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Attention To The Holy
by Major
Charles Roberts
All of us, when we hear the word
“worship”, have a myriad of images.
We think of our early church experiences, our
encounters with God in camp meetings, and maybe, our quiet
times at home.
For the sake of this brief and continuing discussion, the term
worship will refer to congregational worship.
As you will see, “congregational worship” does not just
refer to those activities that take place in the sanctuary or
on Sunday morning.
Worship is a lifestyle that permeates all activities
and settings.
In congregational worship, we normally
expect that God is the prompter, the minister is the actor,
and the congregation is the audience.
Often, our people, the “walking wounded" need time to
acclimate to the worship setting, and to “de-role” from all
the baggage of the week.
Here’s another reality from Soren Kierkegaard:
The minister is the prompter, the members of the
congregation are the actors, and God is the audience.
Worship: It is one of the essential
functions of the ecclesia, a people scattered in work and
mission gather for worship, strengthening, refueling and
vision teaching.
We sing our
praises to an audience of one.
God is the audience.
Jesus said, “When you pray, say ‘Father.’”
The One who spoke eternity into existence is the One
who is listening to our songs, our prayers, our whispers, our
longings. Our
ambition is to please Him with all of our worship, which is
all of our life.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Father, and we have been
given every fullness in Christ.
So, in Christ, we resonate with the Father through
word, song and deed.
So, in worship we expect the order of heaven to be
established in our congregations; “thy kingdom come, thy will
be done: on earth as it is in heaven.”
As the
prompter of worship, the role of
the minister is similar to that of an usher.
We are to be on the leading edge of heaven, boldly
taking our people to new places in the realm of the Holy One.
Our job is to re-create, to
co-facilitate, an atmosphere of grace.
I recall an illustration shared by
Philip Yancey in What’s So Amazing About Grace?
He is in a coffee shop, speaking to a “working girl”
about why she doesn’t go to church.
She replies, “Church? Why do I want to go there?
I feel bad enough already!”
As the prompter of worship, we are to help everyone
sense the grace of God: no one has earned it, no one deserves
it, but all can receive it.
We are to help people reach out to Jesus, who is
already reaching out to them, if He could…As His body, we are
His hands and feet, and we are to reach out to those who are
desperate for Him.
We create an atmosphere of grace by:
•
Capturing milestones
•
Meeting needs
•
Using awe-inspiring worship
elements
•
Practicing holy habits
Capturing milestones
“Milestone ministry” is a creative way
to share the grace of God in the important moments of a
person’s life.
Birthdays, anniversaries are certain milestones.
Transitions: marriages, deaths, graduations, are
others. What of
the transition of moving from a family homestead to an
assisted living facility?
What about empty nesters?
When those important transitions are marked with
ritual: song, Word, prayer, God mediates grace to people when
they need it most.
Those moments also serve as community builders and bank
accounts for human capital, for when the community is together
and sharing the means of grace, this is how one knows that God
places the lonely in families.
Meeting needs
So often, in congregational settings,
we professionalize the meeting of needs.
The church bulletin states, “Anyone with needs, please
see the deacon of benevolence…”
Or in the case of The Salvation Army, the local
ministerium makes their annual donation toward “the transient
work,” thereby paying dues, and not making personal contacts
with those who face poverty.
Acts 2 tells us that the congregation made sure that no
one was in need.
While Acts 2 is not necessarily normative, the idea of members
helping members and others is now a radical idea.
Helping those who are poor is an act of worship.
Leviticus 23:22 describes the leaving of the crops’
edge for the people to glean is in the context of remembering
the Sabbath. This
is holy work; it is worship.
Why should the social worker have all the fun???
Use of Conspiracy of Kindness-style “hi-grace/low-risk”
activities is a wonderful way to serve people and meet human
needs in the context of worship.
A car wash, worship?
Yep!
Use of awe-inspiring worship elements
The elements of worship mediate grace.
Song, drama, interview, testimony, Word, prayer,
preaching all mediate grace.
The trend now is to rely on technology to provide the
awe for us. Awe
is the result of being in the presence of God, not necessarily
from being in front of a video screen.
However, technology can help in providing an atmosphere
for awe: A
growing trend is congregational worship is the “video café”
idea; different salons are outfitted with a variety of worship
music combos: adult contemporary, country gospel,
urban/hip-hop, alternative.
Then all groups see the identical recorded sermon.
Reports state that the watchers laugh at the video
preacher’s jokes and sit pensively during the emotional
sections of the sermon.
All café groups report lives committed to Jesus.
However, awe is the real work of the Holy Spirit, and
the human elements only enhance the chance for awe: use of
themes, music, arts, sight, sound, smell, touch.
Practice of holy habits
All worship activities, regardless of
setting or technology should result in the formation and
practice of holy habits, which are the beginning of virtue.
Virtue, defined as basically “something good that
works” is seen in the fruit of the Spirit.
John 3:21 in the New American Standard Bible says this
about works: “Whoever practices the truth comes into the
light, so that his deeds will be manifested as having been
wrought in God.”
As the
congregation assists in the drama recreated in the worship
setting, each member, whether in
the pew, the open-air, or in the food pantry, is a co-star in
the drama, as we “shine like stars” in the presence of a
crooked and depraved generation.
Not that the goals of worship involve “drama” in the
vernacular, but that God is watching our worshipful activity
and is ravished with love for us.
We are the apple of His eye, His treasured possession.
Our work, our worship becomes that “sweet smelling
savor” that He loves.
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