On the Side of the Least

This week two significant events come together.

In South Africa this past long weekend we celebrated Human Rights Day - the remembrance of the massacre of political protesters in the Sharpeville township on March 21, 1960. Today, this is a moment when we re-affirm our commitment to equality and liberty, and to support the basic rights of all human beings.

This coming Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate Palm Sunday - the remembrance of Jesus’ donkey-riding, crowd-applauding entry into Jerusalem. It is easy to overlook the fact that this was also, essentially, a political protest.

In a country that was oppressed by the Roman Empire, and in which Caesar alone was to be acknowledged as king, proclaiming Jesus as Messiah was a profound act of political subversion. When you add to this the cleansing of the Temple, which, in three of the Gospels, happens immediately after this procession, you can’t miss Jesus’ commitment to justice. According to Father Richard Rohr - Franciscan priest, author and speaker - ninety percent of Jerusalem’s economy was built on the sacrificial worship of the Temple, and the corrupt system of selling animals and changing currency which supported it. The poor were being fleeced by the religious leaders and their cronies, and Jesus made a strong, visual statement of protest at this injustice.

Their is no question in my mind that Jesus is a defender of human rights. While some may try and make a debate of this, it is clear that the Bible is strongly biased toward social and economic justice. God, as the prophets taught and as Jesus himself proclaimed, is on the side of the poor and oppressed, and of those who are authentically allied with them.

What does this mean for us as we worship?

Many who will read this article will be among the wealthiest people in the world. (If you live on more than $10 a day - roughly $300 or R2 300 per month - you are among the wealthier than eighty percent of the world’s population). Many of us may have been taught that Jesus came primarily to give us a way to heaven when we die, and we may even have been told that we have no responsibility to the poor, because Jesus said that the poor would always be with us (Matthew 26:11 - although, we often forget that Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 15:11, which gives a clear instruction to be generous to the poor). But, when we see what Jesus was doing that day as he rode into Jerusalem, when we hear what he was saying as he overturned the tables in the Temple, when we understand what it meant for him to defy the authorities, even to the point of death - refusing to play their power-games, their war-games, or their money-games - we cannot avoid the challenge to pray and work for God’s Kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven”.

Our worship, this week and every week, can easily become an escape from the challenges and pain of the world. But, if we allow this to happen, we will find that we are not worshipping Christ at all. The Jesus of the donkey and of the Temple, is the Jesus who champions human rights. And we, who are called by his name, have not truly worshipped him until we have joined him in overturning the tables of injustice, inequality and oppression.
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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.
Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

Faith Ancestors

I never cease to be amazed by the way youth is exalted in our society today.

It’s not that I don’t value young people. I believe that the energy and passion of the young are desperately needed in our world. I cheered the youth of the United States on when they helped Barack Obama win the presidency. I believe that the youth of South Africa are an immensely significant force for change, and hold the keys to addressing our current challenges. And when it comes to the Church, I often measure the health of a church by how strong, creative and missional its youth work is.

But, young people are still young people. One of the features of the current Millennial Generation is that they have vast amounts of information, and the most powerful technologies at their fingertips, but, simply because they haven’t lived long enough, they lack the life experience and discernment to sift through it all and tell the difference between what is good and life-giving and what is bad and destructive. The real longing of this generation - whether it’s recognised or not - is for mentors: older people who understand them, speak their language and connect with their world, but who can guide them through the labyrinth of information, ideas, changes and technologies that they face. They need fathers and mothers - ancestors - in the faith. And this includes those who are no longer alive.

In Chapter Eleven of the book of Hebrews, the writer tells the stories of the heroes of faith from the Scriptures. Then in the first verse of Chapter Twelve, he offers this encouragement:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (NLT)

The point is clear - our ancestors in faith offer us strength, encouragement and an example of how to live well as we seek to follow Christ. This week people around the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but, of course, he is only one Christian leader among many who can inspire and teach us. From the great biblical saints, to those remembered in each age of Christian history, our ancestors in faith provide a depth and wisdom that we ignore at great expense.

One of the gifts of worship, is that it continually tells the stories of God’s activity in and through men, women and even children. This is not to say that we need to build our lives as carbon copies of these saints, but that, as we worship, we can learn, through them, who God is and how God operates. We can get a glimpse of God’s purposes in our world, and we can find the courage and hope, as they did, to take our place in God’s plan of salvation.

Last week I wrote about the challenges of “consumer worship”. One of the ways this pattern is changed, is by embracing the history and traditions of worship that Christians have used through the centuries. And it is our ancestors in faith, who lived this history and created these traditions, who can lead us into the meaning and life that they offer.

So, who are your faith ancestors? Who are the mentors that you turn to for wisdom and guidance? How can you honour them in your worship of Jesus this week?

From Consumer to Contributor

In the last few years a disturbing shift has happened in the worship of the Church. What began as a helpful way to provide new resources to worship leaders - the production of worship CDs - has become a multi-million dollar industry.

Now, I’m not knocking worship CDs and their related products. I still believe they can be helpful. But, I am concerned about some of the unintended consequences. For example, worship CDs are now recorded with commercial interests in mind - production quality is based on listening - not singing along; song choice is impacted by what will sell; and musical keys are selected to make the lead singer’s voice sound good.

But, perhaps the thing I am most concerned about, is the shift in how we enter and experience worship. In many large venues where “worship concerts” are held, all the lights focus on the stage, while the congregation sits in relative darkness. The music is performed by professionals, and the arrangements are designed to provide a great visual and musical performance. The “audience” in these situations, may choose to participate, but the event is not designed with congregational participation in mind. If it were, the lights would be on, and the music would be arranged to make it as easy as possible for the people to sing.

The result of all this is a “consumer” culture in worship. As author, Brian McLaren puts it, our congregations have become “sophisticated consumers of pre-packaged worship experiences”. And the problem with this is that consumer worship does not change lives. All it does is pander to our preferences and confirm us in our self-centred, “bless-me” spirituality.

This is where the season of Lent is such a challenging and helpful gift to the Church. In Lent, we are called to a life of spiritual discipline which directly and intentionally challenges our self-centredness. In particular, the discipline of giving (which includes giving of time, abilities and resources in service and generosity) confronts our consumer spirituality.

Giving and service are often seen as disciplines that are practiced outside of the church building, and they certainly can be. It is always a good thing to practice our faith in the daily routine of work, family and leisure. But, we really learn these practices in church as we worship together. If we are allowed to only sing what we want to sing, and to only worship in a style that suits us, our consumer tendencies are never confronted. But, when we are brought together with those who sing and pray differently from us, we are forced to learn to serve them by making space for their worship - even it means sacrificing ours. This is the only loving, Christ-like response. As Richard Twiss once said, “you don’t love someone until you learn to love their music”. And then, having learned to serve each other in the sanctuary, service becomes a natural outflow into the rest of our lives.

So, how is your worship? Do you come as a consumer or as a contributor? How prepared are you to learn to worship in different ways and styles - to serve others by laying your own preferences aside? If we can learn to do this, then we begin to get a glimpse of the vision of heaven: “I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9 NLT)

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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.
Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

I Don't Want It All

Years ago the band Queen sang, in one of their hit songs, “I want it all, and I want it now”. This could well be the anthem of our age, and yet, we are living through the consequences of this way of living. Don’t get me wrong - I love Queen, but, I believe that the arts both guide and reflect the soul of the society from which they arise, and our society is not healthy. Our addiction to material wealth and convenience - to “wanting it all” - has driven us to levels of consumption that has made our planet sick. Our greed and inhumanity has created vast chasms between the rich and the poor, and our indifference has set us up for the kind of economic collapse we are dealing with today.

None of this is news, and we are all culpable. Which is why we desperately need something to challenge us, to stop us in our tracks and call us to a different way. In other words, we need something to help us repent.

Both John the Baptiser and Jesus built their ministries around the call to repent. John called people into the water and instructed them to live differently - justly, generously and mercifully (Luke 3:3-14). Jesus proclaimed that God’s reign had come, and that to enter it required repenting and believing (Mark 1:14,15). Repentance and believing must go together - we cannot hope to change if we don’t believe in the new way we seek to live. Perhaps that’s part of the problem with how we do things. We struggle to let go of our materialism and consumption, because we trust it for security, and we don’t have much faith in the alternative - sharing, simplicity and equity. So, again, we need something to help us to believe, and then to lead us into repentance - to turning ourselves around, choosing new values, and embracing new behaviours.

This is why we need seasons like Lent, with its discipline of fasting. If we will embrace the journey with the mindfulness that it deserves, it offers us a chance to “test the waters” of a new way of living. It’s a small step to commit to just 40 days of Lenten fasting, of turning away from our addictions and greed. We are given the opportunity to choose just one area of our lives, and to repent for a while, doing things differently, and observing the results.

This may all sound a bit shallow and unspiritual, but for me it demonstrates the grace and patience of God. If we will accept the challenge, Lent will lead us into a first hand experience of what our lives can be like when we turn away from “I want it all” and trust in “Give us this day our daily bread”. And, as I have heard from many sincere Lenten pilgrims, this taste of a new way of living is usually enough to boost our faith, and inspire us to wholehearted repentance - the kind that overhauls our lives completely.

So, even though we are already well into Lent, it’s not too late to take this small step of faith. And, if more of us would do it, perhaps the power of Lent would grow, and perhaps the values that drive our world into consumption would slowly shift. Yes, it’s a dream. But it’s a dream worth dreaming.