LEADERSHIP LETTER ARCHIVES

A MONTHLY READING FOR ALL ARC LEADERS
May 2004

WORSHIP

The chief end of men and women is communion with God, and the chief expression of that communion is worship. As a people and as individuals, Christians are to live with the praises of God on their lips, whether in prosperity or in adversity.

Worship is preeminent in our lives before God as individuals and as churches. As the people of God, we regularly gather to sing God's praises and to recount to one another his glorious deeds. Because all believers are priests before God, active participation in worship is essential to the Christian life we share in common.

--ARC Common Concerns

If you say, "Praise the Lord!" to a believer in Ghana, the instant response will be "Hallelujah!" and a hearty one at that!  If you keep saying, "Praise the Lord!" three or four times in succession, you might just ignite a spontaneous worship service.  I know I did it!  At our recent ARC conference in Mansfield, I invoked that phrase to our five wonderful Ghanaian guests.  After several invocations and responses we found ourselves in that atmosphere of God's felt presence and joy that nourish the soul and remind us of an incredible future.  We were six creatures honoring our Creator with very simple phrases that began somewhat superficially and ended up in a divine "ambush" of His joy.

Just before my first anniversary of conversion to Christ, I attended a retreat led by Dick Eastman, a brother who has emerged over the years as a substantial leader in the area of prayer and intercession.  During this time at Camp Courage in Minnesota, he charged us to go out on that beautiful property, find a solitary spot and ask God for a vision.  I think I may have misunderstood the assignment.  I was fully expecting an open-eyed, apocalyptic experience of angels and chariots.  Sadly, I got a late start outside and all the good spots to get that kind of revelation were taken.  I was relegated to a marshy spot in the reeds by the lake.  It was a bit raw, cloudy and damp, but I was ready for heaven to open its treasures to my expectant soul.  We had an hour and a half to get that vision so I worked hard and tried to help God along with the vision.  Nothing. . . nothing. . . nothing. . .oh, wait, that's a . . . nothing . . .maybe a, uh, I think I see a . . . nothing.  Really nothing after 45 minutes of hard vision work.   So I quit and decided to just kneel in that bog, raise my hands to heaven and worship God whether He gave me a vision or not.  After a few minutes of simple worship, the Holy Spirit graciously and gently impressed my soul with this thought:  "What you are presently doing is the highest expression of a human being to his Creator."  I wept and worshipped and sobbed and delighted in God.  Now each time I go to Camp Courage (probably 20 times since that first retreat),  I return to that swamp spot.  It has been worked on and civilized (there's even a nice wooden bench in that spot), but I assume, between God and me, that it's mine.  And as I sit there before God, I hear again that integrating truth—that the surrender of my soul to honor the only true God revealed in the Scriptures is the very highest expression of a human being and, really, the doorway into His ongoing communication.

When Jesus spoke to that divinely "ambushed" Samaritan woman, he spoke to her of an internal well springing up into eternal life.  What an incredible gift to a thoroughly broken human personality!  And Jesus invites her to go past religious locations and arguments and lets her know that the Father, the only true God of the universe, has been seeking her—knows her—wants her—"the hour is coming and is now here when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him" (John 4:23 ESV).  Jesus offers her the ultimate reality—to authentically surrender to, acknowledge and delight in the Person of God.  The Westminster Catechism sums this up when it portrays the chief end of a human being—"to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

What happens each Sunday in worship is formative for the community of God's people.    We must press out the reality that music, prayer, sharing, Word, sacrament, offerings of money and gifts, all constitute aspects of corporate worship.  And we must press further until we call the beloved flock of Jesus into participatory worship. What ought to be quite clear is the truth that worship is never passive.  We come together to actively engage in worship of God our maker and redeemer.

When I was a young Christian,  God spoke to my heart about how I ought to be in a worship service (and, for that matter, in all of my service and relationships).  I was to be postured as His servant and as such I had to adopt this posture:

            Be attentive

            Be available

            Be obedient

I still hear those injunctions in almost every gathering.  Sometimes I hear, "Be quiet," and regularly I'm just not sure what to say or do, so I wait.  Our corporate worship at Christ Community Church has a liturgical flow (Praise and Singing and Gifts, Corporate Sharing, Offerings/Announcements, Word, Sacrament, Prayer, Fellowship).  Some would blanch at the word "liturgy" but the Greek, "liturgia," simply means "the work of the people."  It is the way we give ourselves to God, whether highly scripted or very spontaneous. 

But the real issue is loving God, isn't it?  Did you hear those three injunctions (attentiveness, availability, obedience)?  Let me call us to this in our personal devotions, family life, corporate worship and our extended relationships in the world.  We are all called to be full time worshippers, like David.  There's a psalm for every occasion, applicable to every circumstance and turn of life.  God is to be worshipped everywhere, at all times, in every circumstance.  That internal spring enlivens us and His Spirit helps us to the place of surrender and obedience.

God's grace to all of you and deep joy in the Holy Spirit.

Ned