clayton faulkner

Every Sunday during our worship services at Faith, we have this little ritual that takes place. This particular ritual happens after the Prayers of Intercession, and before the offering is collected. It is a momentary time of chaotic interaction during an otherwise orderly assembly. People get up, move around, shake hands, greet one another, and say these words: “Peace be with you.”

But what is the point of doing this? Why is it important to do this action in the context of a worship service? Does it carry any more significance than the high-five that they do at the conclusion of Little League and football games?

Passing the peace of Christ is actually an ancient component of Christian worship and liturgy. Our modern day version of peace passing is descended from an earlier act of worship known as “the kiss of peace.” 1 Peter 5:14 says, “Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.” Through his letters Paul repeatedly reminds the churches to greet one another with “a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26). It was the custom in the ancient western Mediterranean for men to greet one another with a kiss on the cheek.

Passing the peace is a tradition rooted in Scripture that embodies our identity as peacemakers. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). The practice of verbally and physically sharing Christ’s peace trains ours hearts, hands, and tongues in the ways of peace. It is also a comforting reminder of the greeting Jesus himself used with his disciples, “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36).

Similarly, when we regularly pass the peace we practice God’s call to maintain the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). Grudges and bitterness should fall away when we greet one another in the reality of the peace Jesus brings to us. By regularly performing this gesture our hearts and minds can become shaped in the form of peace.

Finally, when we shake a hand and say, “Peace,” we are actually imparting Christ’s peace to one another. It is as if Jesus himself is physically embracing and speaking to you and through you. Just as the bread and wine are transformed into something more than physical nourishment, our gestures and words are transformed into something more. “Peace” becomes more than a word shared between two parishioners. The words of peace spoken become the words of Christ delivered to us in the human flesh.

I started a new learning group at church this last Sunday. I called it “Worship Through the Bible.” It is a combination of biblical survey and worship study. I want to dig into the bible and discuss how it informs and shapes our worship, both personally and corporately as the church.

I opened the first class by writing “WORSHIP” on the board and inviting everyone to say what comes to mind when they hear the word. Here was the result of that discussion:

It was great dialogue and you can see some of the direction it went. I took several diversions into instructing on ideas raised (such as the fourfold model and liturgical space). I might try to record next weeks class and post it as a podcast for anyone interested.

Will Willimon on “Who gets saved?” from TWOTP.com.

One could picture the fourfold model of worship as a pattern of inhalation and exhalation. As we gather together as the people of God and then hear the Word we are taking in the breath of God. As we give thanks at the Table and are sent out into the world we exhale (share) the breath of the God with the rest of the world. I like the imagery of our worship “breathing” for three biblically rooted reasons.

First, breathing reminds us that the Holy Spirit enables everything we do, especially our worship. Genesis 1:2 tells us that in the beginning when God created heaven and earth there was a divine wind sweeping over the waters. The Holy Spirit was the divine breath that activated the words that spoke everything into being. The most ancient recorded liturgies of the church describe how the priest would breathe on the baptismal waters in blessing, recalling the Holy Spirit’s presence at creation. Just as God breathed life into Adam and Eve, the Holy Spirit breathes life into the words and actions of our confession and thanksgiving to God.

Second, every living, breathing thing was created for the purpose of praising God. Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that breathes praise God.” Every day we wake up because God graciously gives us the breath for another spin around the earth. Every breath, therefore, is an opportunity to return praise and adoration to God for who he is and what he has done. No one flawlessly seizes every available breath to praise God, and some people ignore God their whole life. But we have confidence that every breathing thing will acknowledge Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11).

Third, as believers we offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” The idea of a “living sacrifice” is an oxymoron. Something that is sacrificed is killed. In God’s original design for worship, death was synonymous with sacrifice. Something always died in a sacrifice. The paradox of a “living sacrifice” is created through the reality that in Jesus we are new creatures. Death has been defeated in Jesus, and now our worship is a living sacrifice of praise. In other words, the breath isn’t taken out of our worship. Our worship is left alive, to breathe.

Every week I get to sing songs and tell Bible stories with the kids at Faith Lutheran Day School for their chapel service. It is a highlight of my week. Here is a story I did on Isaiah 6, retold so that preschoolers can understand:

Today we are going to learn about a person from the Bible. His name was Isaiah!

Isaiah lived a long time ago, even before Jesus was born. Isaiah was a prophet. A prophet is someone who is sent by God to tell God’s people where they need to listen to God.

God had a special plan for Isaiah – he wanted to use Isaiah to tell God’s people an important message. God met Isaiah in a very special way to give him the message.

Isaiah saw God sitting up very high on a throne. God had a robe that filled up the room. Isaiah saw angels flying over God. These angels had six wings. Two of the wings covered their faces (cover faces) – two of the wings covered their feet (cover feet) – two of the wings were flapping as they flew in the air (flap wings).

The angels were talking to each other! They said – “Holy, holy, holy is God! The whole world is filled up with his glory!”

Then Isaiah heard thunder and saw smoke. Isaiah became afraid! He thought he was goner. Isaiah said, “I am not good enough to see God, but I can see him here, the King of the heavens!”

While Isaiah was still trembling in fear, one of the angels came down to talk to him. The angel had a hot piece of fire in his hands, holding it with tongs. The angel took the fire and touched Isaiah’s mouth with it. The angel said to Isaiah, “You don’t have to be afraid anymore, your sin is taken away.”

Then God spoke. God said, “I need someone to go tell my people a very important message. Who will go for me?” And Isaiah shouted, “Me! Me! Me! Here I am! Send me!” And Isaiah went and told God’s people the important message.

God wants to use us just like he used Isaiah. God has a special message that he wants everyone to hear. God wants everyone to know that Jesus loves them. And you and I can go tell people that Jesus loves them. Can you tell people that Jesus loves them? Good – lets pray:

Dear God, thank you for Isaiah, thank you for your angels, thank you for your love. Help me share, the love of Jesus, with everyone I see. Amen.

One of the things I like to do is respond to questions about worship or liturgy. I don’t claim to know everything, but I can share my two cents. During a recent conversation this question came up: what do we call the songs we sing in our services? Are they hymns, or songs, or choruses, or what?

It’s a tricky question. If you want to get technical, there are dozens of categories within the broader sacred music genre. There are chorales, gospel hymns, scripture songs, contemporary worship songs, spirituals, and doxologies, just to name a few. Even our own Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) hymnal can be perplexing. Pages 92-93 in ELW map out the pattern for worship in our context, but say that a “Gathering Song” can be either a “Hymn” or a “Psalm.” The ELW pattern also calls music during communion a “Communion Song” and music during the sending a “Sending Song.” However, the section of the hymnal that contains the music is titled “Hymns” (beginning at #239). And to add to the confusion, the “Hymns” section in ELW contains several songs that are staples in many contemporary worship services (like #857 “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High” and #821 “Shout to the Lord”)!?!

Maybe the best solution is to take it back to basics and what the Bible says about music in worship. We know in two separate occasions the Apostle Paul mentions songs in his letters. In Ephesians 5:18-20 and in Colossians 3:16 Paul says that we are to sing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” So we know for sure that there were at least three categories of songs that the earliest Christians used in their communal worship. Psalms are biblical songs from the Old Testament book by the same name, but likely included other songs (like the Song of Moses in Exodus 15 and Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2). Hymns are songs addressed to God and to Jesus as the Son of God. Possible examples of the first hymns of the Christian era are included in the New Testament (like Philippians 2:6-11 and Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55). Spiritual Songs were most likely short, extemporaneous songs that arose within individual Christian communities. These songs were probably songs of testimony, fellowship, witness, and were very reflective of the community from which they came. The songs are called “Spiritual” because of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

One thing is certain – God’s people are encouraged in Scripture to sing a variety of songs in worship. No matter what we call them, the church has been given the gift of music for the purposes of singing God’s praises.

Got a question? Leave me a comment…

Romans 12:1-2: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

“Living sacrifice” is an oxymoron. Something that is sacrificed is killed. In the Old Testament, God sets up a pattern for worship that includes taking animals and other items to an altar where they are slaughtered and burnt as a sacrifice of worship. In God’s original design for worship, death was synonymous with sacrifice. Something always died in a sacrifice. So to say “living sacrifice” would be like saying “living dead.”

The paradox of a “living sacrifice” is created through the reality that in Jesus we are new creatures. Death has been defeated in Jesus, and now our worship looks different. Our worship is still sacrificial, but now it is a living sacrifice of praise. In other words, the breath isn’t taken out of our worship. Our worship is left alive, to breathe.

Hebrews 13:15-16: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

(sketch by Luc Freymanc)

(from the August 2011 Mountain Mover Newsletter at Faith Lutheran Church)

Every time the church gathers together for worship it does God’s story. God’s story is that epic narrative that we can see unfolding throughout the Bible. When we step back and look at the big picture that the total Bible paints we can see a three-part story unfold. The three parts are creation, incarnation, and re-creation. Every time we gather for worship at Faith we do God’s story.

The story of God begins at the story of creation. God, existing as a Triune community, created human beings to participate in the community of God. Unfortunately the idyllic community didn’t last forever and corruption and evil entered the picture. But God sets in motion the plan to redeem and fix everything that went wrong. Out of the desolation of the desert the line of Abraham is established to begin the process of bringing back the peace once found in the Garden. God kick-starts the plan of redemption.

The incarnation of God is witnessed in the person of Jesus. Jesus was God’s response after centuries of being nothing more to us than what we thought God should be: angry, insecure, and the vengeance-seeking tyrant we would be if we were God. In Jesus, God’s loving desire to really be known overflowed the heavens and was made manifest among us. Jesus’ humble mission was to become the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. God comes to us and accomplishes for us what we cannot do ourselves: salvation.

Re-creation is what the Holy Spirit brings about through the work of Jesus. Re-creation is the work of salvation healing all the broken areas of our lives. Re-creation is the new life we find as people born of water and the Spirit. Re-creation is the Jesus-garment that we put on when we become new creatures. Re-creation is the power of God to redeem everyone and everything. Re-creation is a new heaven and a new earth, where sorrows find their end and Jesus is the only light we need. Re-creation is the Garden restored.

The story of God is the story that our worship does. How? Every time we lift our corporate prayers we acknowledge God as the Creator of every good and perfect gift. Every time we invoke the name of the Holy Trinity we recognize that God was before creation came to be. When we bring our gifts and offerings to God we realize that as the Creator, everything is already God’s. That is how our worship remembers creation. Every time the Word of God is read and the Gospel of peace is proclaimed we hear Jesus. Every time the bread and wine are shared at the Table God’s love is experienced anew in the community of his Body. That is how our worship remembers and experiences incarnation. Every time we prepare for the meal and hear the words “until he comes again” we anticipate the feast to come. When we share the peace we experience the reconciliation that comes from being new creatures. Every time we celebrate at the baptismal font we are connected with the death and resurrection of Jesus that brings us new life. That is how our worship experiences and anticipates re-creation. When you step through the doors on Sunday remember that we are doing God’s story!

NT Wright – video by The Work of the People.

Here is the video from Sunday’s message at Theophilus. Marcus and I had a great time “tag-teaming” the message.

We each had enough material to preach our own individual messages, so I left a couple of points out due to lack of time. Here they are:

• If you’re going to follow Jesus, you might have to follow Jesus (even to death). Is it possible that I could be killed for my faith? Or one of you? I don’t know. The point is this: If we claim to be followers of a Savior who was crucified, should we expect any different? The question is, will we allow our own crosses and our own martyrdoms to be an opportunity to imitate Jesus, his compassion and mercy?
• (Hat-Tip to Peter Rollins for this point, taken from his blog post)
  Anecdote – “One evening a guy is driving home after a long and tiring day at work and gets a call from his concerned wife, “Dear, be careful on the way home as I just heard on the news that some crazy guy has been spotted going full speed the wrong way up the freeway” The husband says, “Sorry honey, can’t talk right now… there isn’t just one crazy guy, there are hundreds of them!!!”

  This is funny, but this is the situation the Jewish mob that murders Stephen find themselves in. They don’t even consider that they may be wrong. This situation is sadly all too common. Now look at this story in your own life – put yourself in the shoes of the angry mob. How do we encounter people with different political, religious, and cultural values to our own? When we’re confronted with someone who thinks differently than us, how do we respond? Most people respond in 1 of 2 ways: (A) Consumption – attempting to neutralize the difference by changing them to our way of thinking (making them like us), or (B) Rejection – rejecting them from our group as a foreign agent that must be expelled (protecting the integrity of our group).

  But there is a better option. The better option is Communion. Communion can be described as eating with the other who thinks differently. Here the community seeks to sit down with the other and seek out places of convergence. Communion is saying there are places where we are both right, lets see where those places are, and move forward together.

  To be in Communion with someone means we put ourselves in the other’s shoes, we look at the situation through their eyes. This is an alternative type of encounter with people who are different than us. And it’s what Jesus came to show us. Jesus came to show us that there is a different way to treat people. We don’t have to change them and we don’t have to reject them. God can save us as we are, whether right or wrong.