One of the first things that students of the subject learn is that worship is the work of the whole people of God. [The Greek roots for “liturgy” are: λαος υργος – laos urgos, whose meanings include “people” and “work” (from which we get words like “laity” and “ergonomics”).] This emphasis on the participation, contributions and gifts of the entire faith community makes it clear that, when we worship, we are not spectators of something being done by priests and choirs. We are all jointly participants, even con-celebrants. This understanding has led us to share leadership broadly through the community, creating a vast range of worship leadership roles, including: readers, intercessors, chalice bearers, greeters, coffee hosts, gift-bearers, servers, worship space decorators, altar-preparers, cantors, choristers, musicians, music directors, preachers, presiders, and WOD – Warden on Duty.
It is clear from this job list that we have been harnessing the energy and gifts of quite a few people for this activity of worship, this “work of the people”. Why do we go to all this trouble? Why do we worship?
Let us distinguish between worship’s purpose and its effects. Its potential, positive effects are myriad. Worship may be “life-changing” for its participants. Our diocesan vision aims at that impact. It might give us a profound sense of the presence, love and action of God. It might strengthen our sense of community with God and one another. It might give us a sense of connection with the past and with Christian disciples around the globe. It might ground our lives, hopes, joys and concerns in the experience of the Divine. It might feed the gathered community through word and sacrament. It might teach us through the example of Jesus. It might equip and strengthen us for mission and ministry. It might remind us of our brokenness or convict us of our sin. It might promote healing, forgiveness and reconciliation or instil hope in us. It might initiate us in or teach us how to grow in the Spirit-filled life. It might recall us to faithfulness in justice-making, prayer and service. It might be the occasion for our tears, laughter, awe and wonder. It might engage our senses with deep appreciation for the beauty of images, music, creation, stillness and motion, silence and thoughtfully crafted words. It might refresh, encourage and comfort us. It might challenge us. It might even surprise us or prompt authentic questions in us.
Those of us who plan and lead worship do so with the hope that many of these effects will be experienced and expressed by all who have gathered together. And it is deeply desirable that they are. Worship that is dull and flat, disengaged from the world and the lives of the worshippers, domesticated, uninspiring and unchallenging, isolating, controlling, oppressive or unfaithful is not worthy of its exalted purpose. So we worship leaders aim high, hoping to increase the likelihood that these positive effects will be experienced through the devotion of care and creativity, knowledge of ancient and modern Christian practices, attentiveness to the context of our lives and of the world, intentionality, prayer, and openness to the Spirit’s prompts.
Yet the purpose of worship is not to cause these effects, as though spiritual experiences can be produced by formulae or manipulated by mechanisms. Neither is worship entertainment for an uninvolved audience of spectators. The purpose of Christian worship is to respond, communally, in love and gratitude to God. Since it is a response, worship presumes, on some level (sometimes a level too deep for words or even our own prior conscious awareness), that we know that God is already transforming our lives personally and collectively. Christian worship, therefore, responds to, recalls, recites and re-enacts the “salvation history” of God’s creative, loving and sanctifying actions in the world and our lives. As such, it is about responding to the God who is continually creating us; whom we meet in Jesus, the Christ; and who dwells among us as Holy Spirit.
What is the nature of this “response?” It consists of all manner of things which glorify the living, triune God.
Continually taking our spiritual pulse to see whether or not our worship has had the “desired result” is, therefore, to miss a central point. Worship is God-focussed. Yet our concern about the impact of worship on its participants is not entirely misguided. As St. Irenaeus [a 2nd century Bishop of Lyon and theologian] taught, God is best glorified when human beings are fully alive. [In a less gender inclusive translation: “The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.”] Worship which is authentic results from the gift of God and our openness and preparedness to receive that grace.
Brother Lawrence’s devotional classic declared that prayer is the practice of the presence of God. Liturgy, by extension, is a dramatic rehearsal of the reign of God (also called “the kingdom of heaven”) by those who have glimpsed it and been grasped by it. Our worship, therefore, at the Church of the Incarnation is a dress rehearsal. Week in and week out we practice being God’s faithful people so that we might glorify God more fully through the full engagement of our whole selves and our entire community. See you this week at the next dress rehearsal.
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