I was asked to preach on sunday in my church. I don't get asked very often, so when I do, I want to say something that makes sense. Since I write so much, I decided to write my sermon out as a blog, then use it to preach from. Since I wrote it out, I figured I may as well use it here for people to read. It was kind of longer than a blog post should be, so I decided to break it into a couple chunks. Here is part I.
One of my fondest memories of my grandfather was when I was a kid. I used to play church with him. We would march around the house singing from the hymnal. I would go in front carrying a hobby horse, holding it high. He would walk behind me carrying the hymnal singing what now are some of my favorite hymns. He would use some sort of cloth around his neck as a stole. That was pretty much it. Later I would celebrate communion with Necco wafers. Most of the time that was by myself. As I look back my grandfather was probably tired from marching all over the house so that was all he could do. I remember mumbling as many words from the Eucharistic prayer as I could make sense of. That part of the service was there but not all the time. As I look back on this story it tells me what I thought about church as a kid. I was probably 5 years old. What was important to me as a kid? The processional was important. Evidently the cross part of it wasn't the important part. It was a symbol for me that had some meaningful part of the service. I could substitute the cross for any item that had a stick and we could carry it. A broom would do, but the horse was better because it was something cool to look at. I saw church simplified as the processional. We sang. I didn't substitute other songs for the hymns. It had to be hymns. Hymns were all we had back then. There were no praise and worship songs so I don't know if I would have sung those songs. That part of church influenced my life so much to this day our processional songs are always hymns. To me its a rule. Another rule was the person holding the "stick" had to go first. The priest had to come in last. That was important to me as well. I obviously understood the processional carried an order of significance. There was no sermon. Pretty much my view of church consisted of marching around singing hymns.
We all have things that are important to us. Sometimes we don't acknowledge or recognize them as important, but our actions define them. When we traveled to India a couple weeks ago we noticed fences everywhere. Not complete fences. A fence made of brick only 2 or 3 bricks high surrounding a piece of property. Fences go up before the first brick is laid to build a house. Not just a few sticks to mark the property line, or some rocks laid. Bricks. Cemented together. It was explained that people had to mark their property lines to keep out squatters. Apparently bricks 12 inches high do the trick where some rocks or a wire fence tied to posts would not. When the property is finished enough to move into, the wall around the property will be finished with a proper gate. The gate often times was very ornately decorated. Opening the gate led you to a house nearly completed, but having an amazing looking front door. Entrances. This is important. As you approach someone’s home the appearance of the entrance is important.
The house always has a room to gather. Social interaction is important. Not a room to watch television, but a room to gather and talk. This is similar to Africa. I recall Kezlon, the Dean of the Cathedral in Uganda, moving into a home here in Oviedo. People had gathered couches to donate for his new home. I rode around in a U-Haul with Jon Holland and Sheryl, our Missions Pastor, to collect these donations. After collecting 3 couches and seeing the size of Kezlon's small home, we told him this was enough. He insisted on picking up the next two couches. When we got to his home, he wanted us to arrange all the couches into the living room, all against the wall. We tried to help him by selecting a few couches that would work, then moving some of the others to storage. Once again he insisted on arranging all the couches in the room all facing in toward each other. It wasn't until six months later that I made my first trip to Uganda. Upon entering the first home of a family in Uganda, I looked at Sheryl and we laughed. Every home had a room in which it was filled with mix-match couches and chairs, all facing inward. It was for people to sit and gather to talk. This was important in their culture. We got it.
One of my fondest memories of my grandfather was when I was a kid. I used to play church with him. We would march around the house singing from the hymnal. I would go in front carrying a hobby horse, holding it high. He would walk behind me carrying the hymnal singing what now are some of my favorite hymns. He would use some sort of cloth around his neck as a stole. That was pretty much it. Later I would celebrate communion with Necco wafers. Most of the time that was by myself. As I look back my grandfather was probably tired from marching all over the house so that was all he could do. I remember mumbling as many words from the Eucharistic prayer as I could make sense of. That part of the service was there but not all the time. As I look back on this story it tells me what I thought about church as a kid. I was probably 5 years old. What was important to me as a kid? The processional was important. Evidently the cross part of it wasn't the important part. It was a symbol for me that had some meaningful part of the service. I could substitute the cross for any item that had a stick and we could carry it. A broom would do, but the horse was better because it was something cool to look at. I saw church simplified as the processional. We sang. I didn't substitute other songs for the hymns. It had to be hymns. Hymns were all we had back then. There were no praise and worship songs so I don't know if I would have sung those songs. That part of church influenced my life so much to this day our processional songs are always hymns. To me its a rule. Another rule was the person holding the "stick" had to go first. The priest had to come in last. That was important to me as well. I obviously understood the processional carried an order of significance. There was no sermon. Pretty much my view of church consisted of marching around singing hymns.
The house always has a room to gather. Social interaction is important. Not a room to watch television, but a room to gather and talk. This is similar to Africa. I recall Kezlon, the Dean of the Cathedral in Uganda, moving into a home here in Oviedo. People had gathered couches to donate for his new home. I rode around in a U-Haul with Jon Holland and Sheryl, our Missions Pastor, to collect these donations. After collecting 3 couches and seeing the size of Kezlon's small home, we told him this was enough. He insisted on picking up the next two couches. When we got to his home, he wanted us to arrange all the couches into the living room, all against the wall. We tried to help him by selecting a few couches that would work, then moving some of the others to storage. Once again he insisted on arranging all the couches in the room all facing in toward each other. It wasn't until six months later that I made my first trip to Uganda. Upon entering the first home of a family in Uganda, I looked at Sheryl and we laughed. Every home had a room in which it was filled with mix-match couches and chairs, all facing inward. It was for people to sit and gather to talk. This was important in their culture. We got it.
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