Every Sunday we gather in buildings around the country and around the world. And this gathering has become the defining act of the Church. When 'outsiders' explore joining the faith, Sunday is often where they start. When denominations seek to differentiate themselves, Sunday is one of the primary places where this can be seen. When generations and languages and cultures seek to express their faith, Sunday is the platform on which they stand.
Why should this be? What is the significance of this weekly gathering that it should carry so much weight? These are important questions to ask when, on the one side, so much energy and money is spent on Sunday's worship, and on the other hand, so many people are leaving the Church because of dissatisfaction with Sunday. In the light of this, one simple shift may help us to find a way to worship practice that is healthy and life-giving.
Worship as Context:
Most of the conversation about worship starts with what we do – what songs we sing, what instruments we use, what structures (or lack of) shape our services. But the truth is that worship, at its heart, is not something we do, but something we are. Every human being is a worshipper. We are hard-wired to offer our allegiance to something beyond ourselves. Whether it's science or spirituality, a person or a god, a thing or an ideology, human beings will find something to form both the centre and the context for their lives. Whatever it is that gives us meaning, direction, a set of values and a focal point for our living and loving – this is what we worship.
What this means is that most, if not all of us, fall (at least at times) into a functional atheism. We sing and proclaim one thing with great vehemence on Sundays, but then live around a completely different centre of gravity. While singing and praying a Gospel that is supposed to be good news for the poor, we spend the rest of the week trying to pretend that the poor don't exist. While celebrating community and sharing on Sundays, we return to our individualist, consumerist lives on Monday. By making worship about a few small activities, we have released ourselves from the call to make the worship of Jesus the context in which all of our relationships, ethics, finances, work, leisure – and praying – are done.
Sunday in Context:
But, once we make the shift to worship as the context – the realm, the kin-dom – in which our lives are played out, Sunday begins to take on a whole new role. Instead of being the beginning and the end of worship, Sunday becomes the place where we seek to learn the priorities and values that must guide our lives. Rather than making Sunday the time and place where we “worship”, we embrace the gathering as a call to allow the light of the Gospel to search our motives and actions and point us in the direction of authentic Christ-likeness.
In today's Church all too many of us follow the Church rather than Christ. We follow worship rather than Christ. We follow our preferences rather than Christ. Perhaps it's time to return to the only One who is truly worthy of our worship. And to make worshipping – following – Jesus the primary reality in which we live.
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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.