The Mass Is What We Miss

A sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter on Acts 2:42-47

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There’s so many different varieties of Christian worship -

A mass in Mozambique with clapping and colourful robes and when people come to give their donation they dance up to the offertory plate.

A monastic service in somewhere like Mirfield or Taize. Very simple architecture. Chanting. Quiet. Solemn. Reflective.

A middle class British charismatic service at some where like KXC or HTB with soft rock music, 45 minutes of non stop singing, a congregation largely under 35 and lots arms waved in the air.

A Cathedral Eucharist with a choir singing renaissance polyphony and Mozart masses.

A small rural church with 6 ot 7 people holding their hymns ancient or modern, with the organ that’s a bit too big for the building rather drowning out their singing, but it’s their church and they are devoted to it.

Even places like St Barnabas Northolt with our unusual blend of Catholic and Charismatic.

I wonder.

I wonder what you miss about our worship from normal times?

It will be different for each one of us.

One person might miss the live music from our band.

One person might miss the taste of the bread and wine of communion.

One person might miss the familiar with it’s statues and altars and candlesticks.

One person might miss the smell of the incense.

One person might miss the hugs they receive at the peace.

One person might miss the chance to see old friends.

One person might miss saying hello to new people who turn up.

One person might miss the Easter flowers.

One person might miss the feeling of contributing that comes from doing their job on the rota.

It will be different for each one of us.

I wonder what you miss about our worship from normal times?

I wonder.

Today's reading describes the life transforming worship of the very earliest Christians. It comes from just after the day of Pentecost on Acts Chapter 2, beginning at verse 42.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

This passage comes from a time of change. It is a time of creativity. Genesis 1 tells us that God is creator and it also tells us that we are made in his image, so we are called to be creative. For the earliest Christians they had no worship pattern to look back to, so they had to create things from scratch. For us, our two thousand year old pattern of worship has been thrown into chaos by Corona Virus, so we have to reinvent it, we have to be creative too.

So as we look at these early Christians in Acts, we will see principles we can apply but will also see things that fill us with longing - they could do that, but we can’t at the moment.

The first verse - Acts 2:42 - one of my favourite verses in the whole bible - serves as a heading to the rest of the passage.

“42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. “

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching

Teaching is probably the easiest thing not to lose out on during lockdown. It is easy for example for us to provide you with a sermon each week - whether via YouTube or for those who don’t have the internet a posted copy. We can reflect together on God’s word and and how we can apply it to this strange current situation. Several of you have generously commented on how helpful you are finding this.

There a very small number of people in the congregation who when the new GDPR rules came in a couple of years back, actively decided they did not want to receive pastoral emails from St Barnabas. They may be feeling quite isolated at the moment so if you are friends with anyone who is not receiving the weekly sermon from St Barnabas, please do encourage them to sign up - its not too late for them to do so.

Teaching is the easiest thing for us not to lose out on during lockdown. Some people are working harder than ever, but some are having a bit more time, why not read some Christian books? There are so many great things out by CS Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Nicky Gumbel, Philip Yancey and so many more writers.