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FOREWORD

There is a real sense in which the community of Jesus gathers to worship God and then scatters to witness to the God we worship, in the world. Genuine worship is not a way of escape but way of deeper engagement in the world. That is one of the messages of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament and why Cup of Salvation is such an incredible gift to the Church in our time and age.

One might argue that Hebrews is an extended meditation on the power of the worship of God to impact our lives for the good, and through us, to impact the world for the good. The entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews, in the poetic meter of a preacher, calls the roll of biblical people whose lives of lived faithfulness to God and God’s way of love changed the world for the better, pushing it closer to God’s dream for us and all creation. But before telling of these people, the writer declares that the faithful and authentic worship of God is the way that leads to faithful lives that witness and make a difference in the world. The writer says it this way:

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24–25)

Commenting on this passage pastor and theologian Brian McLaren writes:

We meet together to encourage one another and “to provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). In other words, when the community of faith gathers, its purpose is to equip its members for a life of love and good deeds when the community scatters.¹

Canon Beth Ely tells the story of our faith, the story of our way of worship, the story of baptized disciples in our Episcopal tradition serving one another in order that we might serve the world in Jesus’ Name. She tells the story in the spirit of that old Gospel song of Fannie Crosby. “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” The book, frankly, sings more as it reads. It teaches. It preaches. It prays to the One we worship and in whose Name we dare to witness and strive to serve. This is, in the spirit of Hebrews 10:24, a provocative book. It is a book that I pray will provoke us to a way of worship that leads us to witness in the world in the Name of Jesus.

“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.…”

— Michael B. Curry

Bishop of North Carolina

1. Brian McLaren, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 113.