BE NICE
Went to worship yesterday! Gretchen and I have done this numerous times since my leave-taking from weekly pulpit appearances. Yesterday’s service was fine. Good sermon; traditional music; mostly gray hair in the pews. It was fine but not all that inspiring. In the last few months I have been to all sizes and shapes of churches. On Palm Sunday there was little reference to Palm Sunday but there was 50+ verses of Jesus’ trial read with no dramatic energy. I heard about Windex for six minutes in a sermon on Maundy Thursday. I sang Kumbaya on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday I heard sermon that lack enthusiasm and joy (Spiritually leaving Jesus in the tomb). I have heard good sermons surrounded by dreadful music and, on other occasions, uninspiring music that matched the sermon. Having worked hard to establish a partnership with my fellow worship leaders and having pondered how each small part of the liturgy might be handled in creative ways so that even the silent moments and the reading of Scripture would be inspirational, I now realize how fortunate I was to have served in local church settings that encouraged creativity.
But this reflection is not about “how to” be creative in worship, it is rather about my fault finding when I am supposed to be worshipping the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Before and after each worship service Gretchen is into the habit of reminding me to “Be nice!” “Nice” seems like such a trivial, syrupy-sweet, shallow word. So I went to the dictionary to find how it is defined – pleasant, kind, pleasing, agreeable, respectable. Kind – love is kind!......it does not insist on its own way. I learned that somewhere. Legend – and maybe history - has it that the profound thinking German theologian, Karl Barth, when asked about the essential message of all theology responded – “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.” Maybe the essential message of Jesus with his message of welcoming strangers and loving enemies can be summed up in two words “Be nice!”
We haven’t had a whole lot of being nice in Washington and in politics in general lately. It seems that anger and rage are on the increase in everything from sports to driving behavior. It appears that our society is quick to anger and slow to listen to others who may not see it our way. Nice – love – kind – good – four letter words that might just sum up the depth of the divine mystery of faith. So, let us “Be nice” in all situations and at all times. Maybe God is trying to teach me how to learn to be nice even when I think the sermon goes nowhere and the music is a little off key.