"Worship Matters" - Saints & Benches

Today’s Worship Matters is an important discussion about what we don’t do. Why does no one sit in those benches on the chancel? Why do we as pastors sit in the congregation?

        1.      If no one sits there it’s because we believe in the priesthood of all believers.

·         Over and over in the letters of the NT, the apostle Paul when writing to the different churches refers to those who belong to that church, even struggling, messed up churches, as “saints” (1 Cor. 1:2).

·         If no one sits there it’s because saints don’t sit - we all have a part to play. The Apostle Peter will refer to all Christians as priest (1 Peter 2:9) – we are all to use our gifts and participate in evangelism, formation, worship, as well as serving one another.

·         Our priesthood is not defined by power or education but shared humility. In Luke 14 Jesus told us not to seek the honored seat but to take the humble one. 

        2.      If no one sits there it’s because our faith is found in the table, font, pulpit, and cross not pastors.

·         We believe our life together in Christ is shaped not so much by good examples or even friendship but the saving act of God who feeds us, bathes us, gives us His Word, and who died and rose again so that we might walk in newness of life.

·         Saints are not fundamentally made by a godly life but by the death and life of God – we all walk the same path toward the same thing - the cross. We are a people polarized around Christ.

·         This doesn’t mean that there are NO good examples but that saints always sit here like everyone else facing those things. These are what give us our identity and our hope.

         3.      If no one sits there it’s because we don’t have to hide or pretend – all saints are broken.

·         We also acknowledge that we still struggle as saints; that our lives move between the poles of following and failing. That we are a community of sinners.

·         As we watch some come up to read, others to sing, and others to pray, we know each other’s stories (divorce, death, addiction, loss, struggle) and we remember that most saints walk with a limp, aren’t always successful, don’t have it all. That all that we do depends upon God and that all that God does involves using broken people for his glory.