Day 11 in the Wilderness- Worship Together

Last week we started our worship service with the words:
Leader: In this season, we worship remembering Jesus death in love for us and all people.
People: Lent is a time of tears.
Leader: But out of tears, joy is born- the joy of sin forgiven, hope reborn, and life restored.
People: We stand in awe of the God who brings joy out of tears, and life out of death.
Unison: Let us worship with reverence.
It is a reminder that worship is an imprtant part of our journey in the wilderness and that communal worship is a place we find the strength and wisdom to journey on.

While we were in Germany, we worshipped once at the Base Chapel (on Boy Scout Sunday) and once at St. Peter's Cathedral in Worms. You couldn't ask for two more different worship services. At the Base Chapel the service was in English, and while it was a Lutheran Style worship service we recognized every element of worship. At St. Peter's Catherdral, the worship service was a Catholic service in German and while we recognized the major elements of worship, we were at a lost to know exactly what was happening at any point. We were glad that Martin Luther translated the Bible and the worship service into the vernacular of the people. We do like knowing what's going on and what's being said.

And yet in both worship services, we felt the presence of God. In the worship service on Base it was the presence of the incarnate God finding expression through a young Eagle Scout and his brother (a Life Scout) who read the scriptures, not with perfection but with energy and enthusiasm. They read like modern day James and John, Sons of Thunder and disciples of Jesus Christ. The sanctuary was modern and modest and it was the community in which we felt the presence of Christ. At St. Peter's Catherdal in Worms, the Priest stood in the front of the church in his best vestments as the intermediary between us in the wooden pews and heaven, represented by the beautiful gold inlaid statues at the front of the sanctuary. It was absolutely beautiful and awe inspiring. The canter was note perfect even as she battled a cold. And as the priest offered the meditation, the laughter of the congregation warmed us to the words we couldn't understand. And so I read a Children's Bible to Ethan as we listened to worship in a foreign language and sensed the presence of God here in the awesome beauty of the sanctuary and the light laughter of the people of God.

It was hard to leave Germany but I thank God that the first event when I returned was the Ash Wednesday Worship service at Covenant. Even though I had to leave Stuart and Megan and our grandchildren in Germany and Joan in Little Rock, I was thankful for my faith family at Covenant. And when one is in the wilderness, it is good to worship and to realize that in one's loneliness that God is with us and the people of God support us.