Loving God, you offer us life and peace through the power of your Spirit. Teach us to set our minds always on you and to be transformed in the process, that Christ might be made known through us. We ask it through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There is nothing that is small or trivial about the words that we have heard in today's second reading. It is no small thing that Paul asks of the Roman Christians, and no small thing that we are asked to do through these words of the Scriptures. In effect, we are asked to hand ourselves over - body and soul and all that is ours. We are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2). Why would we ever do such a thing?!

According to what is written just a few chapters earlier, in Romans 8, we would do this because it is a matter of life and death. We can set our minds on the flesh and live according to the flesh, which will lead us to death (Rom. 8:6-13). In other words, we can be conformed to this world and live according to those things that are valued by this world, with death as the result. On the other hand, we can set our minds on the Holy Spirit and live according to the Spirit, which will lead us to life and peace. This option is open to us because of the mercies and the love of God. This option is open to us because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This option is open to us because God's Spirit dwells within us.

These mercies lead us to worship God -- not just for a set period of time whenever it's convenient for us - but with our very lives. We worship God not just every so often on a Sunday morning, but with our bodies and souls and all that is ours. This is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ and to respond to the love of God that has been revealed to us through Christ. Yet, it does require exactly what Paul writes about - being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

According to Marva Dawn, this is part and parcel of what should be taking place every time God's people gather together for worship. I have been studying her book of late, entitled Reaching Out without Dumbing Down. In it, she includes a number of comparisons that help us to think about whether we are being conformed to this world or transformed by the renewing of our minds. Part of her contention is that if our worship services start to look exactly like what people see in the world around them, we will fail to communicate the holiness of God and the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps this little analysis of pop culture by Kenneth Myers will help us to see why this would be so.

For one thing, pop culture is individualistic rather than communal. It reflects the desires of the self rather than encouraging understanding of others. Pop culture focuses on the new rather than on the timeless and discourages reflection rather than encouraging it. Our culture gives us what we want and tells us what we already know, rather than offering us what we could not have imagined. Information and trivia are emphasized rather than knowledge and wisdom, and things are pursued casually in order to "kill time" rather than with any deliberation. Fame is celebrated rather than ability, and impatience is encouraged through instant accessibility, rather than patience being learned through training. Pop culture leaves us where it found us rather than transforming our sensibilities, and it appeals to sentimentality rather than to appropriate, proportioned emotions [Reaching Out without Dumbing Down, p. 188].

On the other hand, the gospel of Jesus Christ is most powerfully revealed in worship that is communal and leaves time for reflection and communicates timeless truths. In worship our sensibilities should be transformed as we deliberately seek the knowledge and wisdom of God. In worship we are introduced to God as both the subject and the object rather than ourselves! In worship we are taken beyond what we already know and are introduced to the God who is higher and broader and deeper than we ever could have imagined.

All of this is part of the transformation that is so desperately needed in our inward looking, sinful selves. In fact, this transformation could also be called "repentance," which means having a change of mind. This change of mind - this transformation - this setting the mind on the Spirit - are things with which I have struggled mightily of late. It is so easy to focus on other things and get dragged down by them. Yet, I have found the writings of Brother Lawrence to be very helpful in this respect. He wrote The Practice of the Presence of God, in which he tells of his own experience of learning to live every moment of every day in God's presence. What Brother Lawrence started to do was to pray constantly, about every single thing that he would do in a day, even down to the smallest details. And so he would even ask God which shoe to put on first, or which pieces of straw should be picked up, or which chore should be undertaken first, all to make him conscious of God's presence and God's will at all times. What a difference it would make for us to seek to do God's will in every single thing that we do in a day! This is being transformed by the renewing of our minds!

Now, of course, our minds do not get transformed without our behaviour following suit. We already heard about offering our whole selves to God as a living sacrifice. As Paul elaborates on what this means, he writes about using the gifts that have been given to us. He also emphasizes how every member is needed in the body of Christ - the church - and how every person's gifts are needed. In other words, there is nobody in Christ's church who can look down on others because their gifts are better!

And so, if your gift is prophecy, or proclaiming God's Word, do it according to the faith that you've been given. If your gift is serving others, or teaching others, or encouraging others, then do so! If you're able to give, then do it generously. If you have gifts of leadership or administration, then do the very best that you can. If you have compassion and can help those in need, then do it cheerfully. None of these gifts are better or worse than the others, for all are needed in the body of Christ.

Really, just look at how many different people use their gifts in order to prepare for and to conduct one worship service. The worship space gets cleaned and prepared - both inside and out. The bulletins and the Power Point get typed and set up and copied. Communion bread gets baked, and the bread and the wine get prepared and set out for communion. The hymn numbers get put up. The music gets practiced. The sermon gets written. A schedule gets made up telling us who will be ushering or reading or assisting with communion. The worship space is decorated - often with banners or artwork made by people who are right here! All of this is simply in preparation for worship!

Then, as we worship together, there are people who greet and who read and who sing and who play instruments and who serve the bread and the wine and who preach and who usher and who give offerings and who operate the projector. There are the people who teach Sunday school and who bring baking and coffee and juice and who set up and clean up for the fellowship time. There are so many different people using their gifts on an average Sunday morning that it is almost impossible to keep count of them all. And this doesn't even begin to keep count of how many are using their God-given gifts in Christ's service all week long!

All of this is part of what it means to be members of the body of Christ and learners of God. We are called to worship, and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and to offer our very selves in service that we might be Christ for others. God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ, and will work through us if we will allow it. Let us then worship God with our lives, seeking to live out God's will in every moment of every day - for the Spirit enables us to do it! Amen.

Proper 16(A) Romans 12:1-8

August 21, 2005

St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

? 2005 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved