The Light of Worship

Big idea: Worship is the outpouring of suffering and love

Introduction/ 2021 recap

Merry Christmas. I hope you are enjoying a quiet morning at home worshipping online. This has been a doosie of a year, so as we make the transition from yesterday’s celebration of the birth of Jesus into the reality that God is with us, I want to pause to remember how God has shown up in our community of faith this year.

If I had to pick one word to define 2021 for us at Valley Chapel it would be grief. We did a lot of crying this year, between the tragic losses of Todd and Steve, the departure of a number of families who used to call this church home, and the pandemic that just won’t seem to let go of us, we have had more than our fair share of things to mourn. We kicked off the year by asking God some really hard questions like “Why is my heart still heavy?” “When should I stop praying for a miracle?”, “Is this really all there is?” We reflected on our loneliness, our helplessness, and our messiness, all the while begging the Spirit of God to show up.

In March we were finally able to start gathering in the building in addition to our online services and yet again were faced with more to grieve as a handful of our close friends, who used to worship alongside us, had found other communities to worship with. All the while our nation was in uproar over racial and political power struggles. It felt like our relationships were fracturing and to be honest, a lot of us didn’t feel like God was all that close by. So we spent the season of Lent remembering the covenants, the promises of God to us and found our faith buoyed by the ways he showed up in the past.

Which led us to Easter-time. With the spring thawing out the dreariness of winter and hope in the air we took our focus outward. We stepped into our Belong, Behave, Believe series and learned all about how to both feel like we belong and help others know they belong, trusting that the behaving and the believing will come in due time. Despite the mourning that laced this year, God has shown up in incredible ways. We’ve seen over 180 first-time guests join us for worship in the building, which isn't including all those who join us regularly online. Out of those more than 80 came back at least once and over 40 have become regular participants in the life of our church. People are drawn to where the Spirit is moving, and this year we saw that the mission of God is alive and well in this community.

And it has been fun hasn’t it? We had a blast walking through our Forgotten Women series, hearing powerful stories of the ways God used women to lead his people, and then we celebrated our annual VBS and were able to show over 100 children how they are a priceless treasure to God. The summer felt like a weight had been lifted and we were able to just enjoy our work of ministry. God was on the move.

But the pandemic wouldn’t go away, and the political turmoil wouldn’t go away, and there were still a lot of doubt. Our summer worship attendance had dropped pretty low and it seemed like our community was starting to ask some difficult questions again. Fortunately, God had led us through heavy places before, so we had enough faith to face the question our culture at large was asking… “What good is the church?” It was a difficult question to answer, but God met us in it and I believe our collective faith was built up.

Which led us to the fall, where at the height of our joy and lightness we simultaneously faced even more immense pain and constant stories of God at work in people’s lives. The tragedy that struck the Baker family sent shock waves through our whole community yet, God showed up and met us when we needed him most. He Entered into our dark seasons and brought us the comfort we could receive. It has constantly reminded me of how God does his best work when we are in our worst places. Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback church once said that they make sure to focus their ministry efforts where the most suffering exists. I believe that God has been meeting us right in the middle of our suffering and revealing ways we can fulfil our mission in and through these dark times.

So, before the holidays we spent 4 weeks taking a inventory of our purpose and identity as a church with out “Draw Closer” series. 2020 and 2021 have been a massive upheaval. We are no longer the Valley Chapel that existed in 2019, and you know what, we’ve grieved that loss. That Valley Chapel was a beautiful light in this community, but God seems to be transforming us into something different. A community through whom he can serve the people of 2022 and on. And, He is with us in it. It’s a new season, and the pain we experienced over the past two years has been preparing us for something incredible. I believe that we are going to see some things happen this year that will blow your mind and I can’t wait to step into 2022 with you.

Body

For now, let’s allow the Spirit to guide us through the transition from our season of preparation, to the work God will bring us in 2022. Our scripture reading today was from Psalm 148 and I think it perfectly describes the best way to respond to seeing God show up for us. This is the final week of our “Lighting the way to Christmas” series and now that Christmas has passed, and one of our most painful years has passed, how do we light the way forward? Simply put we light the way through worship.

Psalm 148 is a command for all of creation to praise God. The Psalmist commands the hosts of heaven to praise, the sun and moon and stars to praise the one who made them.

Psalm 148:5-6

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

First, creation is called to praise God, to worship the creator because we were created and given a purpose. When it says that God “fixed their bounds” it means that God took what was disordered chaos and gave it order and meaning. Think of the sun, moon and stars. In the beginning when God created all of the sun and moon and stars, he created them and gave them a specific job. The account of creation in Genesis 1 is a clear description, not of how God made everything, but of why and In Genesis 1:14 he said...

The New Revised Standard Version Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.”

God created the sun, moon and stars to be what guides days, seasons and years as well as providing light to the earth. But what’s so interesting is how this ties into Psalm 148. The reason these things are to praise God is because God created them and gave them a role to play. But it begs the question…how? How does the moon praise God? How do stars praise God?

It’s by existing and doing what they were created to do isn’t it. We so often make worship something we do out of obedience, but the reality is that God calls creation to worship by design. Worship includes what we do here on Sunday morning, but this is merely one part of how we worship God. Worship is something we do because of what we are as God’s created beings. That’s why the rest of the psalm calls sea monsters, and fire and hail and mountains and animals, and insects, and rulers, and men and women, and young and old to praise God as one. It’s a cry for everything in creation to join together in praise simply because they were made and given purpose. But that’s not the only reason...

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his faithful, for the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the LORD!

All of creation also praises God because he, in all his “other-ness” came in the form of a baby on Christmas morning and lived with us. God was not content to be at arms length, but came to be so close that he became an actual human for the sake of all creation.

So if stars praise God by being created and given a purpose, then how might you or I praise God. How do we worship the one who made us and gave us purpose and came to be with us? Well, the answer is simple, but the practice is infinite. We are to be truly human. The more truly human we are the more clearly we worship God. Just as a mountain worships God by being exactly what it was created to be, so do we praise God for being what we were created to be. And Jesus, whose birth we celebrated yesterday showed us the way there. Jesus was fully human, completely human, truly human.

In the letter to the Hebrews 5:7-9 Jesus’ perfect humanity was described like this...

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

That little baby went on to live, and to suffer, and in that suffering cry out to the Father who heard him and as a result became the source of salvation for us all, so that in our suffering and lament our own humanity can become truer, and fuller, and we become closer to God. 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love and God showed us that to love is to suffer through the example of Jesus. To be human, fully human, is to suffer for the sake of love. To suffer for the sake of another, to suffer for the love of that which God made.

Conclusion

Valley Chapel. That’s what God taught us in 2021 wasn’t it? God met us in our suffering and showed us that those unjust, broken, and painful experiences reveal and create our true humanity. And when we stop long enough to look back, we see that in our suffering God was working in and through us. In our suffering God’s love flowed through us. In our suffering we drew closer to God and one another. And you know what feels like a natural response to that… worship. I am in awe of the work of God in and through this community and I know you are too. It makes it so that I don’t feel obligated to praise God, I’m not doing it out of a sense of duty or moral requirement. I praise God because I have seen the incredible things he has done in this community and it blows me away.

So today, I don’t want to give you something to do, some instruction on how to apply this message. Instead just bask in the glory of your creator. The one who became a human to suffer for us and through his suffering we have seen restoration in our own lives, transformation all around us, and hope for the future.

Prayer

Offering Moment

The end of 2021 is only a few days away and as I’ve been financially planning for the turn of the year I was reminded of a story from Ezra 2:68-69 where the exiled Israelites were returning to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple.

68 As soon as they came to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of families made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. 69 According to their resources they gave to the building fund

The people of God have learned through the years that healthy and faithful stewardship of God;s resources requires being intentional about the blessings God has given us. As you count your own blessings in this past season I would like to invite you to do the same as the Israelites returning from exile did, to give according to the resources you have been given by God.

Giving online is easy and since we are exclusively online this Sunday this is a great opportunity to test it out if you’ve never tried it. it’s really easy and it only takes about 6 seconds once you get it set up.

Simply go to Valley Chapel.org/give or your valley chapel app.

Enter your amount and frequency

Then enter your payment info

and lastly confirm your gift

It’s that easy.

Since some of us claim our charitable giving as a tax deduction, giving online today is an easy way to make sure your year end gifts are in before 2021 is officially over.

That’s all about giving for today, now lets continue to worship by hearing this morning’s scripture reading.