Yesterday I shared an illustrated message called Portraits of Worship. You can listen to it here or subscribe to the podcast here. Jesus' passion week gives us some unique snapshots of worship. I contrasted one unfinished portrait with three profound portraits.
The unfinished portrait was the energetic, hyped up crowd that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with shouts of Hosanna. They had the noise and emotion, but that's because they had an incomplete perspective of Jesus. They were miracle seekers, lining the streets to see if the next "Lazarus" was about to happen. They were the "what have you done for me lately" fans of the 2008 Detroit Tigers who not so long ago were booing instead of cheering.
The problem with their concert of praise: it was conditional.
But this verse offers three finished portraits. At the cross of Jesus was Mary his mother, Mary's sister, and Mary Magdalene. I shared their stories, answering the question, "What brought them to the cross?"
Mary was there because she was a mother. Her story teaches us that worshp is relationship.
Mary's sister Salome was there because she was learning to drink the cup. You might remember her? Married to Zebedee? Two boys? Wanted them to sit on thrones with Jesus in the kingdom? Her story teaches us that worship is sacrifice.
Mary Magdalene was there because she used to have seven demons until Jesus set her free. It's a good story for those of us religious types who tend to let our love grow dim by taking salvation for granted. And it's a story that teaches us that worship is gratitude.
We ended the service with an extended response time of worship and prayer. To facilitate response we set up three prayer stations. The "relationship station" included notecards for people to write to friends or family members with whom they were experiencing a broken relationship. The "sacrifice station" included the opportunity for self-serve communion. And the "gratitude station" had blank thank-you notes for worshippers to express appreciation to Jesus for grace.
So cool to see every station filled with people. I loved the musical expression of worship, but something felt right about these other expressions.
The writing...
The remembering...
The confessing...
The forgiving...
The apologizing...
The appreciating...
It looked like worship.