Cannot Be Shaken

“The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came a-tumblin’ down.” If these few sentences have now triggered an earworm you can’t get out of your head, you’re welcome! I loved this song growing up. I loved the hand motions and the tune but also came to love this image of building a house—a home—on the rock. As I grew in life and faith, I started to recognize that this song (and the parable it is based on) centers around a foundational assumption: the rains will come. Or, as in the case of our text from Hebrews this week, the rains, the fires, the shaking, the darkness and the gloom are all going to come. The question is, have you found your home in the Rock that cannot be shaken?

So, what if worship planning this week is not about answering a “have you” question but a “how will you” question; that is, “How will you—how will we—build our home in the unshakeable Rock, the Triune God? How is worship part of building that home together?” Week by week, we gather to sing, pray, and proclaim our praise of God and the good news of the gospel as a community. How might you help your congregation connect that the work of worship is also the work of building home together in Christ?

Certainly, one approach is to choose songs and prayers that resonate with the identity of your community. If your church loves the “old hymns,” sing “ ”My Hope Is Built” (United Methodist Hymnal, 368) or “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds” (United Methodist Hymnal, 557). If your community prefers newer hymns, consider singing “Welcome” (Worship and Song, 3152) or “When God Restored Our Common Life” (The Faith We Sing, 2182). If you like to incorporate secular music with sacred themes into your service, you might want to sing “Find Your People” by Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors or “Crowded Table” by The Highwomen. There are many ways to sing the identity of your community while also living deeply into the unique character of your congregation.

That said, the Hebrews text is also a “stretching” text. It challenges us to face the realities and uncertainties of this world while also living deeply into the mystery of the Triune God whom we worship and in whom we make our home. How do we build our home in and with God, who is an all-consuming fire? Perhaps it requires us to pray prophetically—to confess our complicity with injustices in the world, to name the forces in our world that work against abundant life for all, to ask God with fear and trembling to push us into building the kingdom of God in places that resist rather than embrace God’s dream for creation. Perhaps God’s all-consuming fire also calls us to listen to voices that are often marginalized. Who in your community doesn’t get to tell their story? How might you incorporate their voices in proclamation and/or response to God’s good news in worship? Because all of our voices, all of our stories are necessary for building home in God, even as God uses our voices and stories to refine the church, forming us to become God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.