Thursday, September 27, 2018

The Path of Discipleship - Worship Together and Worship Alone


Most of the time when we are talking about worship in the church, we are talking about communal worship, especially the gathering on Sunday morning.  In my Lutheran tradition this gathering will be a service that includes scripture, song, preaching (or some form of interpretation of the Word) and Holy Communion.  This is a pattern of worship around which people have gathered for centuries.

                There are many other forms of communal worship, some more focused on preaching, some more focused on silence, some more focused on prayer.  Whatever the format of group worship, there is something different about worshiping in a group than worshiping alone.  There is something important about gathering together and turning as a body to pay attention to God, pray to God and praise God.  Over the years, I have had many people tell that they don’t need to go to church because they can worship God on their own.  I am sometimes skeptical that this individual worship life is actually happening, but more than that, I am sad because they are missing the gift that is worship in community.

                As a pastor, one of the greatest gifts I receive is the opportunity to serve communion to the community; to place bread that is Jesus in outstretched hands; to say to each person, “The body of Christ, given for you.”  I get to bless each individual in that gathering.  It is a powerful moment of individual connection that happens in the context of the community.  In the background there is the motion of people coming forward or going back to their seats.  Some sit in silent prayer as they wait to come forward or reflect on what happened.  Some support the moment with song.  Then we stand together for the final words of blessing, “The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace.”

                To say that communal worship is different is not to say that individual worship is wrong or unimportant.  There is nothing wrong with encountering God in nature and being moved to praise.  The next time you go to watch a sunset or stargaze, take a copy of Psalm 19 and read it out loud, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims its maker’s handiwork.”  Try different physical positions of prayer.  Stand up and say the Lord’s Prayer with your arms to the side and palms up in the ancient orans position.  If you have a yoga mat (and some flexibility) try praying in a kneeling position of supplication.  If you have a favorite hymn, sing it as you go for a walk.  Simply to walk and observe all the little things that are happening around you is a brilliant form of worship.  All of these practices can help draw the worshiper closer to the presence of God.

                Both communal worship and personal worship deepen your relationship with God.  Any time that you allow yourself to be open and honest before God; any time you are moved to praise in awe and wonder; any time you pay attention to the story of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection, you are at worship and you are participating in the depth that is God at work.  Such encounters should not be relegated to single hour on Sunday morning.  At the same time, in a culture that celebrates individuality, we need the gift of community, being together in worship, reminded that all are welcome and all are equal in the eyes of God.  May all your worship strengthen your faith and deepen your life.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

The Path of Discipleship - Worship as a Centering Moment


Those who know me know that I have found great comfort and depth in silent contemplation as a way of worship.  In addition to daily times of meditation, I also try to take part in meditation with a local Soto Zen Buddhist community.  In Zen practice, the focus is about learning to be present right here and now.  We learn to sit silently and observe what is happening in our own minds without getting swept away, pulled down the current of consciousness by an especially important or interesting or disturbing thought.  Instead we watch the important thought arise and subside, always followed by another thought and another.  Unlike what I understood about meditation before practicing, Zen meditation is not the practice of clearing the mind, but observing and recognizing that you are not your thoughts, that your thoughts are one of many things that are arising in this present moment.

                My understanding of Christian worship and theology has been affected by my experience of contemplation and meditation.  In contemplative Christianity, the point of prayer is to step outside of day to day reality and recognize the abiding presence of God that is constant, that supports and surrounds your day to day life.  As we wait in silence, we become aware that the search for God need not take us far, for God is immediately with us.  The distractions of the day, the important thoughts and tasks and errands, keep us from full awareness of that divine presence.  The more we spend time intentionally slowing things down and paying attention, the easier it becomes over time to rediscover and connect to our God who is always near.

                Part of Jesus’ ministry and his many calls to “Keep awake!” is pointing to God.  He points to lilies in the field and birds of the air and says, “God is there.”  He points to himself and says, “God is here.”  He points to the cross and says, “God is here.”  He point to the church, alive in the Holy Spirit, and says, “God is there.”

                Our worship is an opportunity to pay attention to God.  God doesn’t need our praise and will continue to be great if another “Alleluia!” is never spoken.  God doesn’t need our offerings, as God is already infinite, already owning what we are offering.  God doesn’t need our prayers, as God already knows the depths of our hearts and minds.  We praise, we make offerings and we pray as ways to turn ourselves toward God, to reconnect to God’s divine and loving presence.

                Worship is a moment to center ourselves.  If life is a stream flowing around us, sometimes raging around us, God is the solid bottom of that stream.  God is the place where we can stand even when raging waters threaten to pull us away.  Worship is a time to center ourselves on that solid ground, to plant our feet, to put our weight over our heels and settle into that solid ground. 
               
                Then we will go out and the waters of life will continue to flow by, sometime babbling sweetly; sometimes roaring dangerously; sometimes strong enough to knock us off balance.  And again we can turn toward God in prayer and turn toward God in worship and rediscover the solid place to stand.  When we worship we can be centered on God who gives us the stability and strength to continue.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

The Path of Discipleship - Worship as Protest


                In 1999, the Christian theologian and author, Marva Dawn published a book entitled A Royal Waste of Time.  It was book that looked at emerging trends in worship as well as providing social commentary on worship and the Church.  Her title came from a common critique of worship given by folks who are not part of worshiping communities.  Worship is a waste of time.  Microsoft founder Bill Gates once said, Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.

                Dawn’s response was not to argue.  To the rest of the world, worship is a waste of time.  We gather together and accomplish nothing much.  Yet by adding the adjective, “royal” she was pointing out that worship is a different kind of losing time than watching funny YouTube videos.  From a Christian perspective we are not losing time so much as offering it back to God.  God has given us every second, every breath, and we choose to gather together to offer some of those seconds and breaths back to God in love, in hope and in celebration.

                Building on ideas previously written about the nature of Sabbath practice, we do not worship because it gets something done, but because, like God, it is good and beautiful.  In worship, we intentionally center ourselves in the divine, taking time to notice the One whose presence is constant and whose love is eternal. 

                In this way, worship becomes a form of protest.  As we go about our regular days, we receive messages that tell of our inadequacies, that our bodies are too flabby, that our teeth are too yellow, that our lives are not enough.  We hear messages of the need for productivity and making things happen.  We hear all sorts of messages that call us to be acquisitive, being more by getting more:  more stuff or more likes or more sex.  In worship we turn away, if only for an hour.  We say, “No” to productivity and waste time in the love of God.  We say, “No” to acquisition, and give of our resources and our time.  Most importantly, we say “No” to our imagined inadequacies and celebrate a God who receives us and loves us as we are.

                In the Gospel of Mark, the idea of repentance is not so much about changing your ways but changing how you look at the world.  Good worship is an opportunity to see how things could be and, at the end of things, will be.  We talk of the Eucharist as “a foretaste of the feast to come.”  We are sampling eternity together, an eternity shaped by compassion, abundance and kindness.

                Then we turn around and go out the door back into the world that tries to shame us as not good enough.   Hopefully we go out a little stronger and a little more convinced that the eternity we have sampled in worship is the real world, the real vision, the real place for hope.  Hopefully we go out a little more empowered to share that vision of compassion and kindness, love and abundance, with the world around us through our words and actions.  Hopefully we go out a little more prepared to stand in loving protest of messages of hate, division and greed.

                Sometimes we will stumble and forget the reality revealed in worship.  We will rediscover those inadequacies and pick them up (after all, we have carried them for such a long time).  Yet there will be another Sunday; another sample of eternity; another royal waste of time to lay such burdens down.  We will stand before God in praise and thanks and adoration, and once again God will nourish us with teaching and peace and nourishment.  God will send us once again with renewed vision and good news to share.


Thursday, September 6, 2018

The Path of Discipleship - On Worship


You wake up on Sunday and you come to a community of faith.  Maybe it is a traditional church building with a steeple on top designed for the specific purpose of worship and ministry.  Maybe it is a more modern worship space with stage lights and projection screens; a storefront in the city, just a large room with chairs and an overhead projector; a park or camp, where the outdoor space becomes worship space; in someone’s living room, where a small community gathers in simple worship.

                What happens in worship?  In many communities you might be handed a bulletin that serves as an instruction manual for the time.  You could point at the list of events from prelude to postlude and say, “Here is what happens.”  Yet I have been to communities where the order is less formal.  Songs are sung until it feels right to stop.  Preaching is a shared action, a discussion with a smaller group.  That is also worship.

                At a basic level, communal worship is an intentional turning toward God.  We carve out a time and place to be together and agree to dedicate that time and place to the living God.  Note that at this base level, I am not talking about praise or thanks because, while these are elements of most worship services, they may not be elements of all.  A funeral service for a child is a worship service but one that might ask for songs of lament rather than songs of praise.  Worship in the context of protest may call for songs and prayers of justice. 

                In many and various ways and styles and moods, we are turned toward God.  We listen to God speaking in scripture, preaching and discussion.  We speak to God in prayer.  We sing to God, often in praise, thanks and adoration.  We stand before the table and are fed, receiving Christ in bread and wine.  Through these actions we are reminded of the constant nature of God’s presence.  We are reminded that although we may pick and choose the times when we pay attention to God, God is constantly and lovingly aware of us.

                This is the grace of worship.  We may come to worship with the attitude that we are doing this action to please God only to discover that God is already pleased.  We may come to worship wanting to show our love for Jesus only to encounter the overwhelming love of Christ that is already present.  We come to do something for God and we encounter what God is doing for us, implanting us in the story of the good news.

                 Worship becomes an act of faithfulness, both a sign of our faith in God, but a reminder of God’s faithfulness toward us.  Worship is the opportunity to connect to this reality before we go out into a world where God’s presence is not always clear and God’s love in not always celebrated.  We are surrounded by the love of God in worship, and we respond with love, both in the act of worship itself and the acts of service that follow in our daily lives, sharing love with the world. 

                The measurement of true, faithful and good worship is not a matter of style or the feelings evoked as much as we like to talk about such things.  The measurement of faithful worship is how we meet God once we have entered and what sort of people we are when we leave.  It is fine if worship makes you feel happy or feel good about yourself for having done it.  It is faithful if worship sends you to live and share the good news in word and action.