America has a great tradition of parades. There’s a nationally known parade that takes place in Canonsburg on the Fourth of July every year. Yesterday there was a large Veterans Day parade in downtown Pittsburgh. I am told it was one of the largest in the country. Soon there will be a Christmas parade, and after that the Tournament of Roses parade. Parades are popularized in America in a song entitled “I Love a Parade.” 

We don’t have parades in church—at least not very often. But we have processionals. The heritage of processionals is in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. Singers and dancers and instrumentalists led the way for the great congregation. The community sang and danced their way to the place of worship. 

I read this past week about one very unusual processional about three years ago at an Episcopal church in San Francisco. The person who wrote about it called it “holy chaos.” This is the description.

The leaders demonstrate the steps of a line dance that worshipers will use to process to their seats. Everyone practices the step. Then, books opened to the processional hymn, the singing and dancing congregation follows the candle, the cross, the rector, and worship leaders carrying colorful ceremonial umbrellas and choir members beating tambourines, ringing bells and clanging cymbals until everyone finds a seat.[i] 

Can you picture that processional? How would you like to enter worship that way today? 

At my first church in Irwin, I learned there had been a fire about 15 years before my arrival. It destroyed all but the basement of the old church. The congregation put a new roof on the basement and worshiped there while the new church was being built. On the day when they moved into the new church, the entire congregation paraded up the steps, across the street and into the new building, singing at the top of their lungs, “We are marching to Zion.” 

In a United Methodist church in an African nation, a visitor watched the service unfold. The time came for the offering. People danced their way to the front of the church with their gifts. Afterwards the visitor asked why everybody danced when they took their offering forward. He received this answer: “When we present our tribal gifts to the chief, we always dance as we bring them forward. Why should we not also do that when we bring our gifts to the King of Kings?” 

We have some legacy of processionals here in this church. The choirs process almost every Sunday morning. It is a symbol of great entry. I really enjoy being a part of the processional. As a matter of fact, I’m a little disappointed when there is no processional. 

The ushers process with the offering at the appropriate time. If any of you have ever been to the great auditorium at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, you know that there is a longstanding tradition about an ushers’ march. There are about 6000 people in that auditorium, and they have 70-75 ushers each week. On cue, after the offering has been received, they march in an intricate pattern of movement back and forth throughout the auditorium until they all have arrived at the front. 

At Communion, we process forward. Sometimes the lines are long. We move forward. We step out at the invitation of Jesus to come. The prayer hymn on Sunday morning brings scores of you forward to place a card in the basket and perhaps to pray. It becomes a symbol of your love and concern for family members or for a friend. 

One of my very favorite processionals is the one we will do today. This is the processional where you will jam the center aisles and walk forward with your pledge for calendar 2006. Every year I look forward to this great procession. I see a spark in your faces as you come forward. I see a real hope for this church on your faces. And I see a recognition of what it means to be loved by God. 

This is always a procession with deep feeling attached. Elaine and I will worship at Sunday Night and join the procession then. We want to be a part of the experience with you. We will listen to John Shaver preach his sermon. Then we will decide how much we’re going to give! 

This is the day of a great procession. Listen to this verse from our Old Testament reading in Psalm 96.

“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

Bring an offering and come into his courts.” 

Then allow that context to inform today’s text.

These things I remember, as I pour out my soul; how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. 

I find a few key words in that text which may inform what we do today. 

A SOUL-FULL EXPERIENCE 

First of all, it is a soulful experience. That means it is a deep experience. It is actually one of the deepest that I know. Deciding how much to give back to God is not trivial. This decision is a soul-stretching moment. It is a God-trusting decision. 

A minister once said to the organist in his church, “Today I’m going to ask everyone who can give an additional $400 to fix the roof to stand up. Then I want you to play something appropriate.” 

“What shall I play?” she asked. 

Replied the minister, “How about ‘The Star Spangled Banner’?” 

What we do here today is a fully spiritual event. This is not fundraising; this is faith-raising. Someone has said, “The sole purpose of an annual finance campaign is not to underwrite the coming year’s budget, but to change lives.” 

The text says, “I will pour out my soul.” That’s what God hopes will happen here. 

A THRONG OF PEOPLE 

Then the text says it is an act by a throng of people. That’s what I like about this procession. Everyone is invited. The children will come. They always come with enthusiasm. I read a story about a little girl who brought her offering to church, but then had to slip out for a moment to go to the restroom. When she came back into the sanctuary, she realized that the offering had already been received and the ushers were on their way forward with the plates. Hurriedly she ran down the aisle shouting at the top of her lungs and waving her envelope in the air, “Wait for me! Wait for me!” 

The youth choir will come too. I always encourage youth to look at the first fruits of your first job, and then start figuring out how to do responsible giving at that point. 

Singles will come. Couples and families will come. Those who are retired and those who are still working come forward. Those with growing income and those on fixed incomes will walk forward. 

One day a small boy was in church with his grandmother. The time came for the offering and the grandmother frantically searched her purse. She couldn’t find her offering envelope. Apparently she had left it at home. She kept looking throughout her purse for something to bring. Her grandson finally sensed his grandmother’s dilemma and said, “Here, Grandma, you take my quarter and I’ll hide under the seat.” 

No one hides under the seat in this place. Everyone joins in the procession. Of course, if you’re a visitor or a guest, you have no obligation to come. We understand that. You can come if you wish, but I do not want anyone here to feel awkward about not coming. 

“Everyone” means a great throng. We say together, “Here I am, Lord.” We do not say, “I’m here, Lord, but send someone else.” Rather we say, “Here I am; use me to my highest and best potential.” We do not say, “Take my life and let me be.” What we say is, “Take my life and let it be consecrated.” 

There are many good outlets for giving all over the world. You and I give here because here is where we are nourished. We give here because we know that our giving honors God. We give here because we know every dollar is used carefully. Yes, I give to a few other good causes along the way. But this is the first place that I bring my gift. 

SOME PEOPLE LEAD 

Also, the text implies that some people lead the procession. In stewardship terms this is what we call “leadership giving.” Every church has such giving. There are those in every congregation who have the call and the means to provide leadership. 

During the past year some who have been leaders in this congregation have retired or relocated. I believe that new leaders are being raised up by God. These are the persons among you who have the spiritual gift of giving. There are all kinds of spiritual gifts: teaching, music, administration, service, discernment, faith, and others. Giving is one of those gifts. 

Maybe you realize you are one of those persons with the gift of giving for the first time. For all of my 25 years here I have known those who have that gift. Some have discovered it slowly. Some have discovered they have the gift literally overnight. There are a few people in this congregation who can give as much as 1 or 2 or 3% of the total ministry and mission budget. 

Is your spiritual gift the gift of giving? Is God calling you to use that gift this year? Paul writes in one of his letters, “Whatever gifts God has given, let us use them.” 

Some of us will lead the procession. That does not necessarily mean we’re first in line, but we will be a part of the procession in a different leadership manner. 

JOY AND GLADNESS 

Finally, the procession forward is a procession of joy and gladness. I have seldom known as much joy and gladness in this church as I know right now. We have CBS and Emmaus groups and other kinds of smaller groups of all kinds. We have classes going on, with enthusiastic participants. “Wednesday Night at Church” numbers are growing each week. Health and welfare ministries are having a marvelous impact. 

This is an exciting place to be. I count it a privilege to be a part of it. A man drove into a small town for lunch one day. The town seemed very quiet, very sleepy. As the man sat in a diner eating his lunch, he turned to an obvious native of the town and said, “Say, what do people around here do for excitement?” Replied the other, “Around here people don’t get excited.” 

That’s not true at Christ Church. You are a glad people. Your staff is a glad staff team. We are privileged to work here. A member of the maintenance team said to me this past week, “Brian, I want you to know that I truly enjoy making the house of God look good.” 

There is gladness here. This is a special place here. There is a special power here. Somewhere I read this interesting statement: “Not one church in a hundred has any notion of its power.” I believe we have power here. I believe that the heart of God is glad in this place. This is a glad procession today. 

So here we are, Lord. Here I am, Lord. I shall bring an offering and come into your courts. It will be a soul-full experience. I will join the throng. Perhaps even I will be one among those who leads. And it will all be done with gladness. 

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night.