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Worship Window
By: Greg Ofsdahl Pastor
Have you ever wondered just how it is that a worship service is put together? What do all the different parts mean? Is the liturgy flexible or set in stone? These are just some of the questions that will be answered here in this column, “Worship Window,” for the next several months in your Evangel. This month’s “Worship Window” will focus on:
Prayers, Offering & Peace
The board-game “Tribond” asks players to determine the link between three different words. For example: Black, Red, Mediterranean. Answer? They are all seas. If we try the same exercise with the three topics of this month’s Worship Window, we find that in these three parts of the worship service, something is asked of us. This is the part where we respond to God’s Word by sharing what we have been given.
During the offering, we offer from the material blessings that we have. Usually, this takes the form of money. Other times we might offer food for the food shelf or we might give quilts or other goods and often we give of our time. We offer our money, possessions and out time for the good of our neighbor in the name of Christ. One might say that our treasure is offered to God, but more specifically, our offerings are for God’s work in the world. We also remember that all that is ours, really belongs to God in the first place!
The prayers of the people, sometimes called intercessory prayers, are also offerings. They are offerings of our concern for the world. We pray for our families and friends because we love them. We pray for our world and our leaders because we care about the common good. We pray for our enemies because Jesus has told us to. Lutheran historian, Martin Marty, describes intercessory prayer as “loving the world on your knees.” We offer up our prayers, spoken and unspoken, with the hope and trust that God will hear and act.
The sharing of the peace is used on communion Sundays and is linked with the service of Holy Communion. We are commanded to make peace with our neighbor before coming to the altar. However, sharing the peace of Christ is yet one more way that we share what we have been given. In Christ, we have been given the promise that we need not fear death. We need not fear that we are outside of God’s eternal grasp. Forgiveness and eternal life are ours. We can be at peace about those things. It is THAT peace we share with each other.
Next month’s “Worship Window” will be “Holy Communion”.
In our last issue, Pastor Greg challenged every member of Redeemer, man, woman and child, to replace some needless weekly spending with $1.00 per week for God’s Kingdom. Pastor has encouraged families to do this together, beginning April 1st. Everyone will be asked to bring their containers to worship on Christmas Eve when we will collect the money. Redeemer will then give 1/2 of this money through the SE MN Synod to combat world hunger, as part of “A Synod at Table with the Hungry”, and the remaining 1/2 will be put in an account to send our youth to Bible Camp.
If you haven’t already accepted this challenge, please do so today. Simply give up a candy bar, cup of coffee, pop, or some other item each week and put that $1.00 in your family container.