Thingamabob

Thingamabob, doomahickey, whatchamacallit, just some of the words I use when I'm at a loss for other more concrete ones. Advanced academic degrees notwithstanding, I'm often at a loss to describe the simplest of objects. That same dumbfoundedness is the common experience of all authentic worship. Much of what passes for religion these days is too easily explained; holy stuttering is in short supply in post modernity. Very little mystery remains after singing choruses in rounds and learning five points for upgrading one's life, making church more akin to Wall Street than the Via Dolorosa. "Worship" services (I confess I've never understood why they are termed "services"--who  exactly is serving and being served anyway?) follow a well rehearsed schedule, such that if the Holy Spirit is to show up at all, she or he had better take care of business in an hour. Performance claims the prize and somehow we've convinced ourselves that grand productions draw 'seekers' to the Gospel, like so many moths to the flame. Conventional wisdom would tell that if I'm looking for slick entertainment I'll always find it somewhere other than church, irregardless of how much you spend to convince me otherwise. 

Whatever happened to sacred mystery? When did we decide that we could package the Holy Other into bite size portions, easily digested, and as readily forgotten? When was the last time that a glimpse of the Suffering Savior or the Conquering Christ seized your heart and wouldn't let go? How long has it been since the Ground of all Being grabbed you and you couldn't speak or cry or move in response? If I am able to fully plan and explain worship, the object must be something other than The One Who Was and Is and Is To Come. True worship elicits wonder, and wonder eventually gives way to transformation.

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:1-5, KJV)

Reaction

Worship is awareness, not activity. When understood in reverse, the focus of worship shifts to the act itself rather the Lord God Almighty Himself. Herein lies the terrible crux of the so called "worship wars." When battling over modes of worship or styles of music in worship, we march proudly away from God's presence and slink into incipient self-worship. Attention shifts from the Creator to creature comfort--our own fervor, our loudness, our posture, our musical preference, or any number of other details that place us at the center of the universe. Scripture offers a multitude of worship postures and expressions, but never loses sight of Holy God. Remember, worship is always reaction rather than initiation--I see God, I hear God, I know God is near; therefore, I respond to Him. Worship as initiation is idolatry and always produces preoccupation with form rather than Substance.

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10, KJV)

Trembling

Is it wrong to admit a physical reaction to spiritual reality? I hope not. Contemporary Christianity seems bent on removing mystery from devotion, but it may be easier to tame the wind than keep our hearts in check when overwhelmed by grace. Though modern sensibilities may resist it, trembling depicts an essential movement of the heart before God. One need look no farther than the Psalms to find individuals whose Godward reaction is physical and audible. The Psalmists groan, cry, moan, laugh, long, desire, despise, dance, and shout; authentic and spontaneous, the Psalms disclose the sinner’s honest response to the overwhelming majesty of God. If we would understand their songs and allow them to nurture our inner life, we too must learn to tremble before our Creator; sadly, the physical and emotional experience of awe is largely absent from what we smugly term "worship" today. Desensitized by our own living, we are too numb to recognize the Holy. Our pace of life and even the noise in church can drown out a thunderous divine voice. Joining the masses of popular culture who see at best a God who is distant and unlikely to be encountered in the “real world", many run aground on social sand bars, rejecting any sense of awe because they are persuaded that it simply isn't sophisticated to allow religion to touch them very deeply or, Heaven forbid, visibly.

Physical trembling is not our main concern, of course, but I hesitate to put us at ease too quickly, for it seems odd that while all creation shudders before the power and purity of the Exalted One, we should proceed routinely, wholly untouched by His Presence. From Belshazzar’s knees clattering together, through Quaker and Puritan revivals, and on up to modern times, many have had a physical response to the reality of God. The mind, body, psyche, and spirit are woven together so tightly that we should expect to be affected as whole persons when we sincerely encounter God. The Hebrew words most often used for “fear” in the Old Testament depict God as one who elicits ultimate respect. Fearing God in the Psalms does not primarily mean quivering in anxiety and terror, but instead describes a profound sense of reverence. The heart of this experience of trembling is acknowledging the superiority of God over against ourselves. God is the Wholly Other; to encounter this Holy One leaves us awestruck. We may respond with tears or praise or with great waves of laughter and joy, rolling out of every corner of our beings, or the awe may strike us silent. Call it what you will, I call it trembling.

“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” (Psalm 114:7)

“This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”  (Isaiah. 66:2)

"Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me." (Psalm 42:7, NIV)

How dread are Thine eternal years,

    O everlasting Lord!

By prostrate spirits day and night

     Incessantly adored!

How beautiful, how beautiful

     The sight of Thee must be,

Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,

     And awful purity!

Oh how I fear Thee, living God!

     With deepest, tenderest fears,

And worship Thee with trembling hope,

     And penitential tears.

(Frederick W. Faber)

Stones Cry Out

DAY FOUR

Vacations come with a fatigue factor all their own. Stated simply, I've had all the fun I can stand for today. My body still hasn't understood that we are in a different time zone, which means I don't have to get up before the break of dawn but did again this morning. Not that there was much discretionary space; we had a 9 am appointment for kayaks and paddle boat. My legs and hindquarters have demanded my attention all day as a result of the morning maritime experience of peddle and paddle. After spending the middle of the day sightseeing in Gordonsville and Charlottsville, we returned to the resort for pool time, tennis, miniature golf, and, finally, basketball. My legs ache, my feet hurt, and my back is tender. Thank God for Ibuprofen!

Our stretch on the road from resort to Gordonsville and Charlottsville put us on Virginia Highway 250, what the New York Times calls one of the most beautiful scenic drives in the country. I agree with the newspaper. Rolling hills in the foreground and higher mountains in the background provide a panorama of green and blue with texture created by the interplay of light and shadow. For the moment it was like remembering Eden and God seemed very near, much like the mountains that appeared close enough to touch though they were miles away. "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). I thrill to worship God as Creator and have found that nature stirs within deep longing and love for a Creator who chooses to share Himself by loaning mountains and trees and grasses and birds and animals and oceans to enjoy. I am not espousing pantheism; God is not identical to nature. Quite the contrary. Nature draws me to a very personal Origin. Creation always bows to the Creator, and I worship Him along with every part of creation.

"And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19:40

Holy Fire

A. W. Tozer wrote of worship in Alliance Life magazine some fifty years ago as the "missing jewel of the evangelical church." If anything, the American church is stooping to a new lowest common denominator. Earlier this month, church researcher Tom Rainer presented research identifying nine rapid changes in American church worship services over the past 20 years: 

1. Choirs are disappearing. 

2. Dress is more casual.

3. Screens are pervasive.

4. Preaching is longer.

5. “Multi” is normative. (Today, most congregants attend a service that is part of numerous alternatives: multi-services; multi-campuses; multi-sites; and multi-venues.)

6. Attendees are more diverse.

7. Conflict is not increasing.

8. More worship attendees are attending larger churches.

9. Sunday evening services are disappearing.

I do not intend to contradict Rainer's findings, but I do want, very much, to state that his delineation of trends points almost entirely to matters of style and form rather than substance and transcendence. This substantiates my own conviction that we are confused as to the nature of true worship. Choirs, screens, tie or no tie, times and numbers of services -- these elevate the secondary to the place of the primary. However, let me hasten to add that this preoccupation with trifles is not wholly unexpected. After all, how many have been desperate enough to cling to God as our only hope and refuse to let go until He has brought healing to our land? Who among us has allowed passion for Christ to eclipse all else to the extent that life's distractions are relegated to the shadowlands?  When have we been so found in Christ that we didn't lose track of time, but were totally unaware that such a thing existed?  Worship has nothing to do with posture or elements or duration or location; it has everything to do with humiliating brokenness before an all consuming Holy Fire. Father, grant us once again the heart cry of Charles Wesley:

Come, Jesus, Lord, with holy fire,

Come, and my quickened heart inspire,

  My conscience purged by blood;

Now to my soul Thyself reveal,

Thy mighty working let me feel,

  Since I am born of God.

Let nothing now my heart divide,

Since with Thee I am crucified,

  And live to God in Thee.

Dead to the world and all its toys,

Its idle pomp and fading joys,

  Jesus, my glory be.

Now with a quenchless thirst inspire,

A longing, infinite desire,

  And fill my craving heart.

Less than Thyself, oh, do not give,

In might Thyself within me live;

  Come, all Thou hast and art.

My will be swallowed up in Thee,

Light in Thy light still may I see

  In Thine unclouded face:

Called the full strength of trust to prove,

Let all my quickened heart be love,

  My spotless life be praise.

Favorite Quotes on Worship

As we pull the shade on another Lord's day, I offer for meditation two of my favorite quotes on Worship:

"Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others."

(Oswald Chambers )

“Phrases like Worship Service or Service of Worship are tautologies. To worship God means to serve him. Basically there are two ways to do it. One way is to do things for him that he needs to have done - run errands for him, fight on his side, feed his lambs, and so on. The other way is to do things for him that you need to do – sing songs for him, create beautiful things for him, give things up for him, tell him what’s on your mind and in your heart, in general rejoice in him and make a fool of yourself for him the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love.  A Quaker Meeting, a Pontifical High Mass, the Family Service at First Presbyterian, a Holy Roller Happening – unless there is an element of joy and foolishness in the proceedings, the time would be better spent doing something useful.”

(Frederick Buechner)

Worship is Awareness

Worship is awareness, not activity. When understood in reverse, the focus of worship shifts to the activity itself rather the Lord God Almighty Himself. Herein lies the terrible crux of "worship wars." When battling over modes of worship or styles of music in worship we march proudly away from God's presence and slink into an unrecognized but, nonetheless, incipient self-worship. Attention moves from the Creator to our own fervor, our loudness, our physical expression, our music theory, or any number of details that distract. Scripture offers a multitude of worship postures and expressions, but never loses sight of Holy God. Remember, worship is always a reaction rather than initiation--I see God, I hear God, I know God is near, and therefore I respond to Him. Worship as initiation is idolatry and always produces preoccupation with form rather than substance. "Be still and know that I am God."