Eight The Worshiping Community

“All singing?”

“No, I do like hymns. I just have a hard time relating God to a rock band—I can’t see Jesus playing lead guitar. I liked those times we went to the Orthodox service—the chanting sounded cool. But the service was too long, and I didn’t like standing the whole time. I’m not a big stander,” he answered.

“What other parts of worship do you enjoy, or get something out of?” I asked.

“I like praying. But sometimes the pastors pray too long. I also like hearing the Bible read, or reading it out loud together. I also like when we say the Apostles’ Creed, because we learned it together,” he said.

“What about the things we do as a group, like baptizing people or taking Communion?”

“Seeing someone get baptized is fine. I like that. I also like Communion a lot—but I wish we had real bread rather than wafers. They taste kind of bad.”

“You yourself were baptized in the same church we still attend. You have grown up with this community. What do you think of when you think about the people?” I asked.

“Our church has grown a lot, so I don’t know everyone, but seeing people who know me, who say, ‘Jacob, I remember you when you were five years old running down the aisle’ is kind of nice. I like the older people; they are the nicest.”

I learned a lot in this short conversation. I was surprised to hear Jake likes hymns, and even more surprised he does not like the band. In my generation we rejected the hymns and loved having electric guitars in worship. Perhaps something is shifting, or maybe it is just him. I found it interesting that Jake enjoys the parts that are the least like the world he normally lives in. No one says the creeds, preaches about Jesus or partakes of Communion in day-to-day life outside of the church. I will hang on to this should he, like so many, take a twelve-year sabbatical from corporate worship.

I can hear some people saying, “You should make him go to church, even when he is eighteen.” That goes against my entire understanding of the nature of the kingdom of God and of the human heart. I will trust in the goodness of God, who has made himself known to Jake through the years. Those sermons did not fall on bad soil. Those times of taking Communion, of listening to the Bible, of praying with people will not go to waste. Instead of making him stay connected to church, I might try to get him to read the following section of this chapter. Instead of making people feel guilty about not going to church, I would rather try to make people excited about the opportunity, which can only happen when we really understand what worship is all about.

Let’s take a closer look at the practices of worship, which will help us overcome the false narratives of self-fulfillment or divine obligation, and move us to long to be in the house of God.

The earliest Christians came from Jewish backgrounds. They modified the worship practices of Judaism in light of their newfound faith. Over the centuries Christian worship has been shaped into a cohesive form. Though some people believe we should imitate the practices of the early Christians, I believe that the shaping of worship through the centuries is a sign of God’s movement among his people.

The New Testament does not offer a set form of worship to be followed by all Christians for all ages. There is great freedom when it comes to forms of worship. In fact, through the centuries worship styles and practices have been modified to help connect the truths of the faith to new generations. Chants became hymns, and hymns became praise choruses, for example.

Though the form of worship is not the main focus, this does not mean form is unimportant. Form matters. There are basic elements of Christian worship that have been found useful in the development of our relationship with God and others. Though not all Christian groups engage in all of these elements of worship, many groups use some or all of these practices consistently in their gatherings. We will look at each of these briefly in order to explain how they form us spiritually. I will write the following as if I were writing to my son to explain why worship is worth it.

In his masterful novel Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry tells the story of a man who renounces his call to become a minister and instead becomes a barber. Still, Jayber never abandons his love for the church. One day, while sweeping the empty church he has grown up in, he has a dream that helps him see the eternal dimension of the church as it worships. Alexander Schmemann said worship is the epiphany of the world. In the eyes of Jayber Crow, the church in all of its earthy, human, broken and prideful forms was seen from the perspective of eternity.

I love this story because it reminds me that the church is both earthy (reluctant, troubled, distracted people) and yet eternal. I started this chapter by asking, Can we live the Christian life without a worshiping community? I would answer, Yes, it is possible—all things are possible with God. But the better question is, Why would we even want to try?

The exercise for this week is to go to church with what Richard Foster calls “holy expectancy.” For many of us, attending church is fraught with frustration and distraction: “We are running late—hurry up!” or “Oh no, someone is sitting in my seat” or “I can’t believe she wore that!” or “The sermon was way too long today.” In this chapter I have tried to focus on the right narratives about worship: it is an invitation (not an obligation) and is not about meeting my needs as much as shaping my soul. We also looked at some of the basic elements of worship, focusing on their meaning and impact.

For this reason, I would like you to make your corporate worship more meaningful by engaging in a few acts of preparation. The following are some guidelines, not laws, that may be helpful as you seek to experience the wonder of worship.

1. Prepare through margin. Simply getting to worship with the right attitude is a challenge for many of us. The culprit is not our lack of desire but our lack of temporal margin. The proper attitude for worship cannot be cultivated in the ten seconds we spend walking through the narthex. We must prepare for worship long before that. One way is to go to bed early on the evening before worship. This will allow us to awaken earlier, which will create some margin in terms of time. We need a few hours to eat and dress and prepare our hearts for worship. Time margin is thus necessary in order to create heart margin.

2. Arrive early. A simple but effective way for me to be more attentive in worship is to come well before the service begins in order to become fully present. Richard Foster offers this advice: “Enter the service ten minutes early. Lift your heart in adoration to the King of glory.” This has helped me appreciate worship and has reduced the distractions that often happen when I arrive late.

3. Come with holy expectancy. As previously noted, Foster encourages a sense of holy expectancy among worshipers. This can be done by a simple prayer: “Spirit, speak to me. Jesus, teach me. Father, let me experience your love and power.” I believe this is a prayer God loves to answer. And it is a prayer that awakens our desire.

4. Focus on one aspect of worship this week. There are many acts within a worship service (e.g., sermon, Bible reading, singing, Communion). This week focus on one particular element of worship. For example, if you choose singing, pay attention to your body, to the sounds and to the words being sung. Reflect on its meaning—why do we sing? What is happening to us as a community as we sing? You can pick a different aspect each week. If you do this each week, over the course of a few months you will have reflected on nearly every aspect of worship, thus enabling an entire worship service to become an act of doxology.

5. Apply one thing. Worship transforms us and leads us into new ways of living. Foster wisely writes, “Just as worship begins in holy expectancy it ends in holy obedience.” This week pay attention to what God might be asking you to do. Is there someone you need to speak with? A change you need to make? A new practice you need to make as you walk with God? Keep it simple and try to discern what one thing God may be asking of you, and then labor to put it into practice this week.