Session 2 – Nurtured by Worship

Opening Prayer

God our Provider, we come into this church
needing you in different ways.
Some of us need strength because we are facing a big challenge.
Some of us need hope, because we feel like giving up.
Some of us need love because we are feeling alone.
We trust that you will provide for us, whether through prayers or words, in community or music,
or in a quiet moment of reflection.
You are here, you are with us.

We are together with you.

Amen

Reflect on these two passages from Scripture in relation to our experience of worship. What draws your attention? What reflects your experience of Christian worship?

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

¹ Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
²     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his^[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Acts 2: The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

We live in a very individualistic time. It is really hard (maybe impossible?) to be a Christian alone. If you spoke to a Christian in the early years of the Jesus Movement you would identify yourself as a Christian from Corinth or Antioch or Rome; you would name your community. The Christian faith began as a community.

Human beings are social creatures and our faith calls us to look past ourselves and our own connection to the Holy, in order to share in a communal relationship with God. Being together we are not just connected to those around us but to Jesus followers in other places and even in all times and places.

Questions for reflection

• What brings you to worship on a Sunday? What are you hoping for? What do you expect to find?
• Do you think of Communal Worship as a Spiritual practice?
• Reflect on a meaningful experience of worship in community. Several experiences might come to mind at first. Choose one and reflect on it. What made it meaningful?

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We can reflect on the following:

Eight Defining Characteristics of United Church Worship from Charlotte Caron: Eager for Worship: Theologies, Practices and Perspectives on Worship in The United Church of Canada

1 “Worship and mission belong together.” the church gathers for worship in order to be strengthened, empowered, and renewed to “be God’s hands and feet in the world.”

2 A reminder we are loved: “Ideally Christian communities empower us to know ourselves as beloved – beloved of God and loved by the people of God.”

3 Encourages breadth and diversity in relationships with God`s people “A theology of diversity stresses that we are all created in image of God, that we are interrelated and responsible for making sure everyone has a place in the circle.”

4. Reminder of responsibility to others “develop capacity to be present to one another and to work tenaciously for one another’s well- being.”

5. “People need to understand in every fibre of our beings that we are made in image of God and loved by God.” Sometimes we need to hear this from someone else.

6. “Does it invite participants to be accountable in our actions and choices?” A time to be reminded of our responsibility to others.

7. A time to receive invitations to join in the work of the people of God; to be fully engaged so that, empowered by the Spirit, worshippers will go into the world to act justly and offer compassion to a broken world.

8. A time to be reminded of a truth beyond our own: “Truth-telling … advocating for preferential attention to the “truth known by those who have not had power in society and who have not been invited to share their insights”