Spiritual Disciplines- Worship
It is appropriate that today is also the feast of the Reign of Christ. This is the end of the church’s year. At the height of the church year, after we move through all the seasons, after we retell the story of Christ and his disciples, we reach this Sunday. This Sunday declares that Christ is King. As we read in Revelation 1:5, Jesus is the “ruler of the kings of the earth”. And all through our Gospel reading Jesus declares that he is a king and he has a kingdom. He is our king and we are his people. It is only appropriate that we are a worshiping people.
Worship is expressing the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God through words, music, rituals, and adoration. Through worship we enter into an encounter with God. Worship can be done individually and as a group. As Christians we should practice both.
We worship individually as we express our love and thanks to God. We can do that before we even take the covers of when we get up in the morning. We can worship as we drive our car. We can open ourselves up to God’s presence as we walk our dog. God might give us a gentle nudge to say something or do something as we maintain ongoing worship throughout our day. In pretty much any situation we can lift our hearts to God as we express our love and devotion. Our individual practice of worship will lead us into corporate worship.
As a part of our individual worship we can prepare for Corporate worship. We pray Saturday evening that we will be ready to worship. We pray for those leading worship. We pray for the congregation that will gather. We come a bit early and we pray for those who come through the doors, that any barriers to true worship would be removed and that they would feel God’s grace rest on them. We thank God for noisy children- for the abundant life God has put in them. As people speak and laugh around us we thank God for friendship, and joy in the Body of Christ. When someone coughs we have an opportunity to pray for their health. In our mind we see God present with the congregation.
As a group, we worship using a liturgy, which is a pattern of worship. “Liturgy” comes from the Greek word “leitourgía”, which means “work of the people”. It is something we do together. Worship isn’t something done by the priest, or the musician alone, which is then observed by everyone. The job of the priest, the musician, those who do the Prayers of the People, all of it is to lead the congregation in worship of God. We sing, we give our attention to the prayers and the readings, so that we can participate in the worship of God.
In corporate worship the audience isn’t the congregation. The audience is God. The Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard speaks about this. The priest, in a sense, is the director, and the congregation are actors in a great drama. We are all performing for God. Each of us has a part to play in this. Kierkegaard says,
“In the theater, the play is staged before an audience who are called theatergoers; but at the devotional address, God himself is present. In the most earnest sense God is the critical theatergoer, who looks on to see how the lines are spoken and how they are listened to.”
God is the audience. We are a part of the divine play through our words, through our “Amen!”, through our singing, through our attention to the readings, etc.
It’s not that our desires regarding worship don’t matter, but they aren’t primary. What we want to do is worship in a way that is worthy of God. We want to offer our best. We want to worship in a way that is consistent with God’s people, but which is also meaningful for who we are. However, our tastes are not the primary factor when we consider how we worship. And in our consumer culture we shouldn’t underestimate how powerfully we feel the need to be a consumer who has choices. It is quite counter-cultural, or even offensive, to suggest that our desires aren’t primary. I know an Orthodox priest who had someone come up to him after the service and say, “I didn’t enjoy that service”. He responded by saying, “That’s okay. It wasn’t for you”. That’s what Kierkegaard was trying to say. Worship is not about us. It is us “performing” for an audience of one, the holy Trinity.
Now we should find some connection to God in worship, but if we don’t experience that we should first ask ourselves how we prepared for worship. Did we offer ourselves to God in worship? Did we contemplate God’s greatness and love? Do we have a sense of serving God in worship? … Or, are we only seeking personal inspiration? …
Again we should have some personal response to worship, but that isn’t primary. I love the story about how Russia became Christian. Prince Vladmir wanted a religion to unify his empire so he sent out a group to investigate the different religions. One group, went to attend a service at the Hagia Sophia cathedral in Constantinople, they reported:
It’s not that our desires regarding worship don’t matter, but they aren’t primary. What we want to do is worship in a way that is worthy of God. We want to offer our best. We want to worship in a way that is consistent with God’s people, but which is also meaningful for who we are. However, our tastes are not the primary factor when we consider how we worship. And in our consumer culture we shouldn’t underestimate how powerfully we feel the need to be a consumer who has choices. It is quite counter-cultural, or even offensive, to suggest that our desires aren’t primary. I know an Orthodox priest who had someone come up to him after the service and say, “I didn’t enjoy that service”. He responded by saying, “That’s okay. It wasn’t for you”. That’s what Kierkegaard was trying to say. Worship is not about us. It is us “performing” for an audience of one, the holy Trinity.
Now we should find some connection to God in worship, but if we don’t experience that we should first ask ourselves how we prepared for worship. Did we offer ourselves to God in worship? Did we contemplate God’s greatness and love? Do we have a sense of serving God in worship? … Or, are we only seeking personal inspiration? …
Again we should have some personal response to worship, but that isn’t primary. I love the story about how Russia became Christian. Prince Vladmir wanted a religion to unify his empire so he sent out a group to investigate the different religions. One group, went to attend a service at the Hagia Sophia cathedral in Constantinople, they reported:
“And we went into the Greek lands, and we were led into a place where they serve their God, and we did not know where we were, on heaven or on earth; and do not know how to tell about this. All we know is that God lives there with people and their service is better than in any other country. We cannot forget that beauty since each person, if he eats something sweet, will not take something bitter afterwards; so we cannot remain any more in paganism.” (Russian Ambassadors (987), in a report to Prince Vladimir of Kiev).
It was the profound worship in Constantinople that seemed to convert those investigators. So, worship should still move us and inspire us. It’s just not primary.
Each discipline has a grace that we hope to receive. In worship we open ourselves to God as a member of God’s people. We join with the countless saints who have worshipped God throughout the ages. In worship we join a heavenly worship service that is constantly taking place where angels are declaring God’s holiness- not because God needs it, but because that is the response when faced with God’s reality. When we are faced with profound beauty we want to say “beautiful!”. Likewise when we, or angels, are faced with God’s reality, we want to cry out “Holy! Holy! Holy!”. Worship is a calling that will never end. I love that line in Amazing grace, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun. We’ve no less days to sing God’s Praise than when we first begun”. Don’t think of it as a never ending church service- because we can’t do that heavenly worship justice. But in heavenly worship our greatest joy will be to respond to God’s goodness and beauty. Just as it is not a chore to watch a sunset and declare it beautiful, so we will constantly be in awe at the beauty and goodness of God. And we will constantly want to respond with worship. … When we participate in worship fully, the grace we hope to receive is a renewed desire to obey Christ, a renewed love for God’s people, and a renewed desire to serve God’s world.
Each discipline has a grace that we hope to receive. In worship we open ourselves to God as a member of God’s people. We join with the countless saints who have worshipped God throughout the ages. In worship we join a heavenly worship service that is constantly taking place where angels are declaring God’s holiness- not because God needs it, but because that is the response when faced with God’s reality. When we are faced with profound beauty we want to say “beautiful!”. Likewise when we, or angels, are faced with God’s reality, we want to cry out “Holy! Holy! Holy!”. Worship is a calling that will never end. I love that line in Amazing grace, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun. We’ve no less days to sing God’s Praise than when we first begun”. Don’t think of it as a never ending church service- because we can’t do that heavenly worship justice. But in heavenly worship our greatest joy will be to respond to God’s goodness and beauty. Just as it is not a chore to watch a sunset and declare it beautiful, so we will constantly be in awe at the beauty and goodness of God. And we will constantly want to respond with worship. … When we participate in worship fully, the grace we hope to receive is a renewed desire to obey Christ, a renewed love for God’s people, and a renewed desire to serve God’s world.
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