We gather in praise of a God who is supremely worthy to be praised. We come at His bidding, not because we are uniquely qualified to do so, but because He is uniquely qualified to call us. In worship we are reminded continuously of the grace and goodness of God, and we are moved to thank Him because of His kindness toward us. It is our privilege to join together in gratitude to the One who has given us life and love. Therefore let us, with confidence, worship God.

Sometimes we seem to need a break. Life conspires against us, we feel, and we are forced to make moral choices which are neither easy nor clear. And the break we desire may or may not come. In such circumstances, we may think we are isolated and alone. But God goes with us, every step of the meandering way. Therefore, to be strengthened for the circuitous journey, let us, with confidence, worship God.

On Halloween night 503 years ago, Martin Luther took what he thought would be merely a minor academic exercise by tacking his 95 Theses to a church door. He was in for a major surprise. Since then, the Church of Jesus Christ has engaged in a continuous program of reformation, re-thinking what it does and why it does it. Today we gather in worship of the God who inspired Luther to take his action, as we ourselves seek to join the ongoing company of reformers. Let us therefore, with confidence, worship God.

What is God’s truest nature? Is He fundamentally wrathful, or is He loving? Is He kind, or is he perpetually stern? There is no uniformity in the answers in scripture to those questions, but there is an overriding proclamation which is repeated again and again by different people in different ways. God is a God of love, it is declared throughout the entire Bible. Let us therefore, with confidence, worship the always-loving Creator of the universe.

When we gather for worship, we do so as Christians, but also as American Christians. When other Christians in other nations worship, they do so as citizens of their own countries. Nevertheless, the God we worship is a God of all peoples, of the entire ever-expanding universe. It behooves us objectively to try to see the biggest picture possible, rather than simply an American picture or a Christian picture. Therefore let us, with an expanding confidence, worship God.

We gather in worship of God who, it has long been claimed, is everywhere. He is in the beauty of the sunrise, in the ever-ready smile of a year-old baby, in the unexpected kindness of people toward friends and acquaintances. He is also in tragedies and accidents and warfare, in sorrow and sadness and pain. There is nothing we can experience from which God is ever absent. Therefore let us, with confidence, worship the God of divine omnipresence.

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.” So wrote the American poet James Russell Lowell at the time of the Mexican War. The decision of voters is made much more difficult now because we are bombarded by so many contradictory opinions coming from the candidates. We need both the guidance of God and personal discipline as we struggle to determine what truly is happening around us. Therefore, looking to God for wisdom, let us with confidence worship God.

Daily we seem to be confronted by news stories about various illustrations of evil actions. Atrocities of war are reported; parents do terrible things to their children; vicious crimes are committed against hapless victims. In the painful uncertainties that emerge because of such situations, we wonder where God is, and how these tragedies are allowed to occur. Today we address the origin of evil, seeking insight and wisdom from God about this persistent problem. Let us therefore with open hearts and searching minds worship God.

Once again we gather as a pilgrim congregation who have gone from location to location through the years until we now are living up to our congregation’s actual name. In these surroundings may we sense God’s spirit as fully as in any of our other previous homes. In a time of growing worldwide uncertainty, we seek the certainty of sensing the presence of Almighty God. Therefore, let us with renewed confidence in a new place, worship God.

On a holiday weekend we remember the date on which our country declared its independence from its mother country. We thank God for the existence of the United States of America, for its history, and for its place in the world today. On this day we, along with every other congregation in Christendom, gather in unfamiliar circumstances because of a worldwide plague. Let us, with challenged convictions because of all the unique factors currently facing us, worship God.

We live in a world of common and conflicting cultural values. Christians agree with the world on many issues, and we disagree on other issues. Nevertheless, all people are God’s people, and we who are Christians celebrate that truth which has persisted as long as there have been people on the earth. Each Sunday we gather together, seeking God’s guidance on how to be His people in a cosmopolitan and complex world. Therefore let us, with confidence, worship God.

Worship is praise and prayer. It is the hearing of God’s word and our response to it. It is a means of lifting us from the cares and concerns of an often troubling and befuddling world into the very presence of God. It is a means of thinking about who God is and who we are in relationship to Him. Worship is one of the best ways, but by no means the only way, of strengthening our understanding of and commitment to God. Therefore let us, with bold confidence, worship God.

People of faith vary enormously in the strength or weakness of their faith, but all are integral parts of the faith community. Blest indeed are the ties that bind our hearts in Christian love. When we worship, we do so as people who need one another to grow in grace and to deepen our commitment to God and to one another. Therefore let us, with the confidence we have been given as members of the faith community of Christians, worship God.

The hymn declares, “All beautiful the march of days/ As seasons come and go/ The Hand that shaped the rose hath wrought/ The crystal of the snow.” Snow we won’t see, we trust, but a seasonal change we certainly are seeing, although not much, and a new year as well. In all the events of our days and years and decades, God goes with us each step of the way. On this particular day we join together to go with God. Therefore let us, with the confident hopes and aspirations of another good new year, worship God.

The old year speeds swiftly to its close, and the prospects and hopes of a new year await us in a few days. As the psalmist and Mr. Browning declared in their poems, our times are in God’s hands. We gather in worship of the God who ultimately created all of us, sustains all of us, and promises to go with all us into the future, as He has been with us through every moment in the past. Therefore let us, with a new year’s confidence, worship God.

The day is coming which brings joy to the hearts of young children, frivolity to teenagers and young adults, and rumination and contemplation to older people. Christmas is upon us, the time when we hear again of God’s inestimable love for us in the birth of a baby who becomes God’s primary messenger. Today we gather in hopes that we will again hear and respond to his message, in order to be renewed and revived in faith. Therefore let us, with Christmas confidence, worship God.

Advent is a time of preparation. We prepare ourselves once again to hail the birth of a baby who shall grow up to become a prophet, priest, and king. When we praise God for sending Jesus Christ into the world, by implication we are re-dedicating ourselves to appropriate the teachings of Jesus into our own lives. Thus Advent and Christmas become a time of renewal for all who call themselves Christians. Therefore let us with confidence worship God!

Religious people often are strongly opposed to the positions and opinions of one another. They quarrel and argue and debate. Thus it was for Jesus with the people with whom he was in constant tension. But he maintained his ideas and his integrity until the end, and the end was his cruel death upon a cross. How devoted are we to following this man whose views were often so radically different from our own? When we gather for worship, we seek God’s guidance to become better disciples. Therefore let us, with Advent confidence, worship God.

Today is the first of the four Sundays of Advent. The word Advent, from Latin, means “Coming.” In this season of the year we prepare once again for the coming into the world of Jesus, whom Christians recognize as the Christ, God’s Messiah. Having survived what retailers and newscasters call Black Friday, we look forward to Christmas, the celebration of the greatest of gifts. As we begin this annual process, may we join together in the worship of the God of Israel, who once again ignites the light of the world.