statement has them in the opposite order with worship at the end, which highlights worship as the most important, ultimate aspect of the church.

​          At this  point, a natural question might be, “How should we worship?  If worship is so important let’s make sure to do it right.”  It’s not a bad question.  It is just the wrong one.  How we worship is similar to the question the woman at the well raised with Jesus – where should we worship?  Jews and Samaritans worshipped in different places and in different ways.  Jesus didn’t really answer her question.  Instead, he said that what we need is to ask the question “Who?” and “Why?”  “What God wants is for us to worship in spirit and truth.”  Who is the god we worship and why is worship so important?          
 
​          Let me start with why, and suggest that there are at least two reasons why we need to make worship a priority in our lives and in our church.  First, worship is important because we need it.  Max Lucado says that everyone suffers from poor I-sight.  This is not a problem that Joe can solve in his office.  The problem that we have is not “e-y-e-sight,”  but “I-sight.”  No matter how well we can see the world, we all have a distorted self-image.  Our I-sight is blurry.  I’m sure this is an oversimplification, but eyes usually have one of two problems.  They are either far-sighted or near-sighted.  In the same way, people usually have one of two I-sight problems. 
Some people think of themselves as better than they really are.  This is called pride.  There was a turtle that lived out at Raccoon Creek State Park.  He didn’t like the cold weather of winter, so he thought he would spend the winter in Florida.  He knew he could never walk that far so he came up with a brilliant plan.  He convinced a couple of geese to carry a rope between them as they flew south.  The turtle clamped his vise-like jaws onto the rope.  The geese  started  flying and the turtle headed toward Florida.  Someone on the ground saw the turtle being carried on the rope.  They said “That’s brilliant.  I wonder who thought of that.”  The turtle heard the comment and was filled with pride.  He wanted to take credit, so he opened his mouth to shout, “I did…”  The turtle didn’t make it to Florida.  Some people have an I-sight problem in that they think way too highly of themselves.

​          Others go to the opposite extreme. Their I-sight is so distorted that they think they are worthless. They think of themselves as failures and insignificant.  They take the attitude that the world would be a better place if they weren’t here.  They don’t think that they can do anything of any value.

​          The cure for poor I-sight at either extreme is worship. In worship we take our eyes off ourselves and focus our attention on God.  God gives us 20/20  I-sight.  Dad and his nine year-old son were out walking in the snow.  There was a tree about twenty yards in front of them.  Dad challenged his son to see who could walk the straightest line from where they were to the tree. They walked to the tree and  then looked back at their footprints.  The son’s footprints wound their way around toward the tree.  Dad’s steps were a straight line.  Dad said to his son, “You were watching your feet as you walked.  I kept my eyes focused on the tree. 

​          Our I-sight is distorted.  The cure for that is to focus our attention, focus our lives, on God.  That is what worship is – turning our eyes, our hearts and our minds, to God, who is the center of worship.                                                                
 
​          The second reason why we need to make worship a priority is because God deserves it.  This is not only the why question, but the who question.  God is worthy of our worship.  Look at Psalm 100 with me.  This psalm is one of the best known psalms and probably is used in worship more than any other psalm.  A few months ago we switched the doxology that we use after the offering.  The older version of the doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” is sung to a tune called “Old Hundredth.”  That name comes from the hundredth Psalm.  We are actually going to sing Psalm 100 to that tune after the sermon. 

​          The Psalm is an invitation to worship.  There are seven imperative verbs calling us to join with all creation in worship.  “Make a joyful noise… Worship the Lord… come into his presence… Know that the Lord is God… Enter his gates… Give thanks to him… Bless his name.” 

​          The psalm also gives us several reasons for our worship.  Verse three tells us that God “made us.”  This is not so much focused on God as creator, though that is certainly there.  The focus is on Yahweh as the one who chose Israel as his people, who delivered Israel from Egypt and who made them into a nation.  Verse three also tells us that God is our shepherd, who leads us, who cares for us and protects us.
Verse five gives us the main reason that God deserves our worship.  “The Lord is good.”  In some ways “good” seems like a rather empty word.  If the paper tomorrow says that the Steelers played a “good” game today, that could mean that in spite of playing decently, they still lost.  We want the Steelers to play a great game.  Yet the word “good” in the psalm is not to be compared with great, but to be contrasted with bad.  Our God is not an evil god, or a god whose character can be questioned.  Our God, Yahweh, is good.
This goodness is seen in the next two words that describe God – loving and faithful.  God loves us with a love that far surpasses any other love.  God is also faithful, dependable – we can count on him.  I like the way The Message translates verse five – “God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.”  This goodness, this love and faithfulness is timeless.  It “endures forever,… to all generations.”  The God who is on our side has always been on our side and will be for us and with us forever.
Why should we worship?  First, we need worship – it focuses our attention on God rather than on ourselves.  And second, God deserves our worship.  God is glorious and holy and worthy of all our praise.                            
 
Having said all of that, I’d like to share with you another image.  This image is one that has the potential to transform our understanding and our experience of worship.  It comes from another Max Lucado book. 
Imagine that you are getting onto a plane, headed somewhere on vacation or business.  You climb into your seat and you are surrounded by other people.  Some gaze out the window.  Some are already asleep.  Some are reading or looking at their computer.  For the most part everyone is in their own little world.  Their view of a good flight is one that gets to their destination safely, with as few problems as possible. 

​          One passenger has a very different attitude.  A young boy enters the plane with his mom.   Right as they enter the plane the boy asks, “Will I get to meet the pilot?”  The pilot heard the question and stuck his head out of the cockpit.  “Is someone looking for me?”  The boy stuck his hand up like he was answering a question at school.  The pilot invited him into the cockpit and showed him all the controls and gauges. A few minutes later the boy came back out, his eyes wide open with wonder.  He exclaimed “Wow!  I’m so glad we get to fly on this plane.”

​          All the other passengers on the plane were content with a nice and predictable flight.  This boy wanted more than that.  He wanted to see the pilot.  At the end of the flight, if someone asked him how the trip was he wouldn’t say “nice.”  With excitement in his voice he would beam, “I got to see the man up front.”

​          In some ways people who come to church and sit in the pews are not that different from the people who sit in the seats of a plane. For many people, the mark of a good flight and the mark of a good worship service are the same.  We are content for worship to be safe and predictable.  We don’t want any turbulence or surprises.  We want to hear an uplifting message and a pretty anthem.  We want to sing some of our favorite songs and hope the prayers aren’t too boring.  We want to reach our destination in one hour, or at most five minutes over that.  And then we leave the same as we entered in.

​          On the other hand, some people enter worship with a childlike enthusiasm, with a sense of expectation that something might happen.  God might speak.  The Spirit might act.  Some people come to worship knowing that they are coming into the presence of the Lord, the God of the universe.  They know that in worship they are entering into the great mystery of the Incarnation and the mystery of the Trinity.  If we enter worship with this type of attitude and expectation we might just leave with the wide-eyed wonder of having been in the presence of the pilot.  (from “Just Like Jesus” by Max Lucado)                           
 
​          The mission of the church is first and foremost to worship.  We worship God, the creator of the universe.  We worship Yahweh, the God of Israel.  We worship God who is revealed in Jesus Christ.  We worship the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

​          Our mission includes caring, growing and sharing.  But above all, the mission of the church is worship. Will you please stand and join me in confessing our faith using the mission statement of Sharon Church:
 
​          The Mission of Sharon Community Presbyterian Church is to share the Good News  of Jesus Christ, welcome and encourage all who want to grow in faith, care for those in need and celebrate the glory of God in worship and in our daily lives.

Thought for Meditation:
Unless the fellowship in the Christian assembly is far superior to that which can be found anywhere else in society, then Christians can talk about the transforming love and power of Jesus till they are hoarse, but people are not going to listen very hard...  Michael Green

          All three of our Scripture lessons this morning have a common theme.  In the passage that Joan read, Jesus commands us to love each other.  At first glance that command seems impossible.  “Joe, I know you really can’t stand Wayne, but I’m commanding you to love him!  I want you to think of him as the greatest guy who ever lived.” That is an absurd idea.  You can’t force yourself into an emotion.  Thankfully, love is not an emotion that you need to feel toward someone. 

​          Jesus tells us that love is something you do.  It is an action, not a feeling.  It is serving the other person.  And the ultimate service that Jesus points out, is dying for the other person. The greatest act of love is giving up your own life so that someone else might live.  That is what Jesus did for us.  That is the type of love we are called to have for each other – love that serves.

​          Notice that Jesus doesn’t think of us primarily as servants.  We are his friends.  We have a relationship with Jesus not because of what we do, but because he chooses to love us.  Jesus loves us and calls us his friends.   Therefore, we are called to love each other. 

​          Leo Tolstoy told the story of a time he was walking in a city.  He passed by a beggar who asked him for money.  Tolstoy stuck his hands in his pockets and realized that he didn’t have any money with him.  Tolstoy said to the beggar, “I’m sorry, my brother, I have nothing to give you.”  The beggar smiled and replied, “You have given me more than I asked for – you have called me brother.”  Jesus looks at us and calls us brothers and sister.  He calls us friends.
 
​          Our second lesson this morning is from the first letter of John, the first four verses of the first chapter.

​          We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life (1 John 1:1).

​          The word of life John is referring to is Jesus.  He existed from the beginning of time, but then he came down to the earth.  John was one of the disciples who lived with him.  He heard him, he saw him and touched him.” 

​          This life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us (1 John 1:2).

​          Then John gives us the purpose of what he is saying.

​          We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).

​          The reason Jesus came to the earth was so that we might have fellowship with God and with God’s people.

​          On my study leave last week I spent some time reading about the Trinity, God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  One of the basic ideas of the Trinity is that within God there is a relationship of love.  There is fellowship between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Through Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, God welcomes us into that fellowship.  The result of that is joy.

​          We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete (1 John 1:4).

​          Joy comes from knowing that you are loved, knowing that you have friends.  We have friends, we have fellowship, with God and with each other.
  
​          Our third scripture, in Acts 2, is a picture of that joy in the early church.  This passage follows immediately after Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit came on the disciples, with the tongues of fire and the speaking in foreign languages.  Then Peter preached a sermon and three thousand people became Christians and joined the church.  Then we get a description of the life these early Christians had together.

​          They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.  All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.  Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved     (Acts 2:42-47).

​          One of the characteristics of the early church is that they were together.  They spent time with each other.  They ate together and worshipped together and they shared their possessions with each other.  It says that they had all things in common, and the Greek word for common is the same as the Greek word for fellowship, or community.  Fellowship is the theme of all three passages.         
  
​          This is the third sermon that focuses on the new mission statement of Sharon Church.  Back in September we heard the first part of our mission statement which is sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.  We have received this incredible gift of God’s love in Jesus. We are called to share that love and share that message with our neighbors and friends, with our community and with the world around us.  The second part of our mission statement is that we are all called to grow in our faith.  As one person said, “God loves you just as you are, but God loves you too much to let you stay just as you are.”  We are called to grow in our understanding and develop our relationship with Jesus.

​          The third part of our mission statement, which is what this sermon is about, has to do with fellowship.  Fellowship means that we are all part of the body of Christ.  When one part hurts the whole body hurts.  When one part rejoices the whole body rejoices.  We belong to the community of faith.  We are a family.  We love each other, serve each other and care for each other.   If you look at our mission statement the word fellowship isn’t actually in there.  However, the concept is there when it tells us that our mission is to care for those in need.  Our mission is to share the good news, to grow in our faith, and care for each other.               
 
​          Deep inside us there is a longing for relationships that matter.  We want, we need, friends who will care for us when we are hurting, friends who will sit with us when we are sad, friends who will stay with us when we don’t know what to do.  Craig Barnes tells the story of a time he was riding on the subway in Washington, D.C.
 
​          It was the evening rush hour.  The platform of the Washington, D.C., subway stop was jammed tightly with exhausted people decked out in rumpled gray and navy suits, clutching briefcases and bags containing more work than they could possibly complete in the night ahead.  Everyone was lost in their own private thoughts.  Some drifted back to the pressures of an office they had just left.  Others fretted about stress at home, where they were about to return.  No one was unaware of other people around them, but they didn’t focus on them either.

​          On this evening, while waiting for the train, I couldn’t help but notice a huge illuminated sign in the middle of the platform, looming just above people’s down-turned heads.  The sign portrayed beautiful young people with very white teeth, sitting at a table, laughing and holding on to each other.

​          It was such a strange contrast – all of us isolated, crowded individuals standing alone in a dimly lit station beneath a bright advertisement promising that, if we just tried this toothpaste, we too could have friends who would laugh with us.  No one stared at the picture, but no one could miss it.  For most people, it became a small, unnoticed memo in the back of their minds that asked, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a part of something like that?”  Craig Barnes, “Sacred Thirst,”  p94-95

​          Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place that brings us joy, a place where we know we belong, a place where we know we are loved, sometimes even in spite of who we are or what we do?  That is what the church is supposed to be.  We know that isn’t always what the church is like, but that is our mission – to be a place of fellowship. 

​          Most of the churches where I have been a pastor had a fellowship committee.  The name itself seems a bit of an oxymoron – fellowship and committee don’t necessarily go together.  The primary task of the fellowship committee was to coordinate the fellowship hour after worship.  They made sure that someone provided coffee and donuts, or cookies or snacks of some sort.  This fellowship hour was a time to eat food that most of the people didn’t really need and talk about things that don’t really matter – how the Steelers are going to do and the weather and other totally inane topics.  Then these committees made sure that someone was there to clean up afterwards. 

​          Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the fellowship time after worship.  Our Coffee Café is wonderful.  I would enjoy it more except for two problems.  First, I love donuts, but it is impossible for me to eat one donut hole, which is all I really should have.  My problem is that I tend to take one donut hole, shove it in my mouth and grab three more, and then take a regular donut in my other hand.  The second problem is with our schedule I often need to rush out to get to Sunday school.  In most congregations the time of fellowship is usually nice, but I would suggest that they are just a glimpse of what fellowship is all about.  They point to the reality of what the church is, or at least should be.                 
 
​          Let me suggest that true fellowship includes at least two things.  First, fellowship provides us with relationships with people with whom we can celebrate life.  We celebrate our blessings and victories.  We celebrate God’s love.  I’m going to say more about that over the next two weeks.  Second, fellowship helps us build relationships with people, friends who will share our struggles with us.

​          In 2005 there was a wonderful movie called “Coach Carter.”  Does anyone remember it?  It’s a true story that took place at Richmond High School, out in Richmond, California.  Richmond was a town like Wilkinsburg, or Homewood.  It was a depressed area and the high school was not very good.  The dropout rate was way above the average.  There was crime and there were gangs.  Ken Carter had been a basketball star at the school years earlier.  Now he owned a successful sporting goods store.  He returned to his alma mater and became the coach of the basketball team.
He set out to change the attitude and the performance of the team.  He set very high expectations for the team members and was very strict.  They had a dress code and they had to keep their grades up.  They had to be respectful in their behavior. 
Timo was one of the better players on the team, but he had an attitude.  He didn’t like all the rules, so eventually he quit the team.  After a few days he realized that it was a mistake so he went to Coach Carter and asked to get back on the team.  Coach said that he had to do 2500 pushups and 1000 suicide drills by Friday.  It was an impossible task, but Timo tried. While the rest of the team was practicing he did pushups and ran suicide drills.  By Friday he had not reached the goal.  Coach Carter was impressed with his hard work, but said that he had failed.  He asked Timo to leave. 

​          As Timo was walking out, Jason another member of the team, spoke up.  He had actually had a fight with Timo that was part of Timo’s leaving the team.  Jason said,  “I’ll do pushups for him.  You said we’re a team.  One person struggles, we all struggle.  One player triumphs, we all triumph. Right?”  Coach Carter agreed, and so Jason and the rest of the team did extra pushups and suicides until the goal was completed.  Timo was allowed back on the team. 
 
​          That is what fellowship is all about.  If one person struggles, we all struggle.  One person triumphs, we all triumph.  We share the victories and support each other in our defeats and struggles.  We care for each other and share God’s love with each other.  Through Jesus Christ we have fellowship with God and with each other.
 
​          In invite you to stand, and join with me as we recite together the mission statement of Sharon Church:
 
The Mission of Sharon Community Presbyterian Church is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, welcome and encourage all  who want to grow in faith, care for those in need and celebrate the glory of God  in worship and in our daily lives.