Scripture: Acts 16:9-15; John 14:23-29; Isaiah 40:31 Series: Easter
We worship because Jesus rose on the Lord’s day and sends the Holy Spirit—the Advocate who stirs up good trouble and transformation—calling the church to gather in a Spirit-shaped pattern (greeting, scripture, table, sending) rather than to preserve comfortable sameness.
Illustrations: music-man-trouble-river-city, wesley-tis-love-hymn, in-the-garden-hymn, jesus-freak-movement, hank-williams-johnny-cash-gospel, lydia-baptism-macedonia, pentecost-tongues-of-fire, wings-of-eagles
May 25, 2025
Trouble in River City
Acts 16:9-15
John 14:23-29
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We therefore set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us. - Acts 16:9-15
Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me. “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe. - John 14:23-29
Why does worship at Covenant look the way that it does? This is a good and important question. If you’ve been a member for a long time, you may not think much of it. If you have only been here a few times or it’s your first time, like, what on earth is going on?
A lot of the source of the question depends on what tradition you come from. If you’ve never been a part of a church, the whole thing might seem very strange. If you used to be Catholic, there’s a few things that are similar, but it feels kind of strange. If you’re Presbyterian or Lutheran, there’s a lot of things that are pretty similar. If you’re non denominational, it’s very, very different.
Each of these Christian traditions have their own liturgies or patterns of worship. And each of them are very intentional and structured. Even non-denominational or Pentecostal or evangelical worship, it’s highly structured. Every beat of the service is planned, including transitions between moments.
But really, in order to get to what we’re doing on Sunday morning here at the specific location of this particular place, we need to understand the question: why worship God in general?
If we can’t answer that question, it’s not going to matter what we do. Jesus was crucified and buried and three days later, he rose from the dead. This is why we worship. If Jesus didn’t raise from the dead, then none of it matters. We’re all just wasting our time. We may like the nostalgia of the patterns in the hymns, but ultimately it’s pointless.
In the season of resurrection, we need to start with resurrection. Jesus rising on a Sunday, which radically shifts the liturgical emphasis of the Christian faith, distinguishes Christians from Jews.
Instead of worship being about the Sabbath, worship is about the Lord’s day, the Eighth day, the day of resurrection. Yes, there are only seven days in a week, but for the early church, Easter came on the eighth day, the day of new creation. Christ was inaugurating, was beginning something new for us, for the world, for all of creation, new life is possible. It’s not just the same pattern. Over and over and over again, a new pattern has emerged. And worship is no longer just about duty, but about the connection to the Holy Spirit and to the Cross.
This is why today’s scripture from John 14, is really à propos. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.
Jesus is sending the Advocate to be with us. The word commonly translated here as Advocate is Paraklates, or paraclete. It literally means, the called to one. The one called to someone, called for a purpose, not just called. It was an ancient legal term. When someone was in trouble, they found a paraklates.
Jesus sends the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit has got a job to do. The Holy Spirit is called because we are in trouble. The Holy Spirit causes trouble, but a good kind of trouble. The trouble that shakes us out of selfish lives and opens us up to God’s love.
Worship can only exist because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is also about the presence of the Holy Spirit and about how the Holy Spirit calls us to gather together.
The Holy Spirit is mischievous. The Holy Spirit is not about the status quo or keeping things the exact same forever. There’s always people in the church who like things to be the same. There’s a comfort in sameness, but that’s not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not about sameness but about transformation, about that new creation.
I think we see that mischievousness, that wildness, in the baptism of Lydia in Macedonia. Paul is called to cross the border into a new land in order to baptize Lydia and her household. Lydia, a woman, she is seen as worthy. She is understood as made in the image of Christ. Lydia and her children are baptized. Baptism is not just for people who are older. As well, we see here in Scripture that a woman has value apart from her husband. The Holy Spirit is doing radical things 2,000 years ago. The church has so often attempted to push against that, keeping power authorities in familiar ways.
Today we’re going to focus on Sunday morning and not baptism and the rite of baptism. But I think it’s helpful to read this passage from Acts as the Holy Spirit pushing Paul to do something he wasn’t expected to do. And I think that’s how we should understand that God is pushing us through the Holy Spirit to do things we don’t expect to do, even if they follow a pattern that is familiar.
Worship was a major part of the early Methodist movement in England and across the United States as it spread. And it was patterned around singing hymns together, praying and then preaching.
It would be very similar to a lot of non denominational traditions, not with the hymns, but with the praise music. And praise music is basically what hymn singing was, except hymns were much more theologically and scripturally based.
If you look at the hymn books of the 18th and 19th century, deep theology is going on there. They are digging deeply into who God is and sharing poetically the biblical text in ways that broad groups within the population could learn and understand who God is but also our need for God. Here is the a verse from one my favorite hymns:
’Tis love! ’tis love! thou diedst for me! I hear thy whisper in my heart. The morning breaks, the shadows flee: Pure, universal love thou art; To me, to all thy passions move; Thy nature and thy name is love.
It’s in the mid 19th century that we kind of get more camp meeting hymns that have less theology and more emotion. They’re less about who God is and more about the feeling we’re trying to elicit. Think about the hymn, In the Garden.
Verse 1] G I come to the garden alone, C G While the dew is still on the roses; D G Em And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, A D D7 The Son of God discloses.
Chorus]
G D
And He walks with me and He talks with me
C D7 G
And He tells me I am His own
G B7 Em C
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
G D G
None other has ever known.
It is lovely as sentiment and melody. Worship has become about feeling. About the sentiment of being saved. It is a good thing to feel loved and protected. The connection to the Bible, though, is nonexistent. Nor is there much actual theology going on.
The Jesus Freak movement of Southern California helped to inaugurate a new worship style using the medium of a guitar led ban, though Hank Williams and Johnny Cash had already shared gospel songs with their country audience, like the song we sung earlier.
We all have different experiences with hymns and praise songs and the worship styles of different traditions.
But wherever it is, there’s a similar pattern. We have a greeting, some kind of opening with worship. We have Scripture and Scripture proclaimed the table of the Lord whenever we can share it. And then we have a sending. These are the four marks of a worship service. Again, a lot of traditions limit the times the communion table is served. Some are able to do it every week or every time they meet. But this greeting, scripture, preaching, sending follows every Christian denomination.
Covenant follows a more detailed pattern similar to a lot of Protestant churches and Catholic churches in that it was influenced by the rediscovery of this document from the early church, called the Apostolic Constitution. In the middle of the 20th century, during what was called the ecumenical movement, when churches were talking more about how much they were alike than separate, a lot of the denominations followed started following these ancient patterns more and more.
All of this, though, is because Jesus rose from the dead, because the Holy Spirit with us, because God created everything out of nothing, because we are forgiven and offered new life in Christ. This is why we worship. We are not alone. We are forgiven. We are called to new creations, building a new kingdom. Let us hear all of that: Jesus tells us to gather. The early church gathered together. They read these words, they sang hymns, they sent each other out. They had presbyters and apostles who focused on study and speaking. They had deacons who focus on service and taking communion to the homebound. The pattern of the early church is a pattern worth following because of how close they were to the time of Jesus.
So if you want to get out your bulletin, we can talk through specifically what is going on.
Prelude - Steve Wottrich Opening Hymn – What a Friend We have in Jesus #526 Welcome and Announcements Call to Worship Passing the Peace Song of Praise – Calling You, Praise Team Time for Children – Rev. Brenda Dowell Noisy Offering Offering Offertory – Steve Wottrich Doxology - #94 Dedication of the Offering Joys/Concerns Silent Prayer Prayer with the Lord’s Prayer Scripture Lesson – Acts 16:9-15 NRSV Lay Reader: Hymn - Be Thou My Vision UMH 451 Gospel Lesson – John 14:23-29 NRSV Sermon – Rev Wilson Pruitt, “Trouble in River City” Apostles’ Creed Closing Song: Brokenness Aside, Praise Team Benediction Sending Forth – I’ve Got Peace Like a River, TFWS #2145(verse 1 only) Postlude: Steve Wottrich
Any form of worship can feel stifling or stuck. Whether at a big mega church or a small country church. Most churches don’t merge styles like we do here, but each part of the service is there for a reason so that something beyond our control can enter this space.
To truly worship, we all have to let our guard down and let the spirit in. The early disciples let the spirit in at Pentecost and fires of tongues burned across the city in transformation. Paul let the spirit take him to Macedonia. May you let the spirit meet you today in worship. May you encounter your risen Lord. May you be renewed as on wings of eagles. May you run and not grow weary. May you walk and not grow faint.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.