A Living Sacrifice

September 3, 2023 homily on Romans 12:1-2 by Pastor Galen

A Life of Worship

In Romans 12:1, Paul writes to the Christians living in Rome, saying, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship.”

In ancient Judaism, the word “sacrifice” was often used figuratively for prayer or praise. In Psalm 141:2, for example, the psalmist says, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.”

Here in his letter to the Romans, Paul is extending this metaphor out to denote not just singing and praying, but to describe a whole lifestyle marked by worship. Our daily lives—whether at work, or home, or school are to be forms of worship to God. As Eugene Peterson writes in The Message paraphrase of Romans 12:1, “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”

Worship through our Daily Activities

In this way, then, worship is not just something we do on Sunday mornings when we come together for our Sunday worship services, but it’s also what we do throughout the week, as we seek to honor God each and every moment of every day, in our daily work and activities. 

For me as a pastor, and as a husband and father, one of the ways this has played out is that when I was asked to become the pastor of this congregation, Eboni and I prayerfully considered this call together, and ultimately we felt God calling me not just to pastor this congregation, but for us as a family to move into the parsonage so that we could join in and be a part of the neighborhood and community together. Although I am the pastor, we see ourselves as being in ministry together as a family. I also see the work I do at my full-time job at a local seminary and my wife’s full-time job at the school where she works on a daily basis as acts of praise and worship and devotion to God. And we even see our kids’ schoolwork as a way they can bring honor and glory to God. When I lead our family prayer at the dinner table, I frequently pray that we would “honor and glorify God in everything we say and do.”

Worship is not just what happens on Sunday mornings

As a congregation, too, we strive to see everything we do together as a community as aspects of praise and worship to God—whether we’re coming together on the first Saturday of every month to clean our sanctuary and beautify our grounds, or feeding those who are in need at the Food Pantry that we’ve hosted here in our building for decades, or we’re visiting those who are sick or homebound.

In all of this, we see service and fellowship go hand in hand, and we see our acts of service and community as forms of praise and worship to God. The Food Pantry, for example, is coordinated by a father in our congregation, whose wife and kids, as well as his mother and grandmother, are all involved in serving! Four generations, coming together to serve alongside one another, and with volunteers from other churches and denominations in our community. How beautiful!

In recent years, the men of our congregation have started meeting for coffee at a local diner on Wednesday mornings before we head off to work, just as a place to touch base with each other and encourage one another midway the week. In our weekly gatherings, we often end up brainstorming together about solutions to issues we may be facing in our daily lives or work. 

The young adults of our congregation, too, meet biweekly for Bible study and prayer and fellowship, and this has become a safe haven for some young adults who may have otherwise struggled to find their place in the Church. One of those young adults has started cleaning on a regular basis for one of our older members who cannot make it out to church. 

And we see that not just young adults, but people of every age and stage of life have something to offer and contribute. Every week, for example, one of the members of our congregation takes printed copies of our sermons and worship bulletins to a 97-year-old church member. She in turn sends these out as mailings to our other homebound members who cannot make it out to our worship services, so that they too can stay connected and involved in our community. 

Conclusion

All of these are examples, I believe, of what it looks like for our lives to be “living sacrifices” to God. May our acts of praise and worship and service and community be holy and acceptable to God, and may all that we say and do bring honor and glory to God. 

Amen!