I have shared with you before some of the television viewing habits of the Broyles household. I think I may have even shared with you that one of the current, regularly viewed shows these days is The Big Bang Theory. That may surprise some of you. And, I will say, there are absolutely things I don’t like about the show, but I can also say that about many of the shows currently on television. That being said, I find Big Bang both entertaining and funny, something I can’t say I find in many of the comedy shows on television today.
The show is about a group of three physicists, Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj and their engineer friend Howard. Penny, Amy and Bernadette, their love interests are also central characters to the show. Sheldon and Leonard are roommates. To say Sheldon is a bit of an eccentric would be a major understatement. Sheldon says he doesn’t like people, but he also isn’t afraid to use them if it pleases him. At one point in the series he and Leonard are having a conversation about having company over. Sheldon didn’t want any company because he doesn’t like being around people. He said, “Frankly Leonard, if I could afford the rent, I would ask you to leave.”
On the season finale a couple of years ago, Howard and Bernadette got married. The other five central characters each had speaking parts in the ceremony. When it was his turn Sheldon said, “Howard, Bernadette, the need to find another human being to share one’s life with has always puzzled me. Maybe it’s because I’m so interesting all by myself. With that being said, ma you find as much happiness with each other as I find on my own.”
Being the quintessential extravert, I have a hard time understanding that. I love people. I love being around people. I enjoy conversations. That doesn’t mean I can’t function when I am by myself, but generally I want to be around other people. It is where I get my energy. Being by myself can be draining. I want to have people around me far more than I want to be alone.
For the most part, I believe I am in the right profession. There are times I have to be by myself. Writing sermons is a great deal easier when I can do so without having a lot of people around. But, I also enjoy visiting with people in the office or many of the settings I find myself in during the course of a week.
This morning we are continuing our series we began last week. The title of the series is iVow, sort of a play on all the “i” gadgets and technology in our world today. But, it is also because we are looking at the things we vowed when we became members of the United Methodist Church in general and this congregation in particular. We are looking at our promises, what I vowed to this congregation.
When people join the United Methodist Church, we promise to uphold the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. Last week we began with prayer. Today we continue by talking about presence. Next Sunday we will move on to service, followed by witness, and then we will conclude the series with gifts.
What does it mean to support our congregation with our presence? There is an obvious answer. And, on the commitment cards for this week, the obvious answer is central to this particular commitment. When we think of presence, the obvious answer is, we commit to support our congregation by being present here in worship. It is the most important aspect of our presence.
Worship is the most important thing this or any congregation, of any denomination should do. It is the only thing the church does that cannot and is not replicated by some other part of society. Worship is more than important. Our worship marks who we are as people of faith. It is central. Quite simply, it is what makes a church, a church.
We study in other places. We can serve the community, the world, and even God in other places. We will discuss that in greater detail next week. Our presence in both, does help us to honor our vow of presence, however, it is far from central. Corporate worship, of everything we can do, that one thing gives the church meaning and purpose. It makes us who we are.
Our society, if opinion polls are to be believed, believes overwhelmingly in God. As a people, we claim to be Christians, though people who identify themselves as “none of the above” are rapidly gaining ground. Still, belief, faith, as measurable statistics say we have never been more Christian that we are now. Yet church attendance across the country, in far more congregations than not, yet church attendance is decreasing, not increasing. That does not hold true across every congregation. There are those who are increasing, but there are also many, many more that are decreasing, particularly among mainline congregations such as our own United Methodist Church. We are far from honoring our membership vow of presence in its most obvious way.
“But preacher, I can worship God just as easily and just as good in my front porch sitting in my rocking chair.” You can substitute porch and rocking chair with any number of other things. Two of the most common are, “out on the lake in my boat” and “out in the woods on my deer stand.” I am far from convinced of that idea’s truthfulness. First of all, when we are doing those things, and there is nothing wrong with those things, we are first and foremost focused on the other things and at best we are second focused on God. Second, real worship doesn’t happen so much in what we do when we are by ourselves. Real worship, faith-filled and faithful worship happens when we gather together as the Body of Christ.
Each week, when we come together, we worship together, we study together, we serve together, we fellowship together and more. What we do, we do together.
My all-time favorite television commercial, I don’t like most commercials but I love this one, was on the air 17 years ago. It was a commercial for Cotton Inc. It began with the faces of young children centered in the shot. They showed one face at a time. There were Anglo faces, Asian faces, African-American faces, Hispanic faces and more. Slowly the camera pulled back and showed all these children holding hands as they crossed a busy city street. Then a narrator’s voice said, “We never really get anywhere unless we get there together.” The plain-simple truth is, we need each other, and that too is presence. That is part of the vow we have taken. Over the past twenty or so years, I have become more and more aware of the important role we play in each other’s lives.
If you would have ever gone to Cindy’s office before we moved to Diboll and looked at the back of her office door you would have seen an 8 ½ x 11 piece of paper with a large capital letter “R” right in the middle of the page. Underneath the “R” it says, “It’s all about relationships.” There with it was a picture of Captain Picard of Star Trek the Next Generation fame, pointing a finger and saying, “Engage.” Her point was, we all need to engage in relationships.
For those who love to tell me they can worship God just as easily wherever as in church I say, we don’t come to Church just for worship. Yes, worship is central but we also come together, to be together, to support each other. We come together to be in relationship with God and each other. We come together to be present in each other’s lives.
The story is told of a pastor who heard one of his parishioners was going around telling anyone who would listen he would no longer attend church services. As part of his spiel he told his listeners the familiar and well-worn argument that he could communicate with God just as easily sitting out on the front porch in his rocking chair. One winter evening the pastor called this reluctant church member and asked that he come by the parsonage for a visit. The two men sat together in front of the fireplace making small talk but both seemed to be avoiding the issue of church attendance like the plague. After a while, the pastor took the tongs from his rack of fireplace tools and pulled a single coal from the fire. He placed the glowing ember on the hearth. As the two watched in silence, the coal quickly ceased burning and turned an ashen gray, while the other coals in the fire continued to burn brightly. The pastor’s silent message was not lost on the man. After a long pause, he turned to the pastor and said, “I’ll be back at services starting next Sunday.
We do need each other. Without the support and presence of each other in our lives we cease to be the church and the other elements of our membership vows become pointless. We come together. We lend our presence to the worship of God, but almost as important, we lend our presence to each other, truly making us together the Church of Jesus Christ.
Today is week two of our annual stewardship campaign. As we focus each week on a different part of the membership vows of the United Methodist Church, we are asking you to make a commitment with more than just a “yes” or an “I will.” Last week you were asked to make a commitment to prayer. If you haven’t done that yet, there are still prayer commitment cards around and I hope you will make that commitment today. Supporting the church with our prayers is important.
This week you should have gotten a letter from our music director. When it comes to worship attendance, and other things too, you won’t find many people who are much more faithful than Nita. She joins me in asking you to make a commitment to presence. In with Nita’s letter you should have found a commitment card. The card simply asks how many weeks you will commit to be here in worship next year and how many weeks you will covenant to be present in worship somewhere and whatever other presence commitment you might want to make.
The commitment is just that, a good faith commitment. No one is going to go back and check to see if you honored your commitment. No one is going to go pointing fingers if you don’t make as many weeks as you planned. Things happen. This is simply an effort to get us, the Body of Christ, to look seriously at and to work hard to honor our vow of presence. If you forgot the card sent to you in the mail, there should be one in your worship bulletin this morning. We also have extras in the foyer if you need them. You will also find a basket in the foyer where you can drop off your commitment cards. We will take those cards and post them on the windows in the foyer. If you don’t want your card posted just note on it “private” and we will not post it.
I will support my church with my presence. When we do that, we honor God and we build relationships with each other. God and neighbor. Jesus said something about that. It also sounds like church to me.
