SUNDAY SERMON: True worshippers look up to the Father
Years ago, A friend asked me what religion I belonged to. I told him I was a Christian. He said, “One of those that prays with his hands in the air or his knees on the ground?”
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What you need to know:
- I do not mean to imply that we can ignore posture, especially when we gather to pray in church on Sundays. Instead, the idea is to focus on a reality we tend to overlook.
- We can even ask ourselves: “When I was in church today, did I open my heart to God like a child speaking to his father, her father?”
- The great secret of Christian worship lies there. We need to listen to the words of St Paul and allow ourselves to be guided by grace: “The spirit you have received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again. It is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out: ‘Abba, Father!’”
Years ago, A friend asked me what religion I belonged to. I told him I was a Christian. He said, “One of those that prays with his hands in the air or his knees on the ground?”
Some ancient works of art show Christians praying with arms outstretched, like Moses on the mountain and Jesus on the cross. Some show them kneeling, like the mother of James and John when she asked Jesus: “Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom.”
I explained this to my friend. He pressed the point: “I still want to know which kind of Christian you are. Hands in the air or knees on the ground?” The question reminded me of that conversation Jesus had with a Samaritan woman, next to Jacob’s well in Sychar. She wanted to know: “Are we supposed to worship God in the temple built by the people of Israel in the Northern Kingdom on Mount Gerizim? Or does God want us to worship him on Mount Zion in the temple of Jerusalem?” Instead of coming down on one side or the other, Jesus talked about a new way of worship: “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming, when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” Jesus changes the focus from place to person. Perhaps you never noticed it when you read these words in St John’s gospel. But look at the way our Lord describes a new way of worship where we call God our “Father”.
Still addressing the woman, Jesus goes on to say: “The hour will come – in fact, it is already here – when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. That is the kind of worshipper the Father wants.” So, in three sentences, Jesus uses the word “father” three times. Then, speaking about the need to worship, he finally uses the word “God”, making it clear that the Creator of heaven and earth is truly our Father.
By quoting this passage, I do not mean to imply that we can ignore posture, especially when we gather to pray in church on Sundays. Instead, the idea is to focus on a reality we tend to overlook. We can even ask ourselves: “When I was in church today, did I open my heart to God like a child speaking to his father, her father?”
The great secret of Christian worship lies there. We need to listen to the words of St Paul and allow ourselves to be guided by grace: “The spirit you have received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again. It is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out: ‘Abba, Father!’”
