"REMEMBER THE SABBATH, TO KEEP IT HOLY"

Rev. Jim Petersen

First Congregational UCC- Great Falls, MT                                                                          

                                                    9-28-08

                         Text:  Exodus 20: 8-11; Psalm 84: 1-4, 8-10

We are two weeks past our "homecoming" Sunday, and some of you are still here.  This is way cool. But not everyone is here.  In fact, some have not even showed up yet. N­ot cool.

Please pick up your new church directories and make a phone call - to someone in your church whom you have not seen for awhile.  Don't suggest that they have not been in churc­h, for maybe they slipped in one Sunday when you were sleeping.  Just say you have not seen them and that you have missed them.  Is everything all right?

Of course, the conversation may turn to why you are still was­ting your time ­in worship, especially as they give you the list of all the cool stuff they have been doing on Sunday mornings.  Hmmm...on second thought, maybe you better not ­make that phone call.

But just in case you do, let me give you some ammo.

Why church?  Why worship?  Why Sunday morning?  Why? I just can't hold myself back.  Let me open up the fire hose.  You are here because it is...

fun, uplifting, growthful; you love God, you love God's people, you want to meet and be a part of God's family; it's a healthy habit, it's good for your soul, it's good for business; you enjoy the music, you enjoy the fare trade coffee, which is free, you enjoy the opportunity to make a difference;

you are here so your children will be here, you are here for other children, for even though your nest is empty, you know it takes a village and you want to do your part, where else do you find "tents of hope," you are here to please your parents, who still pay your  allowance, you are here because you hope it increases your odds in the football pool or in the fall hunt;

you are here because you sense life is a gift and worship is the best and most complete way you have found for responding to God's gracious gift, you are here because without the focus of worship a subtle tension and gnawing anxiety creeps into your inner being, you are here because you bear concerns, for yourself and for others, and you know it is not wise to be alone and that help is here; you are here, well, ran-anan-anana, I border on ­boring.

You add your personal reasons, but let them have it.

It is calculated that in a 70 year lifetime a person will spend: 24 years sleeping (most of those during the teen years on weekends), 14 years working, 6 years eating, 3 years in school, 3 years convalescing (mostly during the "golden" years), 4 years conversing (more for women, less for men), 5 years traveling (which includes commute time), 8 years in amusement and recreation (including television).

What about worship, you ask?  Well, if we began on the day of our birth spending 5 minutes every morning and 5 minutes each evening in devotion, and if we spent 2 hrs per week (I'm even giving you the free coff­ee time plus your commute time) every week of our life in Sunday morning church, at the end of 70 years we would have invested 15 months of our life in worship.   1 1/4 years.

But why spend this much time? Why not add another year and a quarter to television time. Why church?  Why worship? Three longer reasons why. Use them or not in your telephone call.

But do make the call.

I. Reason number one: IT IS A COMMANDMENT!

Can't beat that! Think about it.  There are only ten commandments. You've got to admit the others are pretty good - don't murder, steal, covet, commit adultery, honor thy mother and father, no Lord's name in vain. Worth keeping, don't you think?

It reminds me of the Mark Twain story about the businessman who had a somewhat shady reputatio­n.  He tells Twain, "I am going to the Holy Lands.  And once there I am going to climb to the top of Mt. Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud."

Replies Twain, "You'd do better to stay at home and keep them­."

Well, Commandment #4 is a pretty good one also:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

Did you know 3 of the big Ten relate to worship, including: #1, "Worship no other gods before me"; #2, "Make no graven image, nor bow down to any idol or worship ­it," i.e., do not pray to stones; as well as our #4, "Remember the Sabbath"? Eh? So 3 of the first 4 commandments relate to worship. 

Looking at #4 more closely, we recognize right away it is the longest of the Ten Commandments.  God knew we were going to need a lot of convincing on this one.  So it reads: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the 7th day is a  Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maid­ servant, or your ox, or your ass, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates (it is interesting the wife isn't men­tioned here as one who is not to work on the Sabbath),

"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the 7th day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."  And so shou­ld we.

Why are we to keep the Sabbath holy?

To remember the sacred story of God's Creation and to care enough to pass it on to our children...  To pause in gratitude and amazement at God's grace at work, where out of chaos God created "good," including us in God's image, we are to remember, so when it appears nothing is making sense in our lives, we have the weekly reminder that with God good can come from chaos.  So what are we whining about?

We are to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

We do so because it is a commandment. We are not commanded to go fishing on Sunday, or watch football on Sunday, or read the newspaper on Sunday, or sleep in on Sunday, or play soccer on Sunday, or mow the lawn on Sunday.  These are choices, not commandments. We are commanded to keep the Sabbath holy.

Why?  So we will have ­the manna to make it through the week. The other six days will be fortified with faith when on the seventh day we worship together "in the beauty of God's holiness," and we remember who we are and whose we are, what we are and what we are about.

II. A second reason why we worship - oh, I'm just throwing darts here, ­there are so many - IS TO BE INVOLVED IN  SOMETHING GREATER THAN OUR SELF.

What a petty, puny world this would be if we spent all our life-time eating, sleeping, working, and doing our chores.  This is what we do most of the week, and it is necessary, but it is also essential to set regular time aside to give greater expression to life.  After all, which life is going to be greater, one centered on our selves or one centered on God?

As Cardinal John Newton put it, in this morning's meditation: "To make a living, one must work;

To make a life, one must worship."

Worship is 80% praise and thanksgiving.  80%!! What a refreshing and healing gift - to spend time in praise and thanksgiving. It is restorative and transforming.

The woman asked her minister to come over that he might hear her tale of woes, as he had so many times before.  Fine, he replied, but when he arrived he pulled up a chair, pulled out his watc­h, and said, "O.K., I will listen to your troubles for 30 minutes, but first you must spend 15 minutes telling me your bless­ings."

The woman was a bit put off, but agreed to the minister's conditions.  A lovely and lengthy visit ensued, and they never did get around to her tale of woes.

Worship is to be involved in something greater than our self. It is to focus upon God, the giver and the grace of life. It is to open ourselves to being life-giving and grace-filled, in God's image.  This ought to be somewhere on our week­ly schedule.

For as J.C. Penney put it: "If a man's business requires so much   of his time that he cannot attend the services of his churc­h, then that man has more business than God intends him to have­."

III. And finally, one more dart: WORSHIP PROVIDES US WITH A SENSE OF PURPOSE AND PERSPECTIVE.

There's a lot of confusion out there. There's a lot of stress out there. There's a lot of death out there. Worship focuses us and allows us to go forth with purpose.

The story is told of James Garfield, 20th President of the U.S.,  how in the first week of his presidency a cabinet member had called for a meeting at 10 A.M. Sunday morning, requesting the President's presence to deal with an urgent national matter.

Garfield told him he would not be present as he had a prior appoint­ment.  The cabinet member was indignant and ­ demanded, "I should be interested to know with whom you could have an appoint­ment so important it cannot be broken?"

Replied the President, "I will be as frank as you are.   My engage­ment is with the Lord, to meet the Lord at His House, at His Table, at 10 A.M. tomorrow, and I shall keep the Sabbath."    The urgent national matter was dealt with on Monday.

Worship provides us with PURPOSE AND PERSPECTIVE.

The Rabbi asked his students, according to the Hasidic tale, "How can we determine the hour of dawn, when the night ends and the day begins?"

One student answered, "When from a distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep."

"No," responded the Rabbi.

A second student ventured an answer, "Is it when you can distinguish between a fig tree and a grapevine?"

"No," responded the Rabbi.

"Please tell us then," implored the students.

Answered the teacher, "It is when you have enough light to look human beings in the face and recognize them as your brothers and sisters.  Until then the darkness is still with us."

Worship provides rays of light and rays of hope as we realize who we are in relation­ship to God and who we are in relationship to one another.  Without worship we are in the dark.

Still not good enough? O.K., one more compelling reason to worship weekly.

A few years ago, Dr. George Comstock of the Dept. of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, was doing a study on heart disease in men. The study was intended to determine the relationship between drinking water and heart disease.  Other factors were measured as well, including cooking fuels, eating habits, smoking, education, wealth, work, and church attendance.

Well, you know where this is going.  Of the characteristics measured in his study, church attendance was found to have the most significant correlation to heart disease.

The study concluded the risk of fatal heart disease for men who at­tended church infrequently - not regularly - was twice as high as for those who attended faithfully.

A regular habit of worship, noted Dr. Comstock, was statistically related to reduced heart disease,

as well as to a dozen other prevalent diseases, including cancer, cirrhosis, tuberculosis and other respirato­ry ailments, as well as high blood pressure.  None of which sounds very appealing.

Subsequent studies have validated these same findings, and more.

So, bless your soul and bless you body. I'll see you next Sunday.  AMEN.