Today, I’d like us to reflect on what an extraordinary privilege we enjoy each week as we worship together. This reflection has three inter-related privileges: the privilege of worshiping God according to our beliefs, the privilege of participating in worship and the privilege of having God among us. In the process of claiming our privilege to worship we help to build the Church at St. Paul’s.

I’m sure each of us has heard a sermon or speech that lifts up the privilege of being able to worship as we please because we live in a free country. I know that when I was growing up - in the era when people feared the godless Communists - I often heard about how the poor people in Communist countries could only worship in secret. Our freedom went even farther though, because not only could we openly worship, we had the privilege of choosing between any number of denominations or forms of worship: from the silence of a Quaker meeting, to the relative simplicity of a non-liturgical service complete with rock band and praise group, to the high drama of Orthodox worship, to the emotion laden style of a Gospel service, to the elegance of high liturgical practice in the Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran churches. Yes, we can certainly celebrate the privilege of being free to worship as we choose.

But, we celebrate how we worship together in an even more special way. We celebrate the blessings God has given us in the diversity of gifted people who contribute to our worship. From Ida May who spends hours selecting sung music that fits the lessons, to our choirs who practice and practice, to our accompanists- Bob, Doug, Vicki and Art- who put their hearts into their playing, to all the seen and unseen participants who make our worship services possible by setting up communion, cleaning, typing, ushering, etc. - many people offer their gifts in worship. We are very very blessed in this. This past week I listened to colleagues talk about the difficulties finding anyone to play for their worship services and here we are blessed with three organists, a pianist, a guitar player and various occasional musicians. Then we have all the people who assist with worship: assisting ministers, acolytes and crucifers, lectors, communion assistants, altar guild workers and others who share their gifts with us. And finally, we have members who participate from their pews in worship. All of these are ministries and gifts from God.

When the writer of Hebrews says, "Every priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins," he is in a sense talking about each of us. When Jesus came as the great high priest to offer Himself as the ultimate sacrifice, He actually abolished the priesthood as a special class and made each believer a member of the priesthood. This is why Luther refers to all the baptized as the priesthood of all believers - each of us is called in baptism to represent Christ in worship as well as in life. Obviously, we have ordained clergy to lead worship, but that is for the sake of good order, not because only one person is good enough to enter the holy of holies. And each of us has an important part to play in worship. That is why we call what we do in worship, "Liturgy". Liturgy means, "the work of the people." We all together worship God, share in this ministry of music, contribute our gift to the praise of God. Nor is the offering of our gifts limited to those who give of their time and talent to enrich our worship - as much as we need more singers, musicians, lectors and worships helper of all kinds. Those who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, or who fear their knees knocking would drown out the sound of their voices reading the lessons or who are absolutely certain they would spill the wine all over someone, those who for whatever reason choose to be hearers only, give of their gifts as well. For there is a gift in listening. Matin Marty, a prominent Lutheran theologian and writer, in his book, THE WORD, explains how a sermon is not just one-way communication whereby the preacher speaks and others listen. A sermon is interactive and the congregation members do their part of the preaching in how they listen, react and respond. The same is true for the singing of the anthem, the playing of music or the conduct of the liturgy. Furthermore, every worshiper’s contribution is important and unique.

A somewhat less than regular attendee seemed truly surprised when I told him recently that I was very aware of his absence and effected by it. Truly, the whole dynamic of worship and even our sense of who we are is deeply effected by anyone being present or absent on any given Sunday.

And I think God is effected too. Though God is certainly with each of us, wherever we are, at all times, our presence together worshiping Him in joy is profoundly meaningful to God. Otherwise, why would the command to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy be among the first and most important commandments. Beyond the Law, I think God gets every bit as much of a holy high when he sees a full church, hears heartfelt prayers and robust singing, as any pastor or church member gets.

God is indeed among us in a very special way when we worship together in joy, when together we receive Him in Word and Sacrament. This is a privilege and gift we receive from God and celebrate.

We celebrate the privilege of being able to worship together. We obey God’s command to remember Him and His day by our preaching, prayer and praise. We respond to our call to be priests to each other in our coming together. We practice our stewardship by giving of our gifts of music, service and listening as we interact with the Word. And in the process we build St. Paul’s into the church God intends it to be. Amen.