6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
One Sunday a woman came to the pastor and thanked him for the sermon he had preached. He said, "Don't thank me, thank God." She said, "Well, I thought of that, but it wasn't quite that good." I doubt many of you come to worship service at KUC just for the sermon as I cannot promise every sermon will be extraordinary and touch your heart but I hope some aspect of our worship- service today - maybe the prayers, music, scripture reading and worshipping together as community will allow the Holy Spirit to touch your heart. Worship is the desire to praise and know God. The word worship literally means "to attribute worth to, worth-ship." We're here to worship God, to attribute worth to God. God has created us with a desire to praise and worship God. Let me give an example of someone famous who desired to know more about God. Anne Sullivan was Helen Keller's teacher. Helen Keller was both blind and deaf. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan would spell out words in her hand. One day Anne Sullivan spelled out in Helen Keller's hand, "Today I'm going to teach you about God." Helen Keller spelled back in Anne Sullivan's hand: "Good, I've been thinking about Him for a long time." Nobody had ever told her about God, but in her heart she had been thinking about God for a long time. She had an inner desire to worship God. God has created most of us here today with that desire as well. On September 4, I preached a sermon on worship. If you missed it, go to the website a or church Face Book and either watch or read the manuscript. Today, my sermon is also on worship. This month our theme for sermons was “worship.” I shared many aspects of worship in my last sermon. Oftentimes worship is experienced when we come away with a fresh awareness of the greatness of God. That was Isaiah's experience. His awareness of God's greatness was heightened as a result of experience of Worship. Worship that he experienced happened because he had a desire to seek God. Let’s look at today’s scripture from the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah is one of the most well-known prophets in the Bible for his prediction of the coming of the Messiah, who would redeem His people from their sins. I will talk about his vision and relationship to worship. Please also look at today’s bulletin and see the parts of Isaiah 6 that I am highlighting to connect with our worship service. Isaiah began with adoration and praise. That is what we do when we do the Call to Worship and our Opening Hymn or Praise Song. Isaiah saw the Lord on high with a sense of awesomeness and respect and praises him. Isaiah then talks about his “being lost” and a man of “unclean lips.” He is confessing his sin. Verse 5 shows that Isaiah has an awareness of his sin. We cannot seek to hide or cover up our sins and really worship. Isaiah knows this and we know this and God knows this. Therefore, this part is the Prayer of Confession. Seeing God and all his majesty has shown Isaiah is sinful both individually and as a member of his people. Isaiah cannot distance himself of all the wickedness that he has condemned that we read about in the first five chapters in the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah, facing God here, realizes that he cannot count himself among the righteous—he cannot see himself as detached from the people, and lifted above the others. That he too is one who is unclean, unholy, and a sinner. Then one of the seraphim (I will explain later what that is) flew to Isaiah and touched his lips with a coal and said; “your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” This is the Words of Assurance or Words of Forgiveness. Isaiah them hears God and responds to God; “Here I am: send me!” The Benediction is a blessing from God and sending us forth to the world. Isaiah was commissioned to go and speak to his people only after he saw the Lord in worship. Isaiah heard and he responded. Isaiah also discovers something about the heart of who God is—something that has huge implications not only for Isaiah in 740BC, but also for us in worshipping God today. He realizes his calling and God’s love through his act of worship. We are also drawn into God's presence through worship. But we do not stay but are called to go forth into the world just as Isaiah was sent to do. Anyway, you see some connections I hope, (except maybe for the hot coals and flying seraphim), of how he worshipped and how we worship. ☺ Ok I told you I would tell you what a seraph is although some of you may already know. I was fascinated by angels as a little girl and when we sang the hymn in church, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty” #64 in our Methodist Church hymnal, I once asked my mom what seraphim were and she didn’t really know but maybe they were angels. I was fascinated to hear that angels had different names. Please look at verse 2 in our hymn book on page #64, third line “cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee.” A seraph is an angel (celestial heavenly beings) guarding God’s throne and is associated with light and purity. If you look up in Wiki, we can learn that In Hebrew, the word “saraph” means "burning one.” Seraph and the plural is seraphim. If you look at Tienen’s illustration for today’s scripture, you can see she drew a very cute seraph! Each seraph had six wings: with two he or she covered their face (as they were not supposed to look directly at the face of God). The other two wings would cover their feet (this might mean they were expressing their humility) and the last pair of wings was so they could fly! The seraphim express their willingness and ability to serve God as they fly with their two wings . Charles Spurgeon said this of the seraphim “Thus, they have four wings for adoration and two for active energy; four to conceal themselves, and two with which to occupy themselves in service; and we may learn from them that we shall serve God best when we are most deeply reverend and humbled in his presence. Veneration must be in larger proportion than vigor, adoration must exceed activity. As Mary at Jesus’ feet was preferred to Martha and her much serving, so must sacred reverence take the first place, and energetic service follow in due course.” According to theologian John Calvin, (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564; a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation.) “The two wings with which the angels fly mean nothing else than their ready and cheerful performance of the commandments of God…. The two wings with which they cover their face show plainly enough that even angels cannot endure God’s brightness, and that they are dazzled by it in the same manner as when we attempt to gaze upon the radiance of the sun.” With those words in mind, let us look at another picture of a seraph. I like Tianen’s picture better. ☺ / I have now talked about seraphim and I do not want to leave out cherubim. You also find the word cherubim in the Bible. Some people think seraphim and cherubim are really the same angelic celestial beings and others have said that there is a slight difference. Cherubim are known to have four wings, and seraphim are described with six wings. Cherubim’s main function is to help God, but seraphim are there to praise God. (https://askanydifference.com/difference-between-cherubim-and-seraphim/) I was also curious as to why the seraphim repeated “holy” three times. Why not only once? In the Hebrew language, intensity is communicated by repetition. To say the Lord is holy is good. To say the Lord is holy, holy, is better. To say, holy, holy, holy is the best and declares God’s holiness in the highest possible way. John Calvin said that the seraphim said “holy” three times because there are Three Persons in the One God. Although Calvin didn’t think that this was the very best verse to prove the Trinity, but he still saw the truth of the Trinity here. He said; “The ancients quoted this passage when they wished to prove that there are three persons in one essence of the Godhead…. I have no doubt that the angels here describe One God in Three Persons.” We sing hymn #64 “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty” in the verses 1 and 4, “God in Three Persons, blessed Triunity!” We can think of how holy and magnificent God is when we worship. Isaiah’s heart was kindled and set on fire to serve God. Worship should do that for us! He had a heart that had been touched by God’s cleansing fire. Our hearts are touched in worship. Isaiah answered God’s call. Worship will help us to answer Gods call. German priest and theologian Martin Luther (10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) said this about worship; "At home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through." I like to think of worshipping as a fire burning within my heart. You may also have a passion or fire within you and your own thoughts about worship, the style you like and how it transforms you. I believe it would be great to discuss so come to our Sermon Discussion Class today after our service. Today my son, Koh Yamamoto, who is going to be a Lutheran pastor, will share about his views of worship and you can share your views. Join online or in person. Isaiah said;”Here am I, Lord, send me.” Isaiah had a difficult journey. We may have a difficult journey too. But we worship a God who will never leave us no matter how hard the journey may be. When you read Isaiah's experience, you know there was a great sense of awe. Isaiah indicated that he went into the temple, and God was there. Now I know God is everywhere, but I know the Bible says that where two or three are gathered in God’s name, God is among us. There is always something special about coming together and worshiping God. We may have trouble in worship balancing awe and joy. I also mentioned when I preached on worship before that we may have some days we do not wake up in the morning feeling like worshipping God but do we can do it anyway. Just a short prayer of praise and thanks as you open your eyes each day. We may have days we don’t feel like coming to church. Well, I cannot force you but I encourage you to worship as a community. You may feel joy or you may feel sorrow or you may feel the need for repentance or you may feel calling you. When Isaiah came into the presence of God, he felt a great sense of his sin. Then one of the seraphim flew to him, took one of the coals off the fire, and touched his lips with it. It says that with this act his sins were taken away and purged. Worship motivates us to confess our sin, but it doesn't leave us there. It also motivates us to understand that when we submit to God and call on God to forgive us, God forgives our sins, and we can leave here today, in this place of worship. rejoicing because we've come to know the God of grace and mercy and God has forgiven us. Apart from God’s grace, you nor I would never have come to Christ. The Holy Spirit will guide us. Let the Holy Spirit touch you today and your heart. God’s grace extends to all and as we worship together today, know that God will be with us. Let us prayer. God of heaven and earth, As you cleansed Isaiah with a coal of fire to prepare him for proclaiming your word to the world, prepare us, so that we may know your bidding and carry out our callings with eagerness and urgency. Show the world your greatness and love. If there are people who do not know you, let them be touched by Your cleansing power of forgiveness and accept Jesus Christ into their lives. Let your Holy Spirit transform all of us through each time we worship You. Let worshipping you be a way we turn our hearts to You and do your will for us. Give us the strength and courage to say the words said by Isaiah, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” Amen.
0 Comments
Opening:
Path for Birds _____________________________ [Distractions] Rocky Soil _____________________________ [Endurance] Thorn Bushes _____________________________ [Worries] Good Soil _____________________________ [Active Growth] ***Request to leave the [] out of the outline for the church to fill in as a takeaway. Closing Prayer Good morning everyone. My name is Vikko Muriel. This is not my first time sharing my testimony here in KUC. It was in the last Young Adults-led service that I first shared my testimony. It was a video recording because I was still in the Philippines at that time, but now I'm here. In person to share another miracle that the Lord has done in my life.
I arrived here in Japan in November last year. Within the first month of living here in Japan I started to have knee pain and a lot of swelling. And I thought it was just a nasty case of gout. I have a history of gout attacks while I was still in the Philippines. So I just didn't mind it that much and just drank pain killers to lessen the pain. But after a few weeks the pain and swelling didn't subside like it usually does. So my wife insisted that I get checked up. I said no. Because in the Philippines we weren't used to going to the doctor that much. Maybe it's because check ups are usually expensive and insurance isn't as good as it is here in Japan or maybe it's because getting medicine is so easy to do there that you can diagnose yourself and you can just go to any pharmacy and buy strong painkillers and most types of medicines. But it's a good thing that my wife kept on insisting and bugging me to go and get checked up. So I did. I got an X Ray, the doctor drained my knee and he scheduled me for an MRI. Take note at this point the pain was so bad that I had to walk with a cane and I couldn't bend or stretch my leg anymore. After the MRI the doctor told me that I had a torn ACL on my right knee and both my knees were diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis. He referred me to a specialist in amagasaki. He told me that this doctor could tell me if surgery would help and could perform the surgery too if needed, plus he speaks better English than my current doctor. So I went to that doctor and unfortunately he said that surgery is no longer an option and that the damage is already too severe and other than the problems that the first doctor saw he also saw very bad bone spurs. He basically told me that I would probably live with this problem for the rest of my life and that all he could do was manage the pain by having weekly injections of hyaluronic acid on my knee. So I had the injections and this is where you could start to really see how wonderful God works. After a month or so of getting the injections I had lung problems. Which is a story for another Sunday service. But I spent about 5 weeks in the hospital. And because of this I missed weeks of injections but I also lost 28kgs. So when I got out, the clinic I was getting my injections at didn't accept me because the letter that the doctor gave me to get the shots were only valid until a certain that already passed, and me and my wife were having problems getting an appointment with the doctor because of the language barrier. I felt hopeless. That was when one of our churchmates from our home church recommended me to go to her orthopedic doctor. She even went with me to the doctor. So I went through all the tests again and the doctor said the same thing. No surgery and same diagnosis. But he was a bit more hopeful. He gave me the injection again and told me to go through weekly knee rehabilitation for 3 months. So I did. And on September 1st I went back to that doctor after 3 months of rehabili, and he was shocked to see how good I was feeling and how good my knee looks. He told me to stop doing rehabili because I didn't need it anymore. My knee is fine. He even told me to play basketball again. While traveling home, I couldn’t help but look back on how hopeless I felt when I heard those first 2 doctors talk about how impossible my situation was and how I have already accepted that I was probably gonna be walking with a cane for the rest of my life. And then I remembered how at least 4 churches were praying for my recovery weekly, maybe even daily, KUC is one of those churches. We prayed, continuously, relentlessly, without ceasing, we prayed. God answered. When the doctors said no, God said yes. When they said it's impossible for me to walk straight again, God said run. When they said it's hopeless God laughed and said, trust me I got you kid. Sermon title: “Hardened Hearts” / Scripture: Psalm 95 (NRSVUE) / Preacher: Rev. Akiko Van Antwerpen9/11/2022 Let us pray. Lord may the words of my mouth and meditations of our hearts together this morning be pleasing in your sight, O Lord. You are our rock and redeemer. (Psalm 19:14) Amen.
This month, the theme for our sermons is “worship,” which is why today’s scripture reading comes from Psalm 95 - which is titled “A Call to Worship and Obedience” (in my NRSV translation, at least.) The first seven verses of this psalm do a great job of describing the familiar ways in which we still worship the Lord even today: Let us sing to the Lord. (Psalm 95:1) Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. (Psalm 95:2) Let us make a joyful noise to the Lord with songs of praise. (Psalm 95:2) Right away, the Psalm is making it clear that singing and making music to the Lord are ways in which we can praise God. This is something so powerful, and so nearly universal that we do it every Sunday, and Psalm 95 is an invitation for us to lift our voices in praise, to make a joyful noise to the God who is our maker! For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. (Psalm 93:3) For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. (Psalm 93:7) In worship we celebrate our God who stands above all worldly authority, who lovingly created every one of us, and all the creatures of the earth. Not only should God be praised as both creator and governor of all, but we can celebrate the fact that this almighty, infinitely powerful Creator chose to form a close, personal relationship with us! God has adopted us (Ephesians 1:5), called us to be God’s very own children. Now that we belong to God, now that we can call ourselves God’s children, we can’t help but to lift up the name of the Lord, our maker and our redeemer. In praise we give the highest honor to our most gracious, merciful and welcoming Lord! But, as powerful as these feelings within our hearts may be, worship isn’t just about singing, making music, and lifting up the name of the Lord most High. Worship is about more than that: Worship is a way for us to connect to God in a much deeper, much more personal sense. We might not realize it, might not be consciously aware of it, but when we sing our praises, when we lift up the name of our Lord, what we’re really doing is humbling ourselves. In this space of praise and worship, we come to recognize that we are not the makers of all things, not the ones whose will shapes the world around us. We are not the potter; we are the clay. We are not the authors of our own lives, the crafters of our own plans, or the guides along our own paths. When we come before God in worship, we recognize that we need to quiet our voices sometimes, and quiet our hearts, so that we can hear the voice of the One whose voice is higher, greater, and more powerful than our own. O that today you would listen to his voice! (Psalm 95:8) I don’t think that many of us here have a problem giving praise to God, singing to the Lord, or giving our thanks to the Most High. For a lot of us, this isn’t hard to do because praising God brings a smile to our faces and joy to our hearts; it fills us with elation and we really want to experience that! But something I have often heard from people, is that they sometimes feel as though God is not speaking to them; that it feels as though God is silent, absent from within their worship and their lives. And within today’s Scripture reading, we’re shown one reason that this might be the case, one reason why we might lose track of the voice of God and slip into following the sound of our own, human voices instead. The hardening of our hearts. I think most of us recognize that the idea of a hardened heart isn’t a good thing. Hardened hearts aren’t a new idea for us as Christians; they’re a major topic in the Scripture, something that is shown as a thing which stands in the way of God’s grand plan being accomplished throughout the ongoing Biblical story of humankind and loving God. But while we know that hardened hearts are a bad thing, I don’t think we really spend that much time in church talking about why they are bad, what a hardened heart actually looks like, and what to do when we start to develop hardened hearts in our own lives, and in the life of our church. Do we really know what it looks like when we allow our own hearts to be hardened? Are we able to identify when it is happening to us, or when it is happening within our church community? And how can we deal with it, honestly and lovingly, when we see that hardening happening within our own hearts, or within the hearts of the community around us? Today’s scripture refers to the story of the Israelites, and how they hardened their hearts while they were living in exile in the wilderness. So, in order to understand it better…let’s take a look at the book of Exodus, and see how they arrived at a place where their hearts had hardened? While the people of Israel were forced on in intense, brutal, physical labor as slaves in Egypt, God called Moses to deliver the people from the Pharaoh, and take them to the Promised Land. But, the hardened heart of the Pharaoh, stuck in his place of power and privilege, got in the way, and he would not let God’s people go. Pharaoh could not bring himself to let the Israelites leave; from what we know of Egyptian culture of the time, he would have wanted to keep them, knowing that their forced labor was vital to the work he was doing, and that to simply free them would make him seem weak like a less powerful leader. So every time God brought signs and plagues upon the people of Egypt, and Pharaoh began to consider letting the Israelites go, that fear would have grabbed hold of his heart and hardened it further, and he found that he could not let the Israelites go, because he could not see past his fear that letting go would mean allowing himself to be vulnerable, even weak. So this right here is something we can easily understand about a hardened heart. When we allow our hearts to be hardened, we find that we can’t let things go. We hold on to them, refusing to consider new ideas, alternate ways of thinking, or other points of view because the fear, worry, anger, hatred, or whatever other emotion has grabbed hold of our heart has hardened it. But there is still more to this. In the Christian faith, a hardened heart isn’t just one that is closed to other ways of thinking: a hardened heart refuses to consider God’s ways of thinking too. In verse 8 of today’s scripture, it says “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.” Now Meribah and Massah is a reference to places we encounter in Exodus 17, a story where the Israelites fell to quarreling and arguing as the result of hardened hearts. Having escaped from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites now found themselves deep in the wilderness, heading for the promised land to which God had promised to guide them. But life in the wilderness was hard, and the people faced hunger, and thirst as they wandered through the desert. So the Israelites fought, and complained against Moses, their leader who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and whom they had decided themselves to follow (Exodus 17:2-3). But even though it was the Israelites themselves who chose to follow Moses, when fear and anger came upon them and their hearts began to harden, this is what they said to him: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3) Within their hardened hearts, fear and anger took hold, and they lost the ability to see the image of God in Moses, and in each other. Fear gave rise to anger and hatred, and divisions grew greater as hard hearts refused to see or understand how all of us are connected to each other. Blame grew like a weed among the people, the only thing that can grow through the rocky ground of a hardened heart. The Psalmist explains that this is what happens when hearts are hardened. The writer of the Psalm says that not only did their hearts harden within them, but they began to go astray and got lost, no longer regarding God’s ways (Psalm 95:10). But the hardening of hearts isn’t just about being stubborn when one should probably yield. To a Christian, a hardened heart also includes the act of disregarding, or worse outright refusing, the ways of God. And the Psalmist lays out very clearly what happens when our hearts are hardened, saying that “we shall not enter God’s rest” (Psalm 95:11). It means that we can find no peace or tranquility when our hearts are hardened. So we can understand now that hardened hearts don’t regard God’s ways, and actually can get in the way of God’s will being done in us, around us, and through us. We understand the consequences that hardened hearts can bring to bear on us, preventing us from having harmony and rest not just within ourselves, but within our community and the world around us. Hardened hearts break relationships, turn us against each other, and disconnect the bonds of fellowship and love that are the very definition of how God works in and among us. We get it. It’s bad! We shouldn't have hardened hearts! We know! That may be easy to say though, but it can be really hard to do. It’s not as simple as knowing that having a hardened heart is bad and then just…not doing it. Sometimes, as our emotions rise up within us, it can be really hard to notice that our hearts are hardening at all. A few nights ago I was talking with Don and, he said something that just really, really annoyed me, and I noticed that my feelings of annoyance were quickly turning into anger. Of course, I tried to restrain my anger, and I tried to hold it back first by using my own might, my own force of will. I told myself that it wasn’t right for me to be mad, that it wasn’t kind or compassionate, that he has his own perspective which is sometimes different from mine, and that’s ok. But no matter how hard I tried to push myself away from the anger, my feelings continued to spiral. I just…couldn’t do it. So, I just got up and left the room. Though I imagined I was being calm and reasonable at the time, I’m sure that my body language told a very different story! So I went to a different room, sat down, and just simmered. I tried to go back to writing my sermon, but I quickly realized that I was far too worked up, far too irritated to do any real work with God’s Word. And so I got even more mad, even more upset. I started to blame Don in my head, angry at him for putting me in this emotional state. How inconsiderate could he possibly be, to make me this annoyed, this angry when he knew I had a sermon to work on! And, in that moment, my heart fell upon God’s word in verse 8: “Do not harden your heart.” “Do not harden your heart.” In Hebrew, the word we translate as “harden” doesn’t just mean “to be stubborn, rock-like, or unmoving.” It means “to become fierce, intense, difficult, or aggressive.” In that moment I realized that, if I continued to embrace that intensity, that rage, the anger which in that moment felt entirely justified and righteous, I would be making the situation unnecessarily difficult not just for Don, but for myself, or even for our kids as well. And in that moment God reminded me also of Matthew 21:24, where it says “…first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” I started to ask myself, “I would be letting my heart be hardened, rather than pursuing reconciliation, peace and harmony?” Here I was grumpily, angrily, and with hardened heart trying to offer my gift to God, when what God really needed me to do was to go back and talk to Don. I realized that what was needed wasn’t for me to remain in anger, or to hide away and try to pursue God’s work instead, but to be open and honest with my feelings, and to talk about them without the tone of judgment or accusation. What was needed wasn’t to embrace the hardness of heart that came from my own pain, but to surrender that hurt and try to understand him, to see why he had said what he had said. So I did go back and talk with Don, and thank God that I did! As we talked and listened to each other, as we worked through our feelings, fears, hurts, and concerns, I could feel my heart getting less hardened. I could feel the fog cleaning away, and gradually I could see his point of view too. I realized that as annoyed as I was, he also had a perfectly valid point too. The more we talked and listened to each other, the more I began to feel understanding and love grow between us again and, by the end of our conversation, we were in a much better, much happier place! Of course, this doesn’t just happen in marriage. Just the other day I was in a council meeting, sharing my perspective about the future of one of the ministries in our church. As I was sharing, my perspective was pretty fixed in my mind, but then I heard someone share an idea that was different from my own. For a moment, I was bothered by the difference in perspective and I could feel that hardness creeping into my heart again. So, sensing what was coming, I embraced it as a warning and let God lead me to pray about it more, rather than trying to push through to a conclusion right there, in that moment. And as I opened myself up to what God might be doing in that place, through people and ideas other than me, I started to feel as though God was relaxing my heart, broadening my perspective by allowing me to be open to the different voices and ideas of others. If you remember the Exodus story, you know that Pharaoh’s heart hardened more than once. And every time it happened, the Israelites lost another chance to escape from the cruel oppression of slavery. But, when we think about it, this also means that Pharaoh’s hardened heart was not a permanent condition; he had multiple chances to allow it to be un-hardened, and even considered letting the Israelites go more than once. As long as we live here on earth, it’s probably impossible to avoid ever having a hardened heart. We humans can be really selfish beings. If we aren’t careful, if we aren’t deliberate in managing our thoughts and feelings, we can begin to put our own wants and needs ahead of everyone else even if we are Christians. We can start to think that our ways are better, that our ways are higher - we can start to think that we alone know what is good, and right, and true. Our hearts can harden, and we can find ourselves abandoning God’s ways, and getting stuck on our own, limited understandings of what is right, and what is wrong. But the truly good news for us is that we have been given the Holy Spirit, through which we can be reminded of all Jesus’ teachings (John 14:26). And with the help of the Spirit we can begin to see and recognize the hardening of our hearts, and choose to listen to the voice of God calling us to relax our hearts, to abandon our anger, and surrender our fears - to choose to reconcile with each other, rather than getting stuck in our own insistent ways. “O that today you would listen to his voice. Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.” (Psalm 95:8) The Holy Spirit reminds us that God’s thoughts are our not our thoughts, that our ways are not God’s ways. In fact, God’s ways are higher than our ways, God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). Our hearts harden within us far more often than we think - it happens to us in big and small ways every day, and recognizing that it is happening to us -recognizing the signs of fierce insistence on our own ways, recognizing the fear, anger, and other emotions that grab hold of us and tell us that we must push for our own way above all others - recognizing all this is the first step towards pursuing God’s holy and divine reconciliation among all people. Rather than filling our minds with a refusal to let go, simmering in our hurt, filling our hearts with complaint and our mouths with blame, rather than pushing outward with a strong conviction that our ways are the only ways, we can begin instead to pause, as we do in worship, and hear the voice of the One whose voice is higher, greater, and more powerful than our own speaking to us, saying; “Let go.” “Forgive.” “Listen.” “Go talk.” “Show love.” What is it in your life that you’re just so very…certain of? Are there viewpoints that you have trouble understanding, ideas that you just can’t accept, or even people you cannot connect with because they think differently, feel differently, or even believe differently than you do? Where are the places in your life where you are completely, totally convinced that you are right? Does that sense of conviction really come from God, or does it come from your own hardened heart, telling you that your ways are higher and better and you know better? Does that conviction lead you to places of conflict and broken fellowship, or does it lead you to peace with your family, friends and neighbors and tranquility in your own heart? Is God’s love for all humankind being realized through your convictions? In this beautiful space, where we come together in praise in worship, we can feel the Spirit of the living God here among us, filling our hearts with love, grace, and mercy. KUC family, when God speaks to you today through the Word, when you hear God’s voice telling you “Do not harden your heart,” what is God telling you to look at? What areas of your life is God whispering to you about, telling you to let go of your anger, your fear, and even your hate and embrace fellowship and reconciliation instead? No sermon can answer that question for you. You will find that answer yourself, as you seek a closer fellowship with God. But I pray, and I have hope that so long as we listen to the quiet voice of the Creator, whispering in our hearts and minds, as long as we embrace the Holy Spirit that works within us all, that we can all learn to un-harden our hearts, and find ourselves reconciled to God and to each other in harmony and fellowship. Let us pray. God please help our hardened hearts to be changed, and as our hearts are changed so too let our actions be changed. We want there to be more love in our lives, more harmony and peace among us in our church, in our communities, and in our worlds. Work in us Lord, and soften our hearts, opening them up to you, and to each other. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Last week we had a wonderful worship service with testimonies and lots of singing. We are planning to do Praise and Prayer Worship every fifth Sunday of the month from now on. So, I was inspired to preach on worship for this Sunday.
Why did you come to KUC today? You may have many reasons. You might say to worship God. That’s is a good and I am glad you are here. I pray you are inspired by the Holy Spirit while you are here worshipping God. Here are some questions to think about 1. How do you hear God when you come to worship? 2. Do you struggle to worship God on a regular basis? Why? 3. What helps you to worship God more easily? 4. Do you have a preferred style or type of worship? 5. Have you ever worshiped God even when you didn’t feel like it? Let’s look at our worship service for today in our bulletin. What is the most important part or worship for you? Is it the singing? Praying together? Our Confession? Words of Assurance or Forgiveness? The Scripture? How about Communion since today is Communion Sunday? I believe we need all aspects to worship God but I would say Communion is quite important. Scripture oftentimes is what the sermon, music, prayers, singing and liturgy will be revolved around. John Wesley often said scripture is first and foremost in all that we do. Also, the experience of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Akiko and I prepare for worship through looking at the scripture, praying, and then planning around the scripture verses and theme chosen. The Praise Music Team leaders also ask the scripture before each Sunday when they will sing so that they can prayerfully choose the songs. Our organists also wish to know the scripture verses before each worship so they can also pray and chose what is appropriate. As you can see, a lot of planning and prayer go into each service! Everyone’s view on worship is different. We may like different styles of worship. We may like different kinds of music. We often do a blended service at KUC where we sing traditional hymns and also praise songs. People have different styes they like for worship such as quiet and meditative or more energetic, charismatic and lively. Some people like ritual in worship and others may prefer a more free-flowing spontaneous style. KUC worship uses different styles and sometimes we do a blended service with traditional hymns and praise music. We sometimes have testimonies. We have different styles of sermons. Some people like liturgy and other people may not. (e.g. if you look at Wikipedia you will learn that “liturgy” literally means in ancient Greek “the work of the people.”) The Holy Spirit can and does work through all kinds of worship. We may have our personal preferences but we can be open to other styles as well. As for myself, I can worship God in a variety of ways and I am willing to try new ways to worship. Although I grew up Methodist, I have been to all kinds of different worship services in my 30 years as a pastor. I have been to Pentecostal services, Mennonite services, Baptist (my deceased brother was an American Baptist pastor), Disciples of Christ (my uncle was a D.O.C pastor and served a UCC church), UCC, Lutheran (my son Koh is becoming a Lutheran pastor), Presbyterian, AME, Assembly of God ( my son Kai goes to an Assembly of God church now), Greek Orthodox ( my sister-in-law is Greek Orthodox, Catholic, nondenominational, and others I cannot recall. I served West Tokyo Union as pastor for 17 years which is interdenominational and ecumenical. I find the different traditions (or no traditions) so interesting and I learn from them. It is like Baskin Robbins Ice cream – you may have one flavor you prefer over another but that does not mean you cannot appreciate the other flavors. It is good to try other styles for a change. I used to take my youth confirmation classes which are discipleship classes for church memberships in Hawaii when I was a pastor and later in Tokyo to different churches and even synagogues to experience other styles of worshipping God. It helps our own spiritual growth to try some other ways to worship and to understand how others worship. We can do worship in our homes or outside in the beauty of God’s nature. We can worship God anywhere. Just like we can pray anywhere. Yes, we can worship God alone. But we are encouraged to worship God in community. Psalm 133:1 “How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity! “ We are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) and we are not alone. That reassurance of the body of Christ surrounding us, encouraging us, and praying for us is something we all need as we struggle and stumble in our faith journey. We support one another through prayer in worship as we praise God together. In a lot of our praise songs there are plural pronouns like "Let us" or “We.” (Let us worship the Lord, We come to worship you, Let us worship the King, Let us shout..” Let us adore..” Let us praise, Let us sing;" "Let us bow down" and "Let us kneel." So, these songs even encourage us to do this worshipping together! The last two years we had to pivot in our Sunday worship due to Covid and learn to worship through ZOOM in a variety of ways. We appreciated all the ways people contributed. But there is something to be said for corporate worship. I know I missed it and am glad we are back to worship now in person. Some people still choose to watch online for a variety of reasons but I am still glad to be able to come together in this space to worship. In Acts and the epistles, we see that the early church was faithful in coming together in a shared space for corporate worship (even if Christians were being persecuted). Examples of worshipping together as a community can be see throughout the entire Old Testament and in the gospels. Probably the most famous image of Christian corporate worship comes from Acts 2:42: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” That is what we are doing today - breaking bread during Communion, singing and praying together. When Isaiah (Isaiah 6) comes into the presence of the Lord, it is obvious how he feels about the Lord. He saw the Lord on high with a sense of awesomeness and respect. God of hosts." Isaiah experienced the awesome presence of God, he acknowledged the authority of God, and he renewed his commitment to obedience to God. These are all also aspects of worship as well. So why do we get together, especially if it’s more convenient to stay home and “watch church” over breakfast and your morning cup of coffee still in your pajamas? During Covid, let’s face it, that may be how we had to worship as we were the midst of a pandemic. Now we are coming out but some people are still cautious or have other reasons they may not be able to attend physically. But thank God for live streaming which helps us to still connect in worship. However, we find ways to we come together in worship (online or hopefully in person when you can) because we are commanded to by our Lord: “Do not neglect in meeting together,” says Hebrews 10:25. “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching,” writes 1 Timothy 4:13. God commands and invites us to worship. Worship is a response to God. Worship is putting God first. Worship blesses and pleases God. Worship encourages us and lifts our spirits. Worship shows obedience to God. Worship helps us to grow spiritually. Worship brings us closer to God. Maybe you can think of more reasons we worship God. All of us should be participants in the worship of God. Worship is not passive but active and the Holy Spirit moves in us through worship! Amen! Worship is a transforming activity. Worship that comes from the heart is transforming. Worship transforms us. During worship we will turn our hearts toward Christ. It changes us. We are drawn to Jesus in worship. As followers of Christ, we strive to become more like Jesus Christ. A pastor once said, “worship is the furnace of our spiritual life.” I think of God’s Holy Spirit at times as fire since I am someone who loves Pentecost. (Acts 2) God’s fire burns within and we let it out through worship! We have passion for our Lord Jesus Christ as we worship. Pentecost was also a special worship in Acts when the were all together understanding one another’s languages and worshipped when three thousand came to believe in the Lord! (Acts 2.) People are drawn to Christ through worship. We are inspired by worship and I believe this is what helps us to go out to tell others about Jesus Christ. Evangelism is the fruit of worship. This is where worship continues outside of the sanctuary or our homes. We are sent by God to share with others the love of God. This is the scripture I am reminded of when I think of worship and being sent forth. "I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple . . . my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me'" (Isa. 6:1, 5, 8). Paul told the Corinthian church to worship in such a clear way that if an unbeliever entered, "He or she is convicted by all and is judged by all. The secrets of their hearts will be revealed, and as a result they will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, 'God is really among you'" (1 Cor. 14:24-25). The early Christians evangelized and evangelism sprang from their worship. Their worship witnessed to the awesome display of God's presence and power. Unbelievers were drawn to Christ through their worship and, in turn, their worship compelled them to tell others about him. These wholehearted worshipers called the whole world to whole-hearted worship. We are drawn to God in worship and we will draw others to Christ as witnesses because worship will inspire us. The fore of God will be burning in our hearts and we will desire to spread it! Isaiah was commissioned to go and speak to his people only after he saw the Lord in worship. Isaiah he heard and he responded. Worship helped him to realize the calling of his life. We are drawn into God's presence through worship and sent out into the world. Author, Joseph Tkach says this about worship: “Worship is a way of life. We offer our bodies and minds as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2). We worship God when we share the gospel (Romans 15:16). We worship God when we give financial offerings (Philippians 4:18). We worship God when we help other people (Hebrews 13:16). We say that he is worthy of our time, attention and loyalty. We praise his glory, and his humility in becoming one of us for our sakes. We praise his righteousness and his mercy. We praise him for the way he is. This is what we were made for, to declare his praises. It is right that we praise the One who created us, the One who died and rose to save us and give us life eternal, the One who now works to help us become more like him. We owe him our allegiance, and our love.” (https://www.gci.org/articles/responding-to-god-with-worship/) Worship is a response to who God is. I praise God; I thank God and I praise God in response to God’s works, but I worship God for whom God is, simply because God is God. Worship is done anywhere we can commune with God. In or outside the church. Eucharist is the same – it does not just happen with the bread and juice of the vine in worship but outside of the worship service as well. Eucharist means Communion. Eucharist is from the Greek eucharistia for “thanksgiving” and Eucharist is also called “The Great Thanksgiving.” It is the central act of Christian worship. In the poem the priest is giving communion by sharing God’s love. He does if through a smile, by listening, and forgiveness. I close with a poem written by a chaplain in Ireland. The Eucharist By Fr. Voight – Irish Chaplaincy He was old, tired, and sweaty, pushing his homemade cart down the alley, stopping now and then to poke around in somebody’s garbage, I wanted to tell him about EUCHARIST But the look in his eyes, the despair on his face, the hopelessness of somebody else’s life in his cart, Told me to forget it. So I smiled, said “Hi – and gave him EUCHARIST. She lived alone, her husband dead, her family gone, and she talked at you, not to you, words, endless words, spewed out. So I listened – and I gave her EUCHARIST. Downtown is nice, Lights change from red lo green, and back again, Flashing blues, pinks and oranges. I gulped them in, Said, “Thank you Father,” – and made them EUCHARIST. I laughed at myself, and told myself, You, with all your sin, and all your selfishness, I forgive you, I accept you, I love you.’ It’s nice and so necessary to give yourself EUCHARIST. My Father’ When will we learn – you cannot talk EUCHARIST You cannot philosophize about it – YOU DO IT. You don’t dogmatize EUCHARIST. Sometimes you laugh it, sometimes you cry it, often you sing it. Sometimes it’s wild peace, then crying hurt, often humiliating, never deserved. You see EUCHARIST in another’s eyes, give it in another’s hand held tight, squeeze it in an embrace. You pause EUCHARIST in the middle of a busy day, speak it in another’s ear, listen to it from a person who wants to talk. For EUCHARIST is as simple as being on time and as profound as sympathy I give you my supper, I give you my sustenance, I give you my life, I give you me, I give you EUCHARIST. (https://www.irishchaplaincy.org.uk/9479) |
English ManuscriptsHere you can find the English manuscripts for our sermons. Archives
May 2024
Categories |