Back in the eighties when I was a teenager, I used to love listening to a particular song by The Resurrection Band called “Awaiting Your Reply”. I remember being touched by the idea that God was communicating with me and awaiting a reply – a response – from me. Perhaps that’s why I have always found myself seeking for ways to create moments of response in worship gatherings, and why I have so often found these moments to be the most significant.
A few years ago, during Holy Week, I worked with a team to create a series of worship gatherings focussed on the work of Christ through the cross. On the first night, which was entitled “If Only I Could Start Again” we gave every person a silver coin. As the worship progressed, we witnessed through drama and Scripture and poetry and music Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal of Christ. Finally, in a moment of confession we invited people to come forward and drop their coins into hollow crosses that we had had made for the purpose. As music gently played in the background and the sound of dropping coins filled the sanctuary, I saw some people weeping, some praying and some filled with joy and relief. It was a powerful moment of worshipful response.
A few days later I learned from someone in our counselling centre that a woman had arrived the next day asking to see a counsellor. She had been in the service, and during the confession ritual, had held her silver coin with a burning grief and anger in her heart. The reason was that she had recently learned that her young daughter had been abused by a family member, and she was angry at God for allowing this to happen, and grieving for her daughter’s pain and loss of innocence. Then, she suddenly had a memory of a verse in the Bible saying something about redeeming a child with a piece of silver. In that moment she asked God to allow her silver coin, in some way, to be a redemption for her daughter. Then, as she came forward and dropped her coin into the cross, she felt the anger and grief inside of her break, and the first small signs of healing begin. She had come to our counselling centre seeking to continue the work that had begun with her response to God in worship.
In my experience God is always awaiting our reply. As we gather for worship, God speaks and acts, drawing us into intimacy with God’s self. But, for that intimacy to grow and deepen, we need to respond. For the worship encounter to change us in any way, we need to respond. For our worship to overflow from the sanctuary into the rest of our lives, we need to respond.
One common act of response that is used in many churches is the “altar call”, where people are invited to come to the front for prayer or to show a public commitment. Altar calls can be deeply moving, healing and transforming for many people, but they are not the only way to create moments of response. Sometimes a simple prayer, a time of silence, a symbolic act (like the coins and crosses), the sacrament of Holy Communion, or a carefully chosen song can be an equally powerful act of response. The important thing is not how we respond, but that we respond.
This response does not only happen on Sundays, of course. The response in a worship gathering is simply a way of learning how to respond to God all the time and in every place – because God is always speaking, always acting, and always awaiting your reply.
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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.