Start of Lent: WORSHIP
1st Sunday of Lent
Draw Near: Life-giving habits for lent: WORSHIP
(by Peter Mitchell – LLM)
Let us draw near to God and his love, and he will draw near to us. Amen.
“What do you think you are doing?” “What do you think you are doing?”
Perhaps the title of this service might give us a clue? Morning Worship.
It’s definitely morning. So, is this worship?
I think it is, or, at least, it’s one element of worship.
This Lent, we are following the Church of England’s booklet, ‘Draw Near – Life-giving habits for Lent’, and Revd Buffy has helpfully produced a leaflet to help us to reflect further on the themes in this booklet. The theme for this week is worship.
But what exactly do we mean by worship? It’s a word which has been tossed about so often that people no longer think deeply about the meaning behind the word. And we sometimes can make it look complicated, and a bit alien, especially to new worshippers. So, what does worship involve?
Coming to church perhaps? Or can we also worship in other places? On a mountain-top, by the sea, in a forest, in the wilderness, on an island, at home, in hospital, in the street, in a crowd, in a small group, with family and friends, with strangers, on our own, wherever we feel close to God? And does it have to be on a Sunday or special feast day? Or can we gather at other times, setting aside other days as holy days for some of us, given that the wider community no longer makes any allowance for those who might wish to mark their Sabbath on a Sunday.
And is worship mostly about singing God’s praises? Traditional hymns, with biblical words set to beautiful old music, played on a powerful pipe organ and supported by a choir of trained voices in near-perfect pitch; or a simple song of love to God, with a few heartfelt words set to basic chords played on an old guitar for a handful of worshippers to sing haltingly and roughly in tune. And what if you don’t like singing, or your hearing or speech is impaired, is it ok just to follow along in your head, or to read the words, without music, or perhaps just set to a rhythm?
What about prayer? I don’t want to say too much here, as Revd Emma will be preaching about prayer next week, but I think that we might agree that prayer has a place in worship, if prayer is talking to God, for we can hardly worship him without some form of communication. But will that be stand-alone prayers in a time set-aside for those, or will in fact the whole worship be one long prayer in various forms?
Which brings us to liturgy, that is, the ritual or ceremonial form of words and behaviour which is the structure underpinning worship, designed to help worshippers to marshal their thoughts and actions appropriately, and it could perhaps be thought of as one long prayer in some sense. In more formal church settings, worship leaders are supposed to follow liturgy authorized by the church. The Church of England has, happily, relaxed the requirement to follow narrowly prescribed liturgy at certain times of the year and during some types of worship, with a much wider choice of styles to suit different occasions, the needs of different worshippers, and the working of the Holy Spirit.
So where does authorized liturgy come from? Well, in many cases it comes straight out of the bible. If you come to Morning Prayer you might recognize these words: ‘O Lord, open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise’, which are taken from Psalm 51:15. At Holy Communion, the words: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosannah in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosannah in the highest’ are taken from Romans, Isaiah, Mark and Matthew, and the words of invitation to eat Jesus’ body and to drink his blood are taken directly from Matthew, Mark, and 1 Corinthians. And at many services of worship, we end by saying the words of The Grace, which are taken from 2 Corinthians 13:14.
Wherever the words originate, we must remember that many of them are of their time and are set in the context within which they were written. Inherited words which were censored by autocratic royalty, including Henry VIII and James I, or which were written to be used by slave owners or by Royal Naval captains, whose belief was that the British Empire was just as great as God’s Kingdom, might not reflect the values of people today.
What we worship is who and what we shall follow; this is why the devil made worship of him the final, unsuccessful, temptation for Jesus in the wilderness. Bishop John Pritchard1 suggests that those who worship money become more calculating, those who worship the human body become more obsessed with appearance, those who worship power become more ruthless, and those who worship Jesus become more like him. So, if worship is to shape worshippers and to help them to grow more like Jesus, then surely it must, as Jesus did, challenge the cultural norms of the day and speak words of hope to people on the margins of society, the outcasts, the unfortunate, the rebels, the vulnerable, the have-nots. Words which often might sound uncomfortable or disturbing to the privileged but surely what we might expect to hear in biblically-based worship.
Which brings us to scripture. I shan’t say very much about this here, as we shall be focussing on scripture at our services in two weeks’ time, but we recognize scripture as a God-inspired body of material to guide discipleship. Our worship cannot therefore be complete without the frequent re-telling of God’s story and that of his long-term and ongoing relationship with his people.
But, without clarification, we might find that each worshipper hears and interprets scripture differently, according to their own knowledge, understanding and experience, or guesswork. Each worshipper comes with different needs and scripture must speak into those needs, so will benefit from some careful and appropriate explanation, based on historical examination and theological reflection, which is the job of the preacher in their address or sermon. This, and the working of the Holy Spirit in each worshipper, helps to make the words of scripture relevant and illuminating to individual circumstances.
One element of worship which I have so far omitted to mention is the significant Christian rite of Holy Communion. Again, I don’t wish to dwell on communion this morning, as Revd Buffy will be preaching on this in a few weeks’ time, but it must be acknowledged that this regular re-enactment of the Last Supper, which Jesus had with his disciples, and repetition of his command to eat bread, and to drink wine in remembrance of him, provides spiritual nourishment for worshippers, helping them to draw near to God, and, for some, may be the main reason for attending worship.
Some worship is largely word-based, even when it is set to music, but much of it engages other senses too. What we see, feel, and even taste or smell, can contribute equally to the experience. Rather than just sitting listening, and occasionally standing to sing hymns, how would you feel about a multi-sensory worship experience? When I was a boy, worshipping in an Anglo-Catholic church, in 1960s Tyneside, our otherwise traditional vicar engaged a ballet teacher, to enable our children and young people to express themselves in movement to music during our worship; literally, dancing in the aisles. The congregation embraced it; though nobody over the age of 25 had the courage to join in!
Some people are uncomfortable with the use of smelly incense and tinkling bells, intricately woven and embroidered special robes, reverent handling of sacred artefacts and carefully choreographed movements during worship; they might find that these distract them from their praise, prayer and contemplation of God’s word. But others find the opposite, that these things become familiar to them and their regular use diminishes spontaneity and individuality, allowing them to focus on the core elements of worship.
Whilst some people welcome repetition, consistency and stillness, others delight in worshipping in a variety of different ways, making worship feel fresh and reaching more deeply into parts of their bodies, hearts and minds, compared to less demonstrative forms of worship. For some, people, symbolism in worship is meaningful and helpful, for others it’s an irritation, a relic from the days when worshippers couldn’t understand Latin and couldn’t read English, and needed visual clues as to what was happening during the worship.
The fact is that worshippers gather from different lives, with different experiences, problems, achievements, sorrows and joys, and different preferences; each of us will feel different and will respond differently to worship on different occasions. What sort of worship helps you to connect to God and to other Christians?
Modern transport has meant that worshippers today often have a choice of different places to worship; unless of course their bus doesn’t run on a Sunday, in which case they may have to take what they find at their local church. But that is no bad thing, for it is good to worship within your own community, alongside your neighbours, as often as possible, whether it’s your type of church or not. Good worship, tailored to accommodate local circumstances, enables God to speak to each of us, personally, in our situation. And, because we cannot all be here every time, those of us who are here are also worshipping on behalf of those of us who are not present; which is a great privilege.
And what do contemporary Christian theologians and ministers think about worship? Here are a couple of reflections:
“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God, his holiness, his truth, his beauty, his love, and his purpose, gathered up in adoration.”2
“Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God, for who he is, and what he has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”3
These reflections imply that worship is not a one-off event for an hour or so each Sunday, but may be regarded as a whole-person and whole-life human response to God’s being and actions and to how that impacts on us. But, if you have been reading our Lent booklet this week, that shouldn’t come as a surprise to you.
How might the early church have defined worship, I wonder? In New Testament bible passages, the Greek word we most frequently translate as worship is proskyneo (pros-koo-NEH-oh), which is also translated as ‘to prostrate oneself before someone’ and comes from pros meaning ‘towards’ and kyneo meaning ‘kiss’, that is, to kiss towards, implying a heartfelt adoration, reverence and submission to God, honouring him and paying him respect and homage.
Detractors of Christianity have suggested that this sounds like our God is a neurotic, whose ego demands regular massaging by his sycophantic devotees, rather like some human rulers and politicians; but nothing could be further from the truth. For, as the Psalms remind us, our God delights in his people’s worship, but does not need it for his own ends. God’s thoughts and ways are far higher than ours, and we must not make the mistake of believing that God’s motivations resemble our own, all too often self-centred, human ones. He calls us to worship, and offers us his grace, love, forgiveness, and salvation, but we each are responsible for our own response to his call; how much do we feel moved to reciprocate God’s faithfulness and commitment to us? Relationships have to be worked at; can you imagine a couple saying ‘I love you’ to each other on their wedding day, and then not saying it again, but just hoping that the relationship would last? Worship is for our spiritual health, not God’s.
Andrew Roberts4, in his book, ‘Holy Habits’, says, “Worship offered as grateful response for all God is and does involves all of our lives: our work, our rest, our enjoyment of creation, our service, our eating, our giving – and, yes, our gatherings with fellow disciples for the focused activity of praise and worship. So, tending the crops, or forming an algorithm, or building a house, or serving a customer can all be done as acts of worship to the glory of God and the blessing of his creation. As can the celebration of the Eucharist, the singing of songs, the offering of dance, sculpture or art, and the praying of prayers.” To which we might add campaigning for social justice and working for peace and reconciliation, playing worship songs in the car, or finding a quiet space to listen for the still small voice of God.
Worship is, quite simply, about giving our grateful hearts to God, not occasionally, not even frequently, but continually, as he first has given his to us, and then drawing near to him, and he will draw near to us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Notes:
1 Bishop John Pritchard – Going to Church, 2009, pp 46-47, SPCK.
2 Archbishop William Temple – Nature, Man and God, 1934, Gifford Lect.
3 Louie Giglio – Wired, The Air I Breathe, 2009, Student Edition, p81.
4 Andrew Roberts – Holy Habits, 2016, pp 210-211, MD Publishing Ltd.