The readings are Hosea 1:1-11, Colossians 3:1-11, Luke 12:13-21

Everyone carries with them things from the past. We have memories and ideas, good and bad. We carry things we are proud of, and things we are ashamed of. We carry things we would like to keep and things we know that we should really throw away. Some things we carry are useful and others are utterly useless. We call this collection “baggage”, baggage from the past. In our baggage we have the way we think about other people, our attitudes and beliefs. We carry our anger, our grief, our love and our hate. People carry a lot of stuff in their baggage. And according to the last Australian census, two thirds of the people in Australia carry a belief in God. That’s about fourteen million people, and they all carry, deep down in their hearts, a belief in God. Sometimes that belief in God is a really funny shape, but mostly it is just a lump in the bottom of their baggage, something they don’t look at too closely. They might bring it out at Christmas and Easter, but most of the time it gathers dust, and the mice make nests in it.

However, there is a great host of people who actually use their belief in God, and we find these people in church on Sunday or in the synagogue on Saturday or the mosque on Friday. This time of worship and prayer is a time to refresh our faith in God, to clean it up and make it smart. Jesus compared our faith to the beautiful clothes we put on for a wedding, and St Paul said told the church to put on Christ as if you were dressing yourself in Christ. He even compared our faith to a suit of armour, to be used in the battle against sin and the devil.

So, whenever Christians meet for worship, they take the opportunity to renew their faith in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is time to inspect our faith, to make and mend, to shake out the mice and cockroaches.

We use a coat hanger to give shape to our clothes and in the same way we use the liturgy to give shape to our faith. A long time ago, when Latin was the language of educated people, someone said, “Lex orandi, lex credendi.” This is often translated to mean, “the way we worship shapes the way we believe.” If you open Wikipedia on the internet it says that Lex orandi, lex credendi is a fundamental character of Anglicanism. Our worship gives shape to our faith in God and in the Anglican Church, our Prayer Book gives shape to our worship.

Now it is time to look at the shape of our worship, the shape of our liturgy, the shape of our Prayer Book. Today we’ll make a start and do more over the next few weeks. If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll try and include them later.

It has taken has taken two thousand years to shape our Prayer Book. It has old prayers and new ones. Some of the oldest are translated from other languages, many were written four hundred and fifty years ago, and some are very new. And everywhere you will find that our Prayer Book is based on the Bible. From the beginning, Christians have taken the words of their worship from the Bible, which is the Word of God.

Our worship starts when we come into the church. The foyer is a place of greeting and preparation, but when we enter the church it is time to concentrate on the presence of God. Many people spend some time in quiet prayer and meditation. This is really good – it means that they are ready to begin worship when the ministers enter. Some people want to have a chat before the service, this is good too, but the hall is the best place for that, so as not to disturb those who are praying, and out of respect for the church space. Remember that it is our meeting place with God. Sometimes there is quiet music playing, or the organist may play something. This is not for our entertainment; it is to help us to make our souls calm and quiet, to rest at peace on the breast of Jesus. (That refers to psalm 131 and also to the John’s gospel chapter 13, verse 23)

Now some of us have come along way to church or children to get ready, and it is not always possible to arrive on time. However, getting to church on time is important. We don’t have to start our procession at exactly 9.30am, but getting here early means that we can spend a moment in prayer before the service, and that is important. Getting here on time is a way of showing respect for God. The best reason for being here on time is because we love God.

Then the bell is rung, to let the world outside know that worship is beginning, and the ministers enter. We stand to sing God’s praises and to show respect for the ministers. We know and love the people who serve us in our worship, but we stand because we respect the ministry each one has. The crucifer carries the cross as a symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The thurifer brings incense as a symbol of the purifying power of the gospel and of our prayers which rise to heaven. The acolytes carry candles which stand for the light of Christ, coming into the world. The deacon carries the Bible which contains the Word of God, and the priest follows, wearing a stole, which shows that the priest is a servant of Christ and of Christ’s people.

When we reach the front of the church, the ministers genuflect, which means, bend the knee, because we are in the presence of God, and in Philippians 2:10 it says, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”

Next, the priest greets the congregation using the last verse of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, and our Sunday work together has begun. It is time to give shape to our faith, to restore our belief with prayer and worship, to strengthen our love of God and each other so that we can go into the world, in the power of the Spirit, to live and work to God’s praise and glory.