Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Early in the Gospel according to John, Jesus imparts some new wisdom to a Samaritan woman. In response to her question regarding the ‘proper place’ to worship God, He informs her, ^23 “But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

The Samaritans and the Jews had very different opinions about how one ‘HAD’ to worship God. Those opinions solidified the numerous differences between them. Was it the argument about worship that truly separated them? Or did their cultural and economic differences fuel that disagreement about worship? Regardless of the ‘chicken and egg’ analysis, Jesus had something greater than their differences to give and to illuminate – the Spirit.

This conversation did not resolve the tension spawned by differences between all the people Jesus gathered to Himself. In fact, it has been purported that John included this incident precisely because the Early Christians were still getting hung up on their differences. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ^12 “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) Those cultural and economic differences were still pulling at the Body of Christ. As human beings, one of our temptations is fear focusing solely on difference and losing sight of the unifying power of God. Another temptation is turning worship into something done for us rather than remembering that we are…

1. worshipping God.
2. embodying the Body of Christ here on earth.
3. proclaiming the Gospel to the world and ourselves.

Worship is an extension of the Holy Spirit flowing out of us and out into the world. In a theological sense, the activity of worship binds us to Christ and to one another. Nowhere in worship is that reality  more evident than in the Sacrament of the Altar – we even call it ‘Holy Communion.’

In a practical sense, the executive committees chose to use settings each Sunday that bring together the traditions and the background of each congregation. Here are the most obvious examples you may (or may not) have noticed.

• Despite Henrytown previously having Holy Communion only once a month, all three congregations decided to include it twice a month. Mabel First began the tradition of two Sundays in a row years ago, primarily due to the work schedules at Green Lea Senior Living. Representatives from all three congregations saw wisdom in that tradition, especially with so many more employers requiring weekend hours.
• In choosing liturgical settings, we looked at the past few years of use in each congregation. MFL and Scheie had been using ELW (cranberry hymnal) Setting One for the past few years for Communion Sundays. MFL had the tradition of changing settings regularly. Scheie just purchased the ELW in summer of 2021. The only ELW liturgy Henrytown has used since acquiring it has been Setting Three. When the ELW was published, two Communion settings were carried over directly from the LBW (green hymnal) – LBW Settings One and Two became ELW Settings Three and Four. Therefore, it was decided to use Setting Three. Presumably this setting would be reasonably familiar to all three congregations.
• Scheie and MFL have been using the Service of Word in the ELW for the past few years, whereas Henrytown was unfamiliar with it. Henrytown had used the Service of the Word and Prayer in WOV (blue hymnal) for several years as an alternative to exclusive use of Setting Three. Mabel and Scheie had used portions of the Service of Word and Prayer every so often in the past. There also was some crossover here between hymnals. The ELW ‘Canticle of Thanksgiving’ was the ‘Hymn of Praise’ in the WOV service. We have been using both services – MFL and Scheie have remembered (or relearned) WOV service parts and Henrytown has been learning the unfamiliar portions of the ELW service.
• Hymns have been trickier. We are beginning a process of having representatives from each congregation go through hymns that hopefully moves us forward.

Working together as three congregations brought together by the Holy Spirit in this time and place is seen in our worship. We do drink of ‘one Spirit’ – the Holy Spirit. That Spirit brings us together as the Body of Christ regardless of denominational ties or the Holy Experiment.

We are discerning how God is calling us here and now. Despite being within a 27-mile circumference circle, each congregation is unique. This uniqueness is seen in worship, yet it is also in worship that we witness our unity. We try to do our best to ‘worship Him in spirit and truth.’ The beginning of Psalm 95 is an excellent synopsis of our motivation for worship. This is what the Spirit compels us to do in and through worship.

¹ O come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³ For the Lord is a great God
    and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
    and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
⁷ For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture
    and the sheep of his hand. (Psalm 95:1-7)

^“May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:5-6) Amen.