New Expressions - Sing to the Lord a New Song

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, o Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Finding new expressions of worship and faith that would help us bridge the gap between our current traditions and the spiritual and worship needs of our communities. Setting our parish on a path of study and renewal.

Somehow we have to reach out beyond these walls and do something new that will have meaning for people who are not here.  We have to trust that when we do that, we will enjoy the support of our God.  We need to have faith that God’s support will carry us through and bring us the support we need to spread the Gospel in new ways which will feel uncomfortable and foreign to all of us.

Not only do we need to do all of these things, but we must remain true to ourselves, our traditions, and, most importantly, to the Gospel of Christ.

What a balancing act we have ahead of us.

How do we do this?  Where can we look for directions?  Is there a map?

All of our readings today speak directly to this balancing act.  Each of them gives us part of those instructions.  Each, in its own way, gives us a small piece of our puzzle.

Our first clue comes to us from the time of Elijah.

‘So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.”’ (1 Kings 18:20-21 NRSV)

God will not stop us from worshiping false gods.  God will not step up and smack us on the side of the head and say “You fools! This is wrong!”

So how do we know if we’re following God or going off on some tangent?  If we look at what happened with the Israelites, when the prophets of Baal called on him, he did nothing; when Elijah called on the LORD, he made his presence known.

When we do something new, something that truly glorifies God, in some way we will be able to see God’s presence.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians gives us another clue.  When Paul wrote this letter, it seems that the church in Galatia had somewhat lost its way.  They were trying to appeal to people by saying what they thought the people wanted to hear instead of telling them what Christ’s message was.  As we move forward into our new calling, this is a real danger.  In fact, even if we were to change nothing, this is a real danger.  Paul could easily have written this letter to the Church in Canada!

“Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10 NRSV)

We are caught between two dangers.  If we continue to worship “as we always have” we are remaining in that place of comfort.  We are pleasing ourselves.  If we choose a style of worship because we believe it will appeal to others who are not here, we are trying to please people.

Choosing what we do in order to please anyone, ourselves included, is sin.  When we do this, we turn our worship into idolatry.

Does this mean that we can’t worship in a manner that appeals to anyone?  Should we look for something that absolutely no one likes? –We seem to have a dilemma.  We can’t worship in a way that pleases people, but no one is going to come here and worship if they don’t like the worship.

Thankfully Paul doesn’t leave us without an answer.  He doesn’t actually say that worship can’t please people.  He just tells us that pleasing people can’t be the reason we do it.  No matter what way we worship, whether it be what we call “traditional” or if it is some “new expression,” we need to be seeking God’s approval.  We need to be spreading Christ’s Gospel.

Our Gospel today isn’t about worship: very little in the Gospels is directly about worship.  But it does relate to our balancing act.  Our Gospel tells us that if we have faith in Christ God will answer our prayers.  When we seek God in our communities, we will find him.  When we ask the Holy Spirit to guide and support us, she will be there.  The key to our future is faith.

Finally I come to the psalm.

There are two key phrases in our psalm today.  The first is an echo of our other readings.  “Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.” (Psalm 96:7-8 NRSV)  Ascribe to the LORD.  Give credit to the LORD.  Assign to the LORD.  It is not about us.  If we make it about us, it has no meaning: it has no power.  So we give it to God and we have hope.  We give it to God and we share in God’s purpose.

And finally, “Sing to the LORD a new song.”  The Gospel, the good news, continues to be written in our hearts.  As the world changes, God’s call changes.  Our job is not to do God’s work, but rather to look for where God is working and join in.

God is singing a new song.  Can we?