How (not) to worship

Using the Israelite experience of bringing their first fruits to the temple as a narrative for remembering the great acts of a saving God, Phil Kniss, lead pastor of the Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA., told his congregation that the modern American church has lost this narrative in a consumer culture. "We need to restore this narrative today," he said in his sermon entitled "How (not) to worship." This larger story, he said, is all about sacrifice, about giving up of ourselves to the larger purposes of God.