A Call to Worship from the 11th Sunday after Pentecost

If you are part of my generation or older, you may have unconsciously dressed up this morning before coming to church.  That is one of the habits that we learned as part of our Christian journey.  But what else have we picked up along the way that affects how we should look and act when we enter this sanctuary every Sunday morning?  Each Sunday I ask myself  Why am I here?  What do I expect to find in this gathering?  What am I obligated to give as a participant in this assembly?

Just like putting on a good set of clothes to come to church, I can fall into the habit of putting on my good appearance of Russell Rohloff.  I can come into the presence of God and sit in the pews next to you pretending that my life is all put together just right.  I can sing songs expressing that ideal picture of God and my relationship with him, I can lift up my hands and smile, I can pray prayers that are all structured around the way I would hope things are and none of you would know that what is inside of me is any different from what is outside....but I would know, and so would the God I claim to worship.

I know that I can put on a nice set of clothes and a smiling face, but it does not fully cover the brokenness that is in my life, it does not make all of the hard times I faced this week trying to keep my head above water as my finances go south go away, or make me forget about facing one more disappointment from friends or family or coworkers.  A nice set of clothes can dress up but can’t hide the failures and doubts and fears that hide just under this tie.

So why are we here this morning?  Well, I hope each of us discovers the reason throughout this morning, but one thing I know is that there are two or more of us gathered here in the name of Jesus and He has promised to be here among and with us, and that whatever we may have brought into this sanctuary under our Sunday clothes, He has declared that He will be to us a merciful deliverer full of forgiveness and grace and love, and that He will never, ever let us fall from His hand.  And that is as good a reason as any to begin what we do this Sunday in His Name.