Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on 18th March 2007, Fourth Sunday in Lent, by Rev. Kwok Nai Wang. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 146 and II Corinthians 5:11-21


“Come to me, you will live” pleaded Yahweh through an 8th Century BCE prophet, Amos (5:6). The reality is that ever since the beginning of time, human beings desired and decided to turn away from God. That is why in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which literally means the Beginnings or the origins, there were four stories of human fall, namely, “Adam and Eve” in chapter3; “Cain and Abel” in chapter 4; “The Flood” in chapters 6-9 and “The Tower of Babel” in chapter 11, after the two accounts of God’s creation (cf. Genesis 1:1-2:4a the “P” account and 2:4b-25 the “J” account). All these four stories of human sin have one thing in common, human beings are not satisfied to be human beings. They or rather we do not want to be obedient to God. We want to challenge God and want to play God ourselves. In worship, we consciously or intentionally “go to the Lord”, alluded Amos (5:4). According to the pietists, “Go to the Lord” implies that we come nearer to God and that we are dearer to God.

Indeed in worship, we are in communion with God. In this communion, it is much more than we adore God and praise God, though these are essential elements in worship. Worship is not merely a one-way traffic: we to God. Worship is a two-way traffic: we to God; and God to us as well. For instance, in our three-act worship: The first act is Confession. In confession, we confess to God all our short-comings as well as the human frailty. The second act is the reception of God’s Word. God’s Word comes to us through the reading of the Bible and the listening of the sermon. The third act is offertory. We offer ourselves to God for God’s service and the service of God’s total creation.

Moreover, in each of the three acts, the same two-way traffic between God and human beings applied.

For example in the Confession act. God through the priest or minister calls us to confess. Then we confess to God all our apostasies and unfaithfulness to God. This is to be followed by the absolution or God’s forgiveness and the words of comfort. Likewise in the second act of hearing the Word of God, it is preceded by our preparation in opening not only our minds, but also our hearts to God and to be followed by our statement of faith by reciting the Creed. In the third act of offertory, we listen to the concerns of the church or the demands of God. We answer God’s call by intercessions and particularly by once again dedicate our life to God. This is to be followed by God’s commission and blessings to us.

So worship is our dialogue with God. Through this dialogue we, the Church, reforms and refocus our life and work. We become clearer about God’s will in the world and God’s demand on us. The mission of the Church or our mission becomes the Missio Dei or God’s Mission.

Central to God’s Mission is God’s Salvation to all of humanity. God calls us to witness to God’s love and justice, especially through service and in fellowship with those in need.

The Church does not only have a mission of witness (Marturia), service (diakonia) and fellowship (koinonia); the whole church is a mission. Church and mission exist together. Just as there is no fire without burning; a church does not exist without a mission.

In worship, we do not only seek God’s will, but also seek God’s empowerment to carry out God’s will.

In worship, we become clearer about the directions of the mission of our church. In confession, we understand that not only we but also all human beings are alienated from God, separated from one another and above all from our own self. Our life is full of brokenness. So the mission of the church, our mission, is to try to connect people to one another and especially to God. For indeed this is the core of the Gospel of Reconciliation; and this is the task God has given to the church. Let me quote Apostle Paul: “God reconciled us to himself through Christ and He gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (II Cor 5:18).

The Word of God demands us, the Church, to correct the human pride and selfishness. People always want to get more than they deserve. Is this the major cause of dessertification and deforestration? Our excessive and careless use of natural resources as well as our excessive and careless emission of carbon dioxide are the major causes of climate change and global warming, which in turn bring forth endless natural disasters causing tremendous human pain and suffering. Our indifference and silence of allowing the powerful to gain what they do not really deserve is the fundamental cause of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. We, the Church, need to correct all this so that this world may become a better place for all people, especially the future generations, to live and enjoy.

The Act of Offertory not only consolidates our will to be in line of God’s will; but especially strengthen us so that we have the wisdom, courage and power to carry out God’s will to connect people wherever they may be; to correct the many forms of injustices in this world as well as to consolidate or to strengthen the weak and the faint-hearted.

Worship drives us to change our mindset: from indifference to concern; so that we can heed God’s demand on us.

When we worship, we should always remember that we are not doing it for ourselves. But rather, we represent the whole Church to worship God. The Church has the responsibility to care for God’s entire creation. It is only in worshipping God that full humanity, i.e. human beings in full communion with God is preserved.

This kind of representational act has a long history even in the Old Testament times. For example, Job was a rich and righteous person. One day he lost everything: his home, his kins as well as all his possessions. In God’s servant as depicted in the fourth servant song as found in Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12, he also suffered. Let me read part of this song,

“Many people were shocked when they saw him; he was so disfigured that he hardly looked human.
“He endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne.
“All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God.
“But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did.
“We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.
“All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going our own way.
“But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved.
“The Lord says, it was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness.
“My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them….”

Jeremiah, considered to be the prophet of the prophets also suffered immensely. As he asked his secretary Baruch to write down, “Yahweh has further added grief to my troubles” (c.f. Jer. Ch. 45).

Job, God’s servant as depicted is II Isaiah as well as Jeremiah suffered. Yet they did not suffer because of any wrongs they had committed, invoking God’s punishment on them. As a matter of fact they suffered because they decided to bear the sufferings and pains of many people. As a noted Old Testament scholar H. Wheeler Robinson in his book published in 1955 entitled “The Cross in the Old Testament” rightly pointed out, these servants of God represented the people who ought to be punished and suffered. In other words, on behalf of the suffering people, these God’s servants suffered. God uses this “vicarious suffering” as a vital means of salvation. Indeed this was what God himself did. Through incarnation, God in Jesus Christ was put on a cross, the symbol of utter humiliation, pain and suffering. Because of this, Jesus Christ was able to save the humankind from total disorientation. This was what Apostle Paul said,

“through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through the son’s death on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.” (Col. 1:20)

This idea of representational or vicarious act was further elaborated by Paul in his letter to the Romans. In Romans 5:12-21, he used the Second Adam (or Adam and Christ) as an illustration. According to Paul, Adam rebelled against God by eating “the fruit of the tree which gives knowledge of everything” and which God specifically forbade him to eat (c.f. Gen 2:17). This act of disobedience was not only the origin of human pride and disobedience to God; but also it symbolizes or represents the human nature which is in all of us. For like Adam, we are all prone to put ourselves first and God last in all our deliberations and decisions. We very seldom honour God and God’s commandments. But on the other hand, Jesus was utterly obedient to God, and as Paul’s letter to the Philippines stated: Jesus was obedient even unto death, and death on a cross (c.f. the most famous Christological Hymn as found in Phil. 2:6-11). Because of this act of absolute obedience to God, Jesus was able to restore full humanity which Adam dissipated or lost.

So whenever we come to worship, we are making a decision to take on the responsibility to represent all Christians, and the whole universal Church, and indeed the whole humankind to worship God. This perhaps is the most important task of the Church, especially of Kowloon Union Church. Furthermore, in coming to worship, we must decide to take on the responsibility to care and to intercede on behalf of all the suffering people in the world.

Worship provides directions for the mission of the Church. It directs all of us to become like Jesus, to be the vicars of our sisters and brothers, and to bear the burden of the whole world which is in calamitous need.

Let us pray.

Holy God, you care for every person and everything you have created. Help us turn back to you so that we may be strong and serve you and your creation. (c.f. Is. 30:15). Amen.