Delivered on August 11, 2024.
It’s my tradition after the prayer of the day to bring a message to all of God’s children. And today I want to talk a little bit about rules. Now why do we have rules? In games so everyone is competing at the same level and to keep it fair. To keep each other safe. To keep us from hurting or taking advantage of each other. There are some rules that are spoken and agreed to – like, if we’re playing a soccer game, there’s a long list of rules that are published, written down, that everyone can read. But there’s also unwritten rules – certain rules that we just expect each other to know. Unwritten rules can change depending on who we are with, where we are, and what we’re doing. And sometimes these unwritten rules are the ones that are the hardest to learn. So let’s imagine, for a minute, we were brand new here at CLC. We can imagine the “rules” to be the bulletin. This is how worship is going to work – the songs we’re going to see – when we will be invited to stand and when we will be invited to sit down. But I wonder – what do you think are the unwritten rules we’d expect everyone to know and follow? And these rules are specific only to this church – and might not be the same if you go to a church down the road or even another Lutheran church somewhere else. Let’s make a list of those rules.
Be quiet. That’s a big one. But it’s a rule we have to be careful about. Some of us, because of our age or how we’re made, can’t be quiet all the time. Some of us prefer silence but some of us can’t be silent. So while “being quiet” might be a rule – a better rule would be all of us being flexible and intentional about helping each other worship the best we can. So maybe we can be as quiet as we can – but know that we will be who we will be. And maybe those who prefer quiet can learn to accept that noise, a baby crying, or a cough or someone getting excited isn’t a problem – it’s just a reflection of how the body of Christ is full of so many different things.
We’re going to talk about Lutheran things. We’re a Lutheran Christian community so our perspective is going to be a bit different than a Roman Catholic or Baptist church. We might not know what makes a Lutheran Christian church different – but hopefully, the longer we’re in this community, we realize how central Jesus, grace, the Cross, and the gifts of faith – the love God has for us that we can do nothing to earn – shapes our words about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.
Something will probably go wrong during worship. The audio will go out. Someone will cough. The wrong song will be printed in the bulletin. Something will always go wrong – so giving ourselves grace will go along to making this experience the most worshipful it can be.
And the community isn’t just the people here; its the people who aren’t here today or the people who are at home or at work or who are watching later. We’re always bigger than just the 30 people here.
The rules – written and unwritten – are important and ever since Jesus walked the earth and called his 12 friends together to show what the love of God looks like in the world, communities of faith have wondered what these rules of following Jesus should look like. We’ll hear a little bit in the letter Paul wrote to the community in Ephesus of how we’re supposed to value each other, assuming the best, and not letting anger, divisiveness, and our own sin get in the way of loving others. That’s one rule of how Christian communities should look and be different than the other communities we are apart of. And later on in worship, we’re going to recite – together – the “Nicene Creed” which shares what we teach, share, and how we center ourselves as followers of Jesus. A creed – is simply a statement of what we teach and share. If someone asked you what this community says about God and Jesus – reciting the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed isn’t a terrible start. I’ll talk more next week about where the Nicene Creed comes from – it’s history – and then spend the following weeks talking through different parts of it. A creed is a rule – sharing with us and with ourselves some of our thoughts about who God is, who Jesus is, what the Holy Spirit is about, and how Jesus’ presence with and among us changes all our other rules – especially our unwritten rules – so that love, hope, mercy, and forgiveness shape all we say and do.