On the busy sidewalks of New York City, one guy walks up to another guy and asks, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The other guy responds, "Practice, Man, Practice!" That old one, that non-funny one, does re-emphasize something many of us have heard all our lives: "practice makes perfect!" Whether it's an Olympic athlete, or a concert pianist, or a master carpenter, or artist, we know for certain that they got where they are by practice, lots and lots of practice. Practice makes perfect! Did you ever think of worship as practice? Worship as practice?             Thanks to a book read recently, I have been blessed by the author's premise that, "Worship is the ongoing practice of faith, and not only the practice, but the actual experience of it."

            Again, "WORSHIP IS THE PRACTICE OF FAITH AND THE EXPERIENCE OF FAITH."

            Whether worship takes place around a kitchen table or the carved marble altar of a great cathedral, worship is how the People of God practice their reliance on their Lord. Worship is how the People of God practice their reliance on God.

            "Their reliance on their Lord..."  That would be the first and the most basic thing we bring to our worship, our reliance upon God.

            Worship wouldn't make much sense, worship wouldn't be worth the time and effort, were it not for our willingness to acknowledge our reliance on God, our need for God in our lives!

            The part about worship being practice begins to make more sense now; the more we make the leap of faith and admit our need for God in our lives, the more that becomes real and tangible in our lives.

            Worship is not about groveling at the throne of God and acknowledging our utter helplessness as some people have suggested. Worship is acknowledging that having God in our lives is a matter, for us, of becoming whole, of becoming the two-dimensional persons God created us to be . . . We are material and we are spiritual, that's the way we're made.

            In our Church, the way we worship is the way Jesus Himself taught us to worship. The fact is, that it was not so much a matter of teaching us as it was commanding us:

            Jesus said:  "Do this in Remembrance of Me."

            Each Sunday, it's not the sermon that's center-stage, or the music (however grand and glorious).

            It is the Liturgy. The word "liturgy" means "the work of the people." Each week we do what we were created to do:   We pray, we listen to God's word, we confess, we make peace, we lift up our hearts, we hold out our hands, we are fed, we give thanks, and we go forth into the world.

            We practice the patterns of our life together before God, rehearsing them until they become second nature to us.

            It is no accident that our worship is called "The Holy Eucharist."  The word "Eucharist" means thanksgiving, and what could be more fitting and appropriate than to assemble each week to practice our gratitude, we who are so reliant on God. From God comes everything - life and all that goes with it.

            My Mother was very insistent about "thank-you notes." She considered them so important that I remember thinking that I might as well go ahead and write my note before I even got the gift or went to the party!  She just believed that the sincere expression of gratitude was not just proper, but totally natural and necessary.

            Our weekly worship gives us the practice we need to be truly thankful. I remember writing a sermon one time for a community Thanksgiving service. Ministers from several churches were involved, so there was not a Eucharist since that was not a part of their traditions.

            I didn't talk about the Eucharist in my sermon, but I did say that whatever our worship tradition is, we need to practice being really and truly thankful!

Being thankful takes practice!

            We get so caught up in our own importance and illusions of self-sufficiency, that pausing in the busy pace of our modern society requires a deliberate effort. . . We have to work at being thankful!

            We don't just sit and try to conjure up thankful thoughts, though. God uses material things to reach out to us.

            Sacramental worship is nothing less than the worship of God who is in our midst, present to us in bread and wine.

            In receiving this simple meal, we believe that we are being fed by God with nothing less than Himself, His strength, His light, His grace.

            This is something we practice week after week, month after month, year after year.

            It never makes us perfect, because only God is perfect. But this practicing, and practicing, and practicing makes us want to be better . . . often called "Holy."  Holy food for God's Holy People!"

            This is all possible because we have decided that this relationship with Jesus is worth working at, worth practicing.

            So, how do you get to Carnegie Hall, or to what you have come to understand God is calling you to be?

            PRACTICE, BROTHERS and SISTERS, PRACTICE!