“O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” Psalm 95:6-7. There’s a popular song by Matt Redman called, “The Heart of Worship.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, here are the words:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’” Isaiah 6:1-3. I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear these words from Isaiah, I think of that great hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:2-3. If you were raised in a Lutheran congregation as a child, there’s a very good chance that somewhere along the way you did some memory work with Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. (Of course, the chance is probably not so good that you remember all the stuff you once had memorized – but maybe some of it is still locked away up there!!!)

“O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” Psalm 95:1-2. As a pastor friend of mine likes to say, “Worship is not a spectator sport, it is a participatory event.” That is to say, it’s not something that I come to “watch” on Sunday mornings, instead it is something that I “do.”

[Jesus says,] “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses…” Acts 1:8a. Do you remember when the phone company used the title above as their “line” to get us to make more phone calls. (Remember! I’ve got that song going through my head as I write these words!!!) The idea was that by picking up a phone and making a call, that you could make a difference in people’s lives. And that is true!

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.’” Luke 17:5-6. You probably already know that a mustard seed is not very big – about the size of a pinhead. And sometimes I feel like my faith is even smaller than that! (Do you ever feel that way?)

“We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” 1 John 4:19-21. I don’t know about you, but when I read the verses above, there is no “wiggle room” to get me off the hook of loving others. In my mind, I might be able to come up with all kinds of reasons and excuses and to why I should be able to pick and choose the people I love based upon any number of criteria that they need to meet.

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15. [Jesus said,] “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35. Ever since the beginning of time, God has put us on this planet with the call to CARE. (You just knew I would have to get a Genesis verse in here somewhere, didn’t you!) The very first job that God gave humanity was caring for the earth.