Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
June 5, 2005

Scripture:

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Our two Scripture lessons this morning reflect one of the big issues that runs all the way through both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, namely, as the prophet Micah put it in a famous passage: What does the Lord require of you? Both of our lessons give essentially the same answer: The Lord does not require sacrifice, that is, the animal sacrifice that was the central feature of Hebrew worship up until the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in the year 70 CE. Rather, God requires of us transformed lives. Hosea says God requires steadfast love. In the passage from Matthew, Jesus calls it mercy. The point in both passages is basically the same. God requires not the formalities of worship-any kind of worship-but lives and hearts transformed by God’s steadfast love and mercy for us. Going through the motions of worship isn’t what faith is about. Faith is about transformed lives, lives of steadfast love and mercy toward all of God’s children-ourselves included-and all of God’s creation. That’s what the Lord requires of us, but this morning I actually want to talk about something else.

Just now we welcomed five new friends into formal membership in our church; and so today I think it is appropriate to ask not only what God requires of us, as our Scripture passages do, but also: What does the church require of us, of each one of us, long time members and those who have just joined alike? It may surprise you to hear me ask that question, since we liberals don’t much talk about the church actually requiring anything of us. Well, get used to it. You see, this relationship between the church and its members has two sides. The members rightly have expectations of the church-inspirational worship, good fellowship, pastoral care in times of need, opportunities to learn, grow in faith, and serve God’s people. That’s as it should be, but the church has legitimate expectations of its members as well. The order for reception of members in the UCC Book of Worship, which we just used to receive Shay, Virgil, Minnie, Dianna, and Cindy into membership, doesn’t do a great job of stating the expectations that the church has of its members, but it does at least give us a starting point. As part of the service of reception into membership that order asks the candidates to commit "to participate in the life and mission of this family of god’s people, sharing regularly in the worship of God and enlisting in the work of this local church as it serves this community and the world." That’s how the Book of Worship states the church’s expectations of its members. Let’s take a closer look at what those things might mean.

The Book of Worship first asks for a general commitment "to participate in the life and mission of this family of God’s people." Then it gives two specifics of what that means. The first is "sharing regularly in the worship of God." That means: Be here on Sunday! This gathering of the people on Sunday morning is the church’s primary activity. The church is above all else a worshipping community, and both our worship and our community are lessened when any of our people are not here on Sunday morning. Especially in a small church like this one, attendance makes a difference. It makes a difference in how alive our worship feels. It makes a difference in the impression we make on visitors. So the church expects its members and friends to be here on Sunday for worship. I know, of course, that life happens. I miss an occasional Sunday myself. The point remains, however, that church membership involves a commitment to worship with our faith family as regularly as we can. That’s one legitimate expectation that the church has of all its members-and of its regular friends who aren’t formally members for that matter.

The Book of Worship then gives a second specific of what it means to "participate in the life and mission" of the church. It asks the candidates for membership to commit to "enlisting in the work of this local church as it serves this community and the world." What does that mean? Well, according to my dictionary, one meaning of "enlist" is to join and support. That’s helpful, I think. Enlisting isn’t just joining in a formal sense. It includes supporting that which you have joined. That’s another thing your church expects of you, that you support its life and work.

How do we do that? There are lots of ways. Most importantly, we support our church by praying for it. Pray for it every day. Give thanks for it. Pray for its work. Pray that it will be faithful and thrive. Beyond that, pitch in. When something needs doing, step forward and help do it as you are able. Give your church your time, your energy, your ideas, your creativity. Enlisting includes all of that. And although I’m mentioning it last, this next point is decidedly not a mere afterthought. We support our church with our money. The church may on one level be a spiritual institution with one foot in heaven, but the church is also a very human, worldly institution; and it needs money to operate. It needs money to exist. It might be nice if that weren’t true, but it is true. And so the church expects that we will support it with our money too.

And one more thing that’s particularly important for this church at this point in its life. Supporting the church means doing evangelism. I just put a big red comma on my office door that comes from the God Is Still Speaking campaign that says: "It’s All About Evangelism." Evangelism is not a dirty word. All it means is telling the good news, first of all the Good News of God’s love for all people in Christ Jesus. It also means telling the good news of the United Church of Christ and of this church in particular. We have good news to tell, good news of God’s welcome of all people, good news of a church that values knowledge and inquiry and that does not require people to check their brains at the door, good news of a loving and supportive community where all are welcome. What this church needs from us more than anything else is that we tell that good news to everyone we know, everyone we meet. That too is supporting the church, that too is what the church expects of us.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. The church expects, it does not demand. Attendance is not mandatory. There are no compulsory service hours. There are no minimum dues. We all know that each of us lives within our own life situation. We all have different abilities and different budgets. This church is for everyone. As the God Is Still Speaking campaign says, no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. Still, we have expectations. We expect all of us to support this church as we are able. We can all pray for the church. Most of us can serve on a board or help out with a project-and I know that most of you do. Thank you. Most of us can give some money, and a few of us can give more money. Again I know that most of you do. Thank you. I ask only this: Consider your commitment to this church prayerfully and well. Do what you can, relying on the grace of God. You have expectations of this church. It-we-have expectations of you, too. May none of us let the other down. Amen.