Worship

This past Sunday night, our small group at church invited our new worship minister to discuss issues surrounding OPCOC and the worship assembly there. After it was over several thoughts hit me that I wanted to express and try to formulate better. As our group sat there for at least an hour talking about worship, it occurred to me the we spent the entire time talking about the 30-40 minutes per week at church that we spend singing. Allen (our worship minister) made one comment about worship being a 24/7 endeavor but besides that, it was all about the one hour that has come to be known as "church." Our group spoke of "wanting more in worship" yet it was all in the context of the one hour. If worship truly is about honoring God regardless of the context, then a true understanding of worship would include the rest of the week. Are we "wanting more in worship" as employees, parents, sons and daughters, friends, etc. or have we become so entangled within the web of modern American Christianity that we can't see past it? A second related idea: It also seemed that some were saying that they were now able to worship because Allen is here (who by the way is one of the best worship leaders I've heard). Some of the comments were "Now I feel like I can worship." Maybe it is just me but this also seems to reveal a great deal about how we define worship. Modernity, with its very reductionistic approach, has shrunk the grand notion of worship to one hour/week and in doing so has squeezed a great deal of the life out of it. Words like "community" and "tranformation" have a very small place in our view of worship except in their relation to the Sunday morning hour and yet it is these two words that are most important to the writers of the NT. Worship, including the time on the first day of the week, is about God. It ain't about me. It ain't about you. It is entering into the presence of God AND leaving that presence changed in some way with fresh perspective, new realizations, true joy, unfettered peace, and Godly love. Worship is also done within the context of community - community does not equal Sunday morning - a context of the body of Christ that supercedes days of the week and dress codes and acts as a living breathing organism within the world. Worship should not only leave one with a new perspective about who God is but in light of that discovery, it should also shed light on who the person next to you is. Worship should make me love my brother and sister more because the God in whose presence I live created them in HIS image and despite their faults, they are part of the reason Jesus came. The longer I live the less I am concerned with HOW everything happens on Sunday morning. I don't care near as much about the singing and the sermon as I do the formation of a community who will BE the body of Christ seven days a week. This does not mean that Sunday morning is an insignificant time. On the contrary, it is a vital statement of unity and fellowship to gather together in the name of Jesus Christ as a visible community and together praise him. However, Sunday morning is only scratching the surface. The real worship occurs in doing the mundane activities of the week acknowledging that everything I do (including my sin) is an offering of worship. As it was put by Allen at group, the question is not whether I am worshipping or not. The question is which God am I worshipping?

The idea of Missional Church seeks to move away from this reductionistic version of worship. It seeks to place worship within the context of the larger mission of God and to form worshipping communities who see their lives as "Practicing the Presence of God" (Brother Lawrence) in all they do. Yet another reason why Missional Church makes so much sense to me. I don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone besides me but these are a few thoughts lately. I hope they spark discussion.

Until He Comes,
Kyle