corrupted corporate worship - 3

"It is in the process of being worshiped that God communicates His presence to men."

C.S. Lewis

Disclaimer!

This is not an explanation on "The Right Way to Worship." It is my experience of worship. This is not an academic article, it is not meant to delve into the depths of titanic theological subtly. It intentionally lacks any pretense at Authority. I removed all the trappings of "Objective Knowing" and retained only my subjective meandering mind sharing thoughts without too much care for their perfection.  If you find errors, then be satisfied that it was because I didn't take the herculean effort to have them surgically removed. If you find offense assume it was placed their unwittingly. This, like all of my Blog Posts, is merely words to frame my musings on what I experience and how I explain those experiences. God knows. The rest of us are merely guessing in the murkiness of fallibility. 

I promised I would ponder what it means to me to Worship as part of pondering the meaning of Corporate Worship. Below you will find seven elements I find in almost every service. Denominational distinctiveness will change the names and expressions but they are normally to be found in some form in most Sunday services. 

Seven Key Elements of Worship:

1. Invocation/Benediction
2. Singing of Hymns
3. Scriptural Readings/Responsive Reading
4. Sermon
5. Corporate Giving/The Peace of the Lord/Foot Washing
6. Prayer
7. Communion

1.    Invocation/Benediction

One of my favorite elements of a church service is the Benediction. The solemnity of receiving God’s blessing before venturing out into a virgin week is breathtaking if I can have the quietness of presence to perceive and receive what is being offered. It is the same with Invocation. I have a need to have my attention drawn towards an intentionality of attentiveness that I find difficult to maintain permanently. I wonder if it would be beneficial to have a Master of Ceremonies to thunderously strike the floor and announce our Master's presence.

2.    Singing of Hymns

This conjures up images of King David dancing with abandonment before The Lord and His people. Singing Hymns is meant to be PDA with the Divine! So I am gusty in my singing, and what I lack in harmony of sound I more than make up for with my passion. When you take a community united in their adoration and allow them to abandon themselves to expressing that adoration together through song it is something that can transport us to the heavenly courts. When you add to that the intimacy of community, then the depth of me singing "It is well with my soul" takes on an intimately tragic tempo in light of my current suffering. Can I endure to hear the loss in my friend's voice as he sings "In Christ alone my hope is found" and I am forced to remember his wonderful bride whom we lost to cancer in her Thirties? When I am known and when I know others then our singing takes on a different depth. 

3.    Scriptural reading/Responsive Reading

Here I flow easily back to Ezra and the prolonged reading of God’s law before the reunited people of God. Great things were afoot, much was to be required of the people, and so it was that the reading aloud in public before the people of God was essential. It sets the tone, and the tempo for all that is to follow. When done with intentionality it ought to provoke us. When done carelessly it demeans both the audience and our Sacred Texts. That we still stand for the reading of The Gospel is a nod to those two intrepid builders of community Ezra and Nehemiah and their congregation’s 5 hours of standing to hear God's Word proclaimed. 

4.    Sermon

Following the corporate proclamation of God’s Word by the whole priesthood of believers one among the host of priestly saints stands to unwrap the intricacies of that Word. I feel this act of worship ought to be as closely aligned to the Responsive Reading of God’s Word as is possible. It states the essence of a corporate priesthood and the necessity of having those among us who are gifted to expound upon that Word. God’s Word proclaimed by one of God’s preachers is a team sport. In other words it is an act of the community in worship. My eyes rarely leave the preacher during their oration, except to touch on those around me who share in this momentous act. When the one preaching knows me intimately then I can see the anticipation or the agony they have endured when they must speak on a topic that will touch me directly and perhaps painfully. It i just as clear when the speaker knows little about their audience. 

5.    Corporate Giving/ The Peace of the Lord/ Foot Washing

I believe these opportunities to give have too often been robbed of their true essence of worship. For example: we invite everyone who is present to offer the Peace of The Lord to one another. I wonder at the sight of so much activity with the majority being blissfully ignorant of the weighty thing they purport to do. Do they actually possess awareness of the Lord's Peace they so blithely offer? Do they comprehend the unspoken promise that they are willing to share in the other’s suffering, as they hope the other will share in the proffered Peace? My problem with our acts of giving in worship is they tend to be ritualistic in nature and lack awareness of the act's meaning and a carelessness in the absence of participation. When was the last time you saw everyone give so sacrificially at a corporate worship service that they all left bereft but blessed?  I often feel embarrassed to be offering such paltry gifts to my Creator as a supposed act of worship. 

6.    Prayer

Be still my soul for your Heavenly Father hears our prayers. The intimacy of corporate supplication and thanksgiving is unnerving when done with intentionality. It is awful to sit among my intimates and feel their agonies, their unmet hopes, their suffering, remembering with them the smell of their wife’s sick room that they left that morning and their terrible fear for what might await their return. Prayer in corporate worship could be an act of sacrifice and hope wedded to the vow of a Faithful Community. But far too often it is a list of names read aloud and the responsive refrain of " Hear our prayers"

7.    Communion

We are forgiven, and we remember why…. If this needs more explanation, then perhaps we are to be greatly pitied and perhaps it is possible that we have misunderstood the meaning of what is required to accurately self-nominate as a Christian. 

I have known this experience in Corporate Worship and I have sought to find it, and replicate it wherever I am on this planet. No one Denomination nor Congregation can lay claim to this, for it is The Saints together who have for 2,000 years sought to worship their Lord. We have had many names and many colors and even more disputes but we are one in Christ. 

I have heard it said that it is the selfish consumeristic nature of the average congregant that robs us of the opportunity to experience Worship that is this divine. My answer is as always to the under-shepherds of God's Flock. 

• How is it that we have not taught our communities to Worship in Spirit and in Truth? 
• How is it we have been content for them to merely attend? 
• How is it we have not sufficiently described what the nature of Worship is, or evaluated the success of Worship within the community we have been charged to serve?
• If we cannot easily quantify this act of weekly worship, how can we hope to lead it?
• If we are unwilling to demand more from our members, then who ought to take us or the act of Corporate Worship seriously? 

That I have lost my sense of place in one specific small portion of the heavenly host still walking on earth is my own responsibility. I am a mature Believer with many resources to replicate the loss. That too few care to notice the  reasonable departure of a whole generation of Saints is all of our responsibilities as leaders. 

One day I will know as I am known.... God grant that it will include those have I corporately worshiped with.