This is a time for resolutions. Or at least, a time for review and reflection.  Has anything changed this past year?  How are you different?  What were some significant events that happened in 2004?   This may also be a time of planning for some important events coming up this year – graduation, vacations, a new vocation, etc.  Jan and I are working out our next vacation and coordinating our continuing education plans.

This year will be important for MAPC as it may well be a year to receive a new pastor and begin a new chapter in your church life.  In fact, we are right in the middle of planning and preparing our mission statement.  This coming Saturday and Sunday there will be opportunities to help shape the future for this church - check the bulletin for details. 

Our scripture passage speaks of change and new beginnings also.  Some scientists (astrologers) had been paying attention to special events.  Having done their research, they were checking out their findings.  According to their study, a King was to have been born in the area.  They came to see if they could locate him so they could pay their respects.

When they finally arrived at the place where the child was, they were overwhelmed with joy…knelt down and paid him homage… offered him gifts….   

This event – the birth of this child now marks the division of time for millions of people.  We, in the west, date  our  calendars  from  the birth of this child.  Year one!!   It also led to the new beginning of what was to become the Christian Tradition.

Peter Sawtell, Executive Director of Eco-Justice Ministries, observes that it is humbling news that those outside of our faith traditions may be the ones to discern most clearly what is happening and where God is at work.  It may not be the theologians or denominational executives who are aware of significant signs and portents.

Yes, we may have something to learn from these travelers from the east.  (I wonder if they were from Iran or Iraq?)  Let’s see what they might teach us.

They, first of all, model for us a key element in living!  In fact, I will go so far as to suggest it’s the most important thing we can do in 2005!  And I’m glad to see you are starting the New Year valuing their behavior as well.  When they saw the baby, they knelt down and paid him homage.  WORSHIP!  Yes, worship is the most important thing you can do in this New Year as a church and as an individual.  Let me quote from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  And I quote: Worship is at the very heart of the church’s life.  All that the church is and does is rooted in its worship.  The community of faith, gathered in response to God’s call, is formed in its worship.  Worship is the principal influence that shapes our faith, and is the most visible way we express the faith.  In worship, through Word and Sacrament, the church is sustained by the presence of Christ.  Joined in worship to the One who is the  source  of its life, the church is empowered to serve God in the world.

It continues:

…   In an age dominated by individualism and secularism, it is particularly important to embrace forms of worship that are firmly rooted in the faith and foster a strong communal sense of being united with God, with the community of faith in every time and place, and with a broken world in need of God'’ healing touch.  (Preface, page 1)

Everything else we do is empowered by our worship or lack of it!  Think of the energy created when you are overwhelmed with joy!  I remember when I passed my first certification committee to become a supervisor in Clinical Pastoral Education.  It was like passing the bar exam or getting your Ph.D.  It occurred in New York City, and I remember being so overwhelmed with joy that I literally ran down the streets in New York City for about six blocks.  It was impossible to walk!  Of course who would notice strange behavior in New York?  Or more recently I recall being overwhelmed with the beauty in South Africa and not knowing how to really capture it.  It was very invigorating… lots of energy but no where to go with it.  These are moments of worship.

You may have had moments like that yourself: perhaps the birth of a baby, or the holy union of your son or daughter.  Worship, coming face to face with the wonder of standing in the presence of the creator of the universe, takes on the magnificent and yet humbling awareness of the grandeur we encounter.

John Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the PC (USA), puts it this way:  to “get my mind around the most incredible proposition of my life, namely that I live in the presence of and somehow in communication with God…is a matter of life and death for me.

Friends, worship is putting yourself at the very core of existence – life, energy, wholeness flows from God.  And this God tells us over and over how much we are loved and how love is desired in return.  WORSHIP IS NOT PASSIVE!  It calls forth a response: singing, praying, dancing, and giving.  And at the very heart of worship – of amazement, adoration, honoring – is the recognition that all that I am, and all that I have belongs to God! 

The visiting astrologers were overwhelmed with joy… and their response was opening their treasures and giving gifts to this child, born a king.  Worship results in Stewardship – the giving of self and gifts.  That is why our stewardship campaign this past year focused on your need to give.  When we behold our God, we are overwhelmed with joy.  It causes us to respond that everything I am, after I say yes to Jesus, is an act of offering to him. 

The beginning of a new year brings with it the gift of new opportunities to commit ourselves to worship and service.  And please note: I did not say commit ourselves to worship services (although that may not be a bad idea) But we can commit ourselves to worship and service which might even be a redundant statement.  But the New Year does offer us the  excuse to begin again.  We get another chance to give ourselves fully to God.  

The question is… are we touched by joy?  Do we experience the awesomeness of our God?  Have we been filled with overflowing love?  Worship is a giving of our whole person in response to a loving, forgiving God of generous grace.  And it is a response that finds its origin not in obligation, but in joy.   At this time of year when some of us think about making resolutions for the upcoming year I would like to offer a possibility for you to consider.  One response might be that of the Shakerton Pledge that is found in your bulletin.  Please pull it out at this time. 

Such a community is richly nourished by worship.  Each of us can pour in specific content to this pledge.  As we do, remember that worship is the incredible opportunity to live in the presence of the God of the universe who calls for a loving, giving response to what we have received from the creator of us all.  May the New Year bring new ways of living fully for each of you.  God’s Best to each of you!

The Shakerton Pledge

Recognizing that the earth and the fullness thereof are a gift from our gracious God and that we are called to cherish, nurture, and provide loving stewardship for the earth’s resources; and recognizing that life itself is a gift, and a call to responsibility, joy, and celebration, I make the following declarations:

          1.       I declare myself to be a world citizen.

2.       I commit myself to lead an ecologically sound life.

3.       I commit myself to lead a life of creative simplicity and to share my personal wealth with the world’s poor.  

4.       I commit myself to join with others in reshaping institutions in order to bring about a more just global society in which each person has full access to the needed resources for physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth.

5.       I commit myself to occupational accountability and, in so doing, I will seek to avoid the creation of products which cause harm to others.

6.       I affirm the gift of my body, and commit myself to its proper nourishment and physical well-being.

7.       I commit myself to examine continually my relations with others, and to attempt to relate honestly, morally, and lovingly to those around me.

8.       I commit myself to personal renewal through prayer, meditation, and study.

9.       I commit myself to responsible participation in a community of faith.