The Rev. Mark Sherwindt, Pastor
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
Pentecost 6: July 7—8, 2007
The story of the Good Samaritan, the double-love command, the Great Shema: these are all very familiar texts, each representing a particular gospel slant on the age-old biblical imperative: love the Lord and love your neighbor. The Gospel of Mark focuses on the Great Shema: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” [Mark 12: 28-34] Now that’s a whole lot of love; but the more interesting part of this equation for Mark is the proclamation that God is one. You see, Mark’s Gospel was not written with Jews in mind, but with Gentiles in Galilee. When introducing the command to love God to people who were Gentiles, it was important to underscore what the Jewish commitment to monotheism pioneered in a world comfortable with the many gods of paganism. The Great Shema heralds Israel’s distinctive contribution to the religious landscape: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one” – not many – the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, high in the heavens and right here on earth, the one God who commands our worship and praise, our love and service, to both God and neighbor.
Mark was proclaiming the Good News to Gentiles, and it was important for Mark to make sure that in confessing Jesus as Lord, they were not simply adding another name to the many names of the many gods they already acknowledged and worshiped. Matthew’s focus was on a community that was already familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, and his improvement on Mark’s version of Jesus’ love command was to change the four-fold reference to loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength to a more biblically accurate three-fold reference to loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind [Matthew 22:37], which is a quote from Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Matthew leaves the Great Shema out of it, since Jews and Christians with a Jewish background already knew that God is one; and they knew that God wasn’t all that crazy about sharing His singular spot as God with any other contenders or pretenders to the throne of heavenly glory. As we learned in Luther’s Small Catechism, God doesn’t like our placing any other gods before him, along side of him, in front of him, or in place of him. Matthew and Mark agree on this. Our God is a jealous God. Our God is one, not many.
Luke’s Gospel stays out of this long standing theological debate pitting Judeo-Christian monotheism against the many gods of cultured paganism. Luke tells a story that draws the two sides of the double-love command into a perfect fit. He takes the first and great commandment to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind and draws it so closely together with the second commandment to love our neighbor that they become as one. In other words, “Love God with all you’ve got, with everything you are, and then love your neighbor as yourself.” [Luke 10: 25-37] It is almost as if Luke is telling us to love God through serving others. But serving others is not a substitute for worshipping God. It’s an extension of it, and a necessary consequence. We can serve others without loving God. It happens all the time. But we cannot love God without serving others – even though that seems to happen all the time, too, and as was underscored in Luke’s story of the Good Samaritan with the priest and the Levite. Service is not an alternative to worship. It is not an alternative form of worship. It is a necessary consequence of the worship we offer, and, in that sense, it is proof of the truth of our worship.
I have tried to make the point for several years now that Zion cannot become the healthy congregation God intends us to be without our having a healthy commitment to worship. Worshipping the one, true God is where it all begins. Socially speaking, it is where we gather as a community, where we meet and greet visitors, where we celebrate the friendships our faith in Christ has helped to create. Religiously speaking, worship is where we place ourselves in God’s presence, asking God to lead the way, to lighten the load, and strengthen us for the journey. Theologically speaking, our knowing God begins with worship because this journey, this walk with Jesus, is all about God – who God is, what God desires, and how we get connected with the work of God’s kingdom. That’s what lasts. That’s what true. That’s the true life our young lawyer is seeking. That’s the true life that we are all seeking.
For a while now, we’ve been trying to improve what our worship services do and how we respond. 30-60-90 was the goal mentioned in our Action Plan, asking that we average thirty worshippers weekly on Saturdays, sixty worshippers weekly at the early service on Sunday, and ninety worshippers weekly at our prime time service. We’ve done very well at the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, exceeding ninety and moving toward one-hundred. We’ve formed a Praise Team, whose vocal talents are wonderfully amazing. We’ve added a nursery, and have been blessed with a great Nursery Supervisor. We offer a children’s message, which delights us all. God has blessed our efforts with good results. At the early service, we’ve featured the pipe organ, the Senior Choir, traditional liturgies, with all the bells and whistles. This early service, too, is a great service, but has not been met with the same encouraging results. The Saturday evening service is a casual alternative to Sunday morning, without all the standing and sitting and standing again. For many folks, especially visitors, it’s an easy way to check out what’s going on at Zion without changing their Sunday morning commitments. Those who attend this service certainly enjoy it; but our results still have a ways to go to experience improvement.
We have put a lot of thought and work into planning the best we can offer with our weekend worship services. But we need your help and your support. I guess what I am saying is that I’d like you to think about how we’re doing and what more we can do to move forward in our desire to strengthen what Zion does with worship. Our Worship Ministry and Witness Team have put the finishing touches on a survey we’re distributing to members of the congregation. Part of the point of this survey is to get feedback on what you think about the changes we’ve tried. But the more important point is to engage you in the challenges we face as we strive to become the healthy and vibrant congregation God intends us to be and that we desire to be.
Complete the questions for the service(s) you attend. Circle the answer that best applies.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE 10:30 A.M. WORSHIP SERVICE:
1. I enjoy the 10:30 a.m. service for the vocal leadership offered by the Praise Team.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
2. I enjoy the 10:30 a.m. service for the nursery care that is offered.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
3. I enjoy the 10:30 a.m. service for the children’s sermon that is presented.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
4. I enjoy the 10:30 a.m. service for the camaraderie we’ve built at Zion.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
5. I enjoy the 10:30 a.m. service for the grace I experience with Holy Communion.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
6. I enjoy the 10:30 a.m. service for the joy we feel with the worship we offer.
Very much No so much
5 4 3 2 1
7. I think that we can improve the 10:30 a.m. service by . . . [circle the one(s) that apply]:
a. going back to a traditional liturgy
b. changing the time to ____ 10:45 a.m., or ____ 11:00 a.m.
c. wearing traditional robes and vestments
d. managing the length of the service better
e. encouraging us to invite friends to worship more often
f. ____________________________________________
g. ____________________________________________
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE 8:00 A.M. WORSHIP SERVICE:
1. I enjoy the 8:00 a.m. service for the traditional liturgies we use.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
2. I enjoy the 8:00 a.m. service for the pipe organ we hear.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
3. I enjoy the 8:00 a.m. service for the Senior Choir’s anthem.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
4. I enjoy the 8:00 a.m. service for the camaraderie we’ve built at Zion.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
5. I enjoy the 8:00 a.m. service for the grace I experience with Holy Communion.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
6. I enjoy the 8:00 a.m. service for the ______________________________________
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
7. I think that we can improve the 8:00 a.m. service by . . . [circle the one(s) that apply]:
a. trying more contemporary music
b. changing the time to ____ 8:30 a.m., or ____ 8:45 a.m.
c. controlling the sharing of the peace better
d. managing the length of the service better
e. encouraging us to invite friends to worship more often
f. ____________________________________________
g. ____________________________________________
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE 5:00 P.M. WORSHIP SERVICE:
1. I enjoy the 5:00 p.m. service for the casual atmosphere it offers.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
2. I enjoy the 5:00 p.m. service for the alternative to Sunday morning it offers.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
3. I enjoy the 5:00 p.m. service for the camaraderie and friendship it fosters.
Very much Not so much
5 4 3 2 1
4. I think that we can improve the 5:00 p.m. service by . . . [circle the one(s) that apply]:
a. changing the time to Sunday evening
b. managing the length of the service better
c. encouraging us to invite friends to worship more often
d. ____________________________________________
e. ____________________________________________