One of the things I find myself thinking about a lot is the essence of worship. Because of the nature my job I end up asking myself, almost weekly, "wait, why are we doing this again?" There are so many stale expressions of Christian worship in the western world (and in our immediate view) that it can be the norm to find oneself far removed from the very lifeblood of worship itself, and instead trudging listlessly through the forms to which we have become most accustomed. I am sort of forced to combat this all the time.
So since I find my mind re-visiting this topic so often and searching for some conclusions so I can function normally on Sunday morning, I’m going to attempt to record some of these thoughts here in this blog. If you don’t like this idea, and would rather be mindlessly entertained, then I would direct you to Northpoint Community Church.
That's a joke. Today I was working on a Call To Worship for tomorrow’s service. This is the ‘intro’ and usually consists of a scripture exhortation and some comment by me. This is by far the hardest part of my job: to come up with some pithy, profound words for the opening of the service. Not only am I spiritually unqualified for this most of the time, but I also am not a gifted (read: entertaining) public speaker. The goals, broadly speaking, are to a) get their attention and b) point them in the direction of the service. It’s almost like I (try to) grab their shoulders, shake them, point them towards God, and then push them off.
The Bible is full of dualities. Grace/Works. Predestination/Free Will. Justice/Mercy. Last week we heard a powerful quote from Martin Luther: “Justice and Mercy kiss at the Cross.” And it’s true that these two ideas sort of sum up everything we want in our lives. They are two sides of the same coin.
So it occurred to me that we worship for a couple different reasons that correlate to this duality. We most often think of worship as a voluntary action that springs from joy or thanksgiving or wonder in our hearts. God has been good to us, so let’s sing a happy song. God helped me pay rent, so thank him. God has removed my shame, so praise him. These are responses to God’s mercy. Any believer has examples of blessings unexpected, even unsolicited, that they attribute to God’s merciful return. This worship is something we want to do.
The other trigger for worship, which is more abstract and maybe harder to effect, is God’s justice. This worship expression isn’t so much a voluntary movement as it is an involuntary reflex triggered by a glimpse of Who God is. This worship is not a result of thinking, “You know, I think I feel like singing now.” It’s like the expletive that flies off your tongue in that split second when you are sure you are going to hit the car in front of you. Like Moses and Isaiah, it’s posture of utter submission and fear that results from a real encounter with the Almighty. This worship is something like the respect we pay a cop. We don’t obey them out of gratitude for their ‘protection and service’. We obey mostly out of fear and respect. This worship is not what we want to do, it's what we must do.
I would venture to say more of us have had an ‘experience’ with the merciful God than the God of justice. I don’t know why this is. But it seems if God is both merciful and just, we should see both at some time or another. Frankly, as I prepare a service that sets up a sermon about God's justice and judgment, I have no idea how I can create this for people. Even if I list some biblical descriptors for God, it doesn't really hit home for people because it doesn't affect their lives. But I've decided to go with some passages from Job 34 because they are so powerfully written, and do such a good job of capturing God's authority.
You're right, I think. We rarely experience the involuntary worship that comes from a healthy fear. But I also think we respond with an involuntary reflex of worship when we're directly confronted by any facet of who God is. A sunset or the mountains can evoke in me just as much of an, 'I must worship' reaction as a recognition of God's justice. Maybe the more we look for God working around us, and the more we try to process all of life through that lens; the more and the 'deeper' we will experience those moments of true awe/worship?
Also, a word of encouragement. It is perhaps precisely because you do struggle to come up with a call to worship that your 'calls' are effective. People pay attention. And on Sunday mornings, you're communicating the end result of your struggle to find something meaningful to say, not the struggle itself.
Also, God DID give you a gift of communicating--through speaking, writing, music....and you know that, or you should know that. So it's pointless to worry about whether you can communicate effectively or whether you're pithy enough. Rather, it seems like if/when you're focused on seeing more of God yourself (ie finding more to worship), your communication of what you're discovering flows out naturally and that sparks worship in us.
Posted by: amy at May 10, 2004 01:01 PMThanks, amy. I hear what you say, and I do think that people hear, but it's a weird dynamic for chris and myself in that we are putting ideas out there but there's no real forum for feedback. So we're generally met with a lot of silence and it lends itself to insecurity: "did that make sense?" and "were they listening?" Mind you, i'm not complaining, just observing.
Sometimes I don't reach a 'conclusion', per se. But sunday still comes and we still have to do it. This gets into why I think sabbaticals are important, but that's another post.
And the more i think of it, the voluntary/involuntary distinction I made in this post might be imaginary.
Posted by: abe at May 11, 2004 11:22 AM