"You Prepare A Table Before Me"
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
(Psalm 23)
[1] The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
[2] He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
[3] he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.
[4] Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff--
they comfort me.
[5] You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
[6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long.
NRSV
INTRODUCTION:
Today's sermon is going to be a little different. This is Children's Sunday, a day on which we celebrate the ministry of our children. Not the ministry we do for them but their ministry to us and to the Church. Our children are a very important part of the Church. Like the youth, they ARE the future not only of the Church but of our society, our nation and our world.
Being the future of the Church, it's important that we help them understand just how important it is for them to be here. And it's important for us to teach them all about worship and what it means. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray."
So, during this morning's sermon we're going to talk about worship and what it means. You get to overhear our conversation and then I'm going to ask for your help, a little congregational participation to sort of drive one of the points home.
I. WHAT IS WORSHIP?:
Do you know how many verses there are in the Bible with the word Worship in them. From Genesis all the way to Revelation my computer prgram says there are 144 verses. Let me read a couple of them to you.
Exodus 23:25 "You shall worship the LORD your God, and I will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from among you."
1 Chron. 16:29 "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come before him. Worship the LORD in holy splendor;"
Psalm 100:2 "Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing."
Hebrews 12:28 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe;
OK, boys and girls, who can tell me what worship is? Does anybody know? (Here be open to the children and their answers. Repeat them so adults can hear. Encourage and affirm the children and their answers.)
Those are all pretty good answers. Let me tell you now what I think worship is. Worship is God's people: men and women, boys and girls, getting together to tell God how much we love God. We do that by praising God. We tell God how much we love God by singing and praying together; by reading and studying Scripture together; by telling God thank you through our tithes and offerings. Sometimes we help each other worship through different things like playing bells, singing in the choir, serving as an usher or helping serve communion. Or reading part of the service like some of you did this morning. Those are all ways to help in worship.
Sometimes there are baptisms where we welcome an adult or a child into God's family and the family of our Church. It's funny how a little bit of water can make someone belong and wash away all the sin in their life, but that's what it does. It also reminds us that God is with us all the time like Psalm 23 said.
Sometimes we serve the Lord's Supper like we're going to do today. God feeds us with bread and wine. God prepares a table for us. Through the bread and wine, God makes us stronger and hugs us closer. And God helps us be what God wants us to be.
II. THE SERMON:
A. There's another way we worship, too. For some people, especially little people, this is the hard part. You see, a big part of worship is listening. In Psalm 46:10 God says, "Be still, and know that I am God!" And in Mark 7:14 Jesus told the crowd one day, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand." And then he taught them in stories and parables.
Listening is an important part of worship. It's something we should do and something everybody should do. We should all "Be still, and know God!" One of the best times to listen is during the sermon when the preacher is preaching.
Preachers don't just stand up here and talk just because we like to talk. Though most of us do like to talk. We preach because that's what God wants us to do. We pray and read the scripture and study about what God want's us to say to the Church. And then we put together a sermon. A sermon is God using us to talk to the people of the Church. Pretty cool, huh?
God talks to us through the music and prayers and offering, too. But, in order understand what God has to say, we have to listen don't we. And we can't listen very well if there is lots of noise and other stuff going on.
B. Now comes the part where everybody gets to help. You all stay here and I'm going to go get your Moms and Dads to help with the rest of the sermon. I want to show you how hard it can be to listen when there's lots of noise. And then I want to show you what it sounds like when it's absolutely quiet.
(Divide the congregation up into sections and assign the following sounds or noisy tasks to each.)
1. Flip through the hymnal or Bible
2. Tap your foot
3. Scratch the seat
4. Whisper the words "Whisper" or "La la la la."
5. Shuffle your feet
6. Clear your throat
7. Drum your fingers on the hymnal or Bible
8. Crumple paper (have some to pass out)
(Have each group make their noise)
When one of the groups makes noise it's kind of hard to hear isn't it? I wonder what it would sound like if we all made noise at the same time? Do you want to try it? OK. Everybody make your noise until I tell you to stop.
STOP! Now listen. Isn't that quiet? Did you hear God in the silence? When we're quiet, we can listen to God in the music, in the prayers, in the offering and in the sermon. God is here with us when we worship and when we are quiet we can listen to God.
CONCLUSION:
So, let's remember to worship God with all those ways like singing and prayer but let's also remember that this is God's house and when we worship we should do so with reverence. And that's a fancy word which let's worship with quiet and respect.
This is the Word of the Lord for this day.