Liturgy: Inhabiting the Story of God
Scripture and Sermon
We have gathered and responded to God’s call to worship. We have repented of our sin and been assured of forgiveness. We have approached God in prayer. Now, like Ancient Israel at Sinai, the Exiles under Ezra, and the people in the Synagogue at Nazareth, God is going to speak to us.[1] The reading and preaching of Scripture is the centrepiece of Christian worship. Into a world full of voices, God speaks. Every week we sit and listen attentively as one member of our congregation has the privilege of reading God’s word aloud and then it is preached. It might be a piece of biblical narrative, or poetry, or a letter in the New Testament, but all Scripture tells God’s story of salvation.
There is so much to say about reading and preaching the Bible but here I want to focus on how the rhythm of hearing Scripture read and preached each week in the Sunday worship service forms us into the people God wants us to be—and it’s about stories.
We all love to listen to a good story, whatever our age, stage, culture or background—whether it’s a family anecdote around the dinner table, a great sporting triumph told by a friend, or a novel written by someone we’ve never met. But what really makes a great story is that it doesn’t only capture our imaginations but shapes them, showing us where to find beauty, meaning, or love.
The Scriptures contain the one true story of the world and of humanity—told by the one true author, God himself. Week by week, as we listen to the Scriptures and hear them preached, we are immersing ourselves in the story of the Bible, and we become part of its world: The Scriptures function as the script of the worshipping community, the story that narrates the identity of the people of God... and the fuel of the Christian imagination.
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Immersing ourselves in the story of the Bible, we start to interpret the world through its lens. We see that nature is not an accident but rather shouts and sings the glory of God. We see that the problems in our world are not primarily caused by our environment or social conditioning but by the sinful hearts of human beings. We see that the solution to our problems is not a program or a policy but a person, Jesus Christ. We see that progress is not ultimately found in economic prosperity, job satisfaction, personal freedom or higher life expectancy, but in the kingdom of God coming on earth as it is in heaven. Our imaginations and desires are reoriented to True North.
The main character in the one true story is Jesus Christ. The whole narrative of the Bible anticipates the coming of Christ and then flows from it and looks forward to his coming again. As we hear it read and preached each week we are trained to see Christ as the central character of all creation, and to give him the thanks, worship and glory he deserves, while listening to his voice. We begin that response as we thank him for speaking to us:
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.