Finding Yourself in the Faces of Others

Mother Theresa once said that the worst disease that afflicts human beings is the disease of being unwanted. In our deeply connected world we somehow still remain less connected than ever. The gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to grow. The ongoing conflict between people of different nationalities, religions and ideologies demonstrates how far we still have to go to find each other.

One of the great ironies of Pentecost is that this season, which is all about connection, has been the source of so much conflict within the Christian community. Just as difficult is that Pentecost is too often viewed in ways that disconnect us from God as well. Where the outpouring of the Spirit was meant to be an opportunity to recognise God’s Presence everywhere and in everything, we have turned it into a prized and protected gift that is only available to a select few who jump through the right doctrinal steps. We have built a wall around an event that was all about breaking down the walls.

Throughout Scripture God seeks to make people aware of God’s presence and Spirit that fills creation. The Psalmist sings that there is nowhere we can go from God’s Spirit (Ps.139). Every time an object draws people away from universal awareness of God, it is rejected by God. The bronze serpent that brought healing to the people following Moses became an object of worship, and the prophets denounced it. Even the Temple, in which God was thought to dwell, was ultimately destroyed before the people of Israel were able to recognise that God was with them even in exile.

However, no proclamation of God’s accessibility was ever as powerful as Pentecost. On this significant day (which we will celebrate this Sunday), we are faced with the God who is not just with us, but within us. This is both a glorious and a frightening reality. For the Jews, who believed that to see God meant certain death, a God who breaks out of the safe confines of the Temple is a scary thing. For anyone who wants to compartmentalise life, a God who indwells is a very inconvenient thing.

To go further, as the Spirit is ‘poured’ out, one of the indicators is the variety of languages that are spoken - reversing the divisions of Babel. Language, which is so often a wall between people, is removed. Culture, religion, nationality are all shifted from centre stage. The outpouring of God’s Spirit is not just the breaking down of walls between people and God, but also between people and people.

The startling truth of this is that, in Pentecost, the ultimate connectivity between all things is revealed. If our celebration of this season is to be true to this revelation, we will need to think of worship differently - not as the place where God ‘is’ and we go to meet God, but as a place in which we learn to recognise God’s Spirit in every moment and every place and every person. If we are to become people of Pentecost, we will need to think of other people differently - not as disconnected, different and ‘other than’, but as connected, God-imaged and part of ‘us’.

Could it be that this is what it means to worship in Spirit and truth? Could it be that this is the worship that can help to heal our world? It could - by breaking down the artificial walls we have created.


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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.

Breaking Down The Walls

Mother Theresa once said that the worst disease that afflicts human beings is the disease of being unwanted. In our deeply connected world we somehow still remain less connected than ever. The gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to grow. The ongoing conflict between people of different nationalities, religions and ideologies demonstrates how far we still have to go to find each other.

One of the great ironies of Pentecost is that this season, which is all about connection, has been the source of so much conflict within the Christian community. Just as difficult is that Pentecost is too often viewed in ways that disconnect us from God as well. Where the outpouring of the Spirit was meant to be an opportunity to recognise God’s Presence everywhere and in everything, we have turned it into a prized and protected gift that is only available to a select few who jump through the right doctrinal steps. We have built a wall around an event that was all about breaking down the walls.

Throughout Scripture God seeks to make people aware of God’s presence and Spirit that fills creation. The Psalmist sings that there is nowhere we can go from God’s Spirit (Ps.139). Every time an object draws people away from universal awareness of God, it is rejected by God. The bronze serpent that brought healing to the people following Moses became an object of worship, and the prophets denounced it. Even the Temple, in which God was thought to dwell, was ultimately destroyed before the people of Israel were able to recognise that God was with them even in exile.

However, no proclamation of God’s accessibility was ever as powerful as Pentecost. On this significant day (which we will celebrate this Sunday), we are faced with the God who is not just with us, but within us. This is both a glorious and a frightening reality. For the Jews, who believed that to see God meant certain death, a God who breaks out of the safe confines of the Temple is a scary thing. For anyone who wants to compartmentalise life, a God who indwells is a very inconvenient thing.

To go further, as the Spirit is ‘poured’ out, one of the indicators is the variety of languages that are spoken - reversing the divisions of Babel. Language, which is so often a wall between people, is removed. Culture, religion, nationality are all shifted from centre stage. The outpouring of God’s Spirit is not just the breaking down of walls between people and God, but also between people and people.

The startling truth of this is that, in Pentecost, the ultimate connectivity between all things is revealed. If our celebration of this season is to be true to this revelation, we will need to think of worship differently - not as the place where God ‘is’ and we go to meet God, but as a place in which we learn to recognise God’s Spirit in every moment and every place and every person. If we are to become people of Pentecost, we will need to think of other people differently - not as disconnected, different and ‘other than’, but as connected, God-imaged and part of ‘us’.

Could it be that this is what it means to worship in Spirit and truth? Could it be that this is the worship that can help to heal our world? It could - by breaking down the artificial walls we have created.

__________
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.

Power

What would you say is the most important question of our time? One strong contender must be the power question - how best should power be used? In the light of the corruption, leadership crises and abuses of power we see in so many governments, churches and organisations, this question grows more urgent with each passing day..

The question of power and how we understand it cannot be avoided when we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus. This event forms our view of Christ’s ‘Lordship’, and also our perceptions of where we fit into God’s purposes. I have a suspicion, though, that we have often misunderstood its real meaning. When we look back at Christian history, we cannot help but be shocked at the abuses of power revealed in the crusades and the inquisition, in slavery and the subjugation of women, in colonisation and apartheid.

Generally power can be understood in three ways. The first, which I would call “power over” is the power that is achieved through competition and conquest – the most powerful figure being the one who exerts their dominance over all others. Jesus never chose to use power in this way.

The second way of power is what I call “power under”. This is power that is exerted in hidden ways, behind the scenes and through significant connections. “Power under” may look like powerlessness, but the reality is that it is just a different way to play the power game – achieving personal goals through flattery, manipulation and association with those who wield “power over”. It may also provide an escape from responsibility and accountability. Again, Jesus refused to play this hidden, manipulative power game.

But, there is a third way to use power that is based on neither dominance (“power over”) nor manipulation (“power under”). This is the power of synergy – “power with” - that brings people into creative, collaborative, power-sharing relationships. To those who play the usual power games, this looks frighteningly like giving power away, but in truth, power shared is multiplied and expresses itself in the healthiest possible way. This is the kind of power that Jesus embraced and used throughout his life.

The Ascension is often interpreted as Jesus becoming a victorious, and ultimately retributive King. His sovereignty and power is celebrated as a destruction of death and evil, and the promise of his return as a violent conquest. But, this image goes against the character of Jesus that is revealed in the Gospels, and also ignores a few important truths.

When Jesus ascended he did an incredible thing - he carried our humanity into heaven with him. If the incarnation is God made flesh, the ascension is humanity being made “divine”. God chose to include in his eternal person, the same flesh that is our home. This is completely mind-blowing, but I challenge you to think about it for a moment. In addition, as Jesus ascended, he made it clear that he is the one who fills all things (as Paul says in Ephesians 1:23). In other words, rather than the ascension being Jesus separated from and dominant over creation, it is a proclamation of God’s all-inclusive, all-embracing love. In the ascension we are invited to realise that God is closer to us, and more committed to us, than we have ever dared to imagine. Once we have grasped the power of this truth, our response can only be humble, whole-hearted worship.

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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.

Work

In South Africa a past series of television advertisements for the national lottery depicted working people suddenly behaving rather outrageously, expressing for the first time their frustrations and anger at bosses and jobs. The reason soon became clear – having won a fortune, they no longer need to work, and thus they were free to behave as they wished, and walk away to a life of leisure. This, we were told, is our “license to dream.”

What fascinates me about these commercials is the assumption that work is a necessary evil from which we would all flee if we were just given the opportunity. Many, if not most people seem to endure work as little more than drudgery, finding neither joy nor satisfaction in the tasks that fill the greater part of their waking hours. At a parents’ meeting at my son’s school some years ago, a teacher began her presentation by asking the parents to raise their hands if they were fulfilled and happy in their work. Of roughly one thousand adults in the room, only about a hundred responded. For fully ninety percent, it seemed, work is nothing more than an unavoidable curse. Perhaps it is ironic, then, that in South Africa we have a special day each year dedicated to workers - celebrated just this last Saturday on May 1st.

For followers of Jesus, though, work takes on a whole different meaning - and Jesus himself is our best example. It was both shocking and transforming for the disciples to see their Master strip, and then bow to wash their feet (John 13:1-17). In a culture in which feet were seldom pampered as they are today, in which dusty roads were walked in open sandals, and in which the customary courtesy of washing a guest’s feet was usually performed by slaves, Jesus’ act was extremely radical. In taking up the towel and basin, Jesus called his followers to serve one another, but also removed the temptation to create a ‘pecking order’ of work. He revealed something new about himself and his purpose to his friends, and they encountered him afresh. Conversely, in his parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus made it clear that he is also encountered when we serve “the least”. In this way all work becomes an opportunity to meet Christ again, a potential for receiving and giving the grace of Christ.

It is not surprising, then, that worship and work are strongly connected. The traditional word for worship - liturgy - literally means “the work of the people”. In worship, we join together to serve God and one another, and in doing so, we learn to build our entire lives around this God-honouring work. For example, as Susan White wrote in her book, ‘The Spirit of Worship’, “In the Lord’s supper, the work of human hands, bread baked and wine made, vessels crafted and textiles woven, the money in the offering plate, all become transparent to the redemptive love of God. This allows us to see our work for what it is, a true participation in the life and mission of God.” (p.53)

What this means, is that as we are changed through the liturgy - the “work” of encounter with God - so the meaning of everything we do is changed as well. Worship teaches us that our work is a place of ministry - a calling. And as we learn this lesson, we discover that whatever tasks we perform are a service to God, and an opportunity to further the purposes of God in our world.

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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.