Worship in Spirit and Truth

Who are you? For many of us the answer to this question is found in the things we do. We are students, or we are parents. We are lawyers, or builders, or farmers, or police officers. Yet, even as we explore our work, our relationships and our activities, we realise that who we are goes deeper than all of this. And so we begin to think about our personalities, our culture, our gender, our language, our characteristics, our faith and our values. And again, we discover that while we have uncovered some of the truths of who we are, there is still so much more to explore.

Last night, as I was facilitating a conversation about worship, one of the participants commented that it’s impossible to really worship, to really encounter God until we know ourselves. I had to stop and think for a while, and then it struck me – we can’t know ourselves without worshiping God. We don’t wait until we know ourselves and then come into a relationship with God. It’s as we go deeper into intimacy with God that we discover our true selves.

In Jeremiah 1:5 God calls the young prophet into service with these words: "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as My prophet to the nations."

David, in his wonderful Psalm, offers a similar thought: “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:15,16)

God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. God has formed us, gifted us and called us each into our unique journey. And we cannot really know any of this without connecting with the God from whom it all flows.

In John 4 Jesus is in conversation with a Samaritan woman. She asks him whether the correct place to worship is on the hill where Jacob’s well was, or at the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus replies with the famous words: “…The time is coming—indeed it's here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth…” (John 4:23 NLT)

Spirit and truth are not two separate things. It is God’s Spirit who leads us into truth (John 16:13). It is as God’s Spirit reaches out for connection with our spirits that worship happens, that we are drawn into intimate encounter with God. And it is as we lose ourselves in worship that we discover our true selves.

One of the best ways we can open ourselves to worship in Spirit and Truth is through praise. As we lift our voices and hearts in adoration to God, we find ourselves being caught up in a vision of God’s glory and beauty. We discover that we are enveloped by God’s Presence, and we begin to learn a little of the truth about God. But, equally, as we praise God, we discover the truth about ourselves. In the light of God’s Presence, we can’t help but recognize those things that are destructive and broken, the places where we still need to change and grow. And, we are also able to see those places within us that reflect God’s glory and beauty, that bring life to others and ourselves, and that are moving to the rhythms of God’s Kingdom.

Who are you? You may never be able to put the answer into words. But, as you lose yourself in worship, you will find yourself in the embrace of the God who knew you before you were even conceived.

Perspective

Preaching is an interesting activity. I like to ask questions in my sermons, but I have seldom received an answer. At times, when I’ve really wanted people to talk back to me, I have had to push really hard before they give me some response. But, only once have I been interrupted.

I had been reflecting on how we view the world – whether we feel it is getting better or worse – and I asked people to think about our their own feelings. Suddenly an elderly man stood up and, looking around with eyes that were filled with grief and sadness, said, “I don’t think the world could get any worse…” Then he sat down.

For many people in our world today, there is no question that the world is terrible and that it’s only going to get worse. But, while we may deny it, this is not fact. It is simply perspective.

None of us is capable of seeing the world clearly. How we view our circumstances, our political and economic realities, our futures and our neighbours is all filtered through our upbringing, our religion, our language, our experiences, our culture and many other lenses. But, what we don’t always realise is that these perspectives impact how we live. If we feel that things are bad, we will tend to be pessimistic, fearful and suspicious of others, and we will act in ways that protect what we have and ourselves. But, if we feel that the world is a good place, we will tend to be much more positive, trusting and open. Whether we are optimists or pessimists, the world remains the same. It is only our perspective that is different. Which is why we so desperately need something bigger than ourselves to give us a better perspective on the world.

Every Sunday, as we gather for worship, we are engaged in the work of “perspective-shifting”. We may not even know we’re doing it, but as we sing and pray, as we read the Scriptures and listen to their meaning for us, our view of the world, of ourselves and of others is being subtly, but significantly, changed. As we encounter God, and as we are given again the vision of God’s reign that worship offers us, we begin to see things from the perspective of God’s purpose and God’s presence. We begin to think about things in the light of God’s grace, God’s justice, God’s compassion and God’s salvation. And this divine perspective changes our human perspective in remarkable ways.

One of the most important activities in worship that feeds this “perspective-shifting” is adoration. When we lift our eyes from our own limited view, and begin to focus on who God is and what God is doing among us, we cannot help but see everything differently. As we express our praise of God, we are reminded that there is another reality at work in our world. As we allow God to reveal God’s self to us, we discover that our resources and abilities are only a small fraction of all that God makes available to us, and we are reminded that, in the light of God’s glory and eternity, our sufferings and struggles are small and temporary (See 2 Corinthians 4:17).

We don’t offer praise in order to receive God’s strength and inspiration. We praise God simply because God is praiseworthy. But, in God’s grace, when we do this, we are changed. And the world begins to look very different when we realise that God really is at work in it – in ALL of it.
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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.

Adoration

The nation was in turmoil. A well-loved leader had died, and the future was uncertain. There was no way of knowing whether the successor would be good, or whether, like others in history, he would choose a way which would plunge the country into disarray, conflict and despair. With this concern weighing on him, Isaiah went into the Temple to pray. What he experienced there changed him forever – though he had entered as a politician, he left the sanctuary as a prophet.

What Isaiah describes in Chapter 6 of his book is a profound experience of God’s presence and glory. What he witnesses is God revealing God’s self to a mere human, and heavenly beings offering God such adoration that Isaiah could not help but be drawn into it. Although our worship may not be quite as dramatic, the essential experience is the same.

In the last few weeks we have been exploring what it means to gather, to be called to worship, and to take the time to ‘invoke’ God’s presence. These are all acts of preparation and of opening our hearts and minds to encounter God. Whether we actually expect the encounter to happen, or whether we are capable of discerning God’s revelation of God’s self to us, is often a product of how mindfully we have embraced this movement into worship.

Once we are fully engaged in the act of worship, though, we cannot avoid dealing with the reality of God, and searching for an appropriate response. One effective metaphor for what we do in Church is this: In worship God reveals, and we respond. Or, to put it another way, God speaks and we answer. Of course, there are also times when we speak and God answers, but that is pretty much always a secondary movement to what we have just described. If we do not come to worship in order to encounter God, in order to open ourselves to God’s revealing of God’s self, in order to be transformed by a true meeting with God, then we are wasting our time. And, if we are to ensure that we are fully present to the experience of God’s presence, we must embrace the act of adoration or praise.

It is not uncommon to hear sceptics asking why any God worth worshipping would need people to stroke God’s ego. The implication is that praise is for God, and that God is an arrogant, egotistical deity who should not need to hear how wonderful God is from men and women. This criticism completely misses the point. We do not praise God because God needs us to. We praise God because we need to. Unless we take the time to recognise God’s presence, to be overwhelmed by God’s greatness and to be impacted by God’s glory, we can never hope to find intimacy with God. Like in any good relationship, we need to hear the story of our beloved, sense the spirit reaching out through the words and actions to connect with us, and be led into deeper knowing of the one we love. This is what praise does. We may speak the words, but the act of praise is more than words. It reflects back to us the glory and beauty, the nature and purpose of God. It tells us who this God is and what God is doing among us. It invites us to know God, and be known by God.

The act of praise is a world-changing thing. The writer Annie Dillard once wrote that if we really knew what we were doing in worship, we should wear crash helmets! That’s why the book of Hebrews says: “it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (10:31 NLT). Isaiah was caught up in praise of God, and was changed. We can expect nothing less from an encounter with God, and if we will take the risk to give ourselves in praise, we will discover ourselves drawn ever deeper into intimacy with the God who is eternal Mystery.
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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.

Invocation

Some years ago, when my children were very little, I overhead them having an argument. My younger son was trying to get his older brother to do something, and it was clear that he was not making any headway. Finally, in a desperate attempt to convince his brother to listen to him he shouted, “But God says you must!”

This is what is commonly called “invoking” the name of God. The Oxford American Dictionary defines the word “invoke” as to “cite or appeal to (someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support of an argument”. This was certainly what my son was attempting to do! But there is another meaning to this word, and it relates directly to what we do every Sunday when we gather for worship: to invoke is to “call on (a deity or spirit) in prayer, as a witness, or for inspiration.” Of course, it’s not only on Sundays that we call on God for inspiration, but our worship gatherings are one time that we are particularly aware of doing this. They are also, perhaps, the one time when they way we do this may directly impact how we think of God – and of ourselves in relation to God.

What I mean is this. It is common in worship to hear prayers that ask God to “come” or to “fill” the place of worship. When I hear words like this, I can’t help but wonder where we thought God was before we invited God in. Sometimes we reverse the idea by speaking about the way we have “entered” or “come into” God’s presence – as if God does not dare venture out of the doors of our churches, and can be found nowhere else. Now this may seem like semantics, but I believe that the words we use strongly influence the reality we live in.

If we believe God is only present when we invite God to be with us, we will feel uncomfortable when we have forgotten to pray, or when we find ourselves in a place that we wouldn’t want to invite God into. Which means that we will tend to avoid ministering in any places that may be shady, broken down or ‘God-forsaken’ (as we sometimes refer to them). On the other hand, if we believe that God’s presence is something we enter when we walk into a church, we will tend to feel that we need to keep calling on God for special favours if we are to experience God’s activity in our ordinary, daily lives. Either way, we will find ourselves living a dualistic life where, in one part of our lives, we worship and encounter God, and in other parts of our lives God is absent unless we invite God in. Few of us would admit to living this way, but if we examine our lives, we may well find evidence of this tendency. And if we do, I’m sure you’ll acknowledge that it’s not the most helpful way to live.

But here’s where worship can help us. If we take the words of the Psalmist seriously (when he wrote that there is nowhere we can go where we won’t find God’s Spirit and presence – Psalm 139), we will pray the prayer of invocation very differently. We will find ourselves asking God to open our eyes to God’s presence that is already within us and among us. We will also acknowledge that God’s presence fills not just our building, but the universe. And as we worship week after week, these words will settle into our souls, and we will find that we live in a very different world – a word that is flooded, at every moment and in every place, with the glory and presence of God.

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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.

Please enter

What does your journey into worship look like? Do you find yourself rushing to get to church on time, and slipping in the door feeling breathless and stressed? Do you take a while to ‘get into’ the service, battling to keep your mind from wandering? Or do you feel prepared and expectant?

In many of the churches where I have worked there have been long conversations about how a worship service should start. Do we keep the sanctuary quiet so that people can pray as they wait for the service to start? Or do we encourage people to chat with one another? Do we make sure we start on time or do we allow some leeway so that latecomers can settle down before we begin?

These may seem like unimportant questions, but the way we enter the sanctuary can make a huge difference to our experience of worship and its impact on our lives. That’s why, in ancient Israel, the people were intentionally “called” to worship.

When the time for worship was approaching, a priest would blow a ram’s horn (or shofar) in order to sound the call to worship, and then the people would begin the journey up to the Temple. This procession became a time of preparation, both through the people walking and chatting together, and through the focused sense of moving into the sanctuary. That’s why David could sing: ‘I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord”’ (Psalm 122:1)

In my experience, though, little thought is given to the first few moments in the worship service and the result is that our worship often lacks the power it could have. This is why the simple practice known as the “Call to Worship” is so important. While it would be good if all participants came to worship after spending some time alone preparing their hearts for the encounter, we cannot assume that everyone will do this. In addition, if we want our worship to draw us into a meaningful, transforming encounter with God, we need to ensure that we are focused on meaningful practices from the first moment of the service.

So – for those of us who lead worship - instead of beginning worship with jokes, notices and unstructured greetings, it may be better if we create a moment which invites people into the journey right from the start. This could be a song, a prayer, a poem, a video clip, or anything that meets people where they are and helps them to connect with the theme and the activities of the service.

For those of us who simply attend worship, we can be more intentional about how we enter. We can take a few moments before we leave for church preparing our hearts and praying for the worship, thinking of all who will be gathering with us in the sanctuary, and asking God to touch us. Then, as we travel to worship, we can give ourselves time to travel slowly and mindfully, perhaps listening to worship music or keeping silence in our vehicles or as we walk. Finally, we can enter the sanctuary with reverence, greeting friends and companion worshipers, and then, as the service starts, making the choice to be attentive to the words and actions that we are invited to share.

If we can make a regular practice of having a true “call to worship”, we will be amazed and inspired by the way our worship is deepened and enriched, and we will find that the power of our worship to change us becomes even greater.

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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.

The Gift of Gathering

After a long hiatus I have finally returned to the gym – or health club, as I believe it is now known. I am grateful to be getting my body back into some sort of shape, and for the time to get out of my head for a while each day. One thing that has struck me about the health club experience, though, is how very individualistic it all is. There are always lots of people around when I go there, but each person is doing pretty much their own thing – often listening to their own personal soundtrack on an Mp3 Player. This is appropriate behaviour in a health club, after all. We all have different fitness needs, and we don’t really need too much interaction to get our bodies strong and healthy.

But, for a spiritual journey this individualistic behaviour is not appropriate – although the way we “do” worship or church or spirituality in general may not show that we know this. All too often our churches are nothing more than congregations, rather than communities. All too often we slip into a pew, sing as softly as we can without looking out of place, bow our heads at the right time and then slip out again as quickly as we can when it’s all over. Unfortunately, what brings great benefit in a health club brings the opposite in the spiritual life.

In spite of the popular views of spirituality that make it about selecting your own particular preferences and following your own way along your own particular spiritual path, all the time-honoured spiritual teachers and traditions indicate that spirituality must lead us into relationships with others. On our own we never have to face the things about ourselves that we don’t like. On our own we may never realise the habits and ways of being that hurt others or put people off. But, it doesn’t take too long in true community to find ourselves getting frustrated, or to be faced with someone whom we have offended, and be forced to work it out. That’s why in one form or another, love is the primary commandment of all religions. We cannot grow as people, or in our relationship with God, without other people and without working out how to interact with, respect and give dignity to others.

And this is one reason that Christian worship always begins with the act of gathering. It is important, for our own spiritual health and that of our companions, that we make the effort to get up, make ourselves presentable, and trek off to some place where we will meet together. It is important that we greet one another and consciously recognise the other people who share the worship space with us. While the introvert in me loves the idea of a quiet sanctuary where I can slip in, close my eyes and pray as I wait for the service to start, I have had to learn that this is not how worship was done in the Scriptures, or even in the history of the Church. While there is a place for quiet preparation, much of that can and should be done alone, at home, before moving toward the gathering. Once we arrive at the church, though, we need the call of community to touch us and engage us if we are to truly experience the worship our souls need.

So, next time you go to church, won’t you go with the conscious intention of gathering – reach out to your companion worshipers, and, if you don’t know them, introduce yourself. Let’s gather on purpose as people who share a longing for God, and who can help each other along the way.

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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 passed down

I was talking to my children the other day and made reference to McGyver, the “fix-anything-with-nothing” television character from the 80s. They looked at me with blank faces and asked, “Who’s McGyver?” I was reminded of how easily the stories and ideas of one generation fade and are replaced by new ones for new generations.

Unfortunately, this seems to happen way too easily in the realm of faith as well. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that faith - both personally and in community - grows and develops over time, and so I am not opposed to new expressions of faith or new ways of thinking through issues and ideas. I believe that new movements in faith like the Pentecostal and Charismatic revivals of a few decades ago, and the Emerging Church movement of today, give us valuable and important gifts for the development of our faith.

But, I also believe in the faith that is passed down. I believe that all new expressions of faith need to be rooted in the ancient community of believers, and in the lessons that are taught by its history. I am reminded of Paul’s words to the young pastor Timothy when he described Timothy’s faith:

“I'm reminded of how sincere your faith is. That faith first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I'm convinced that it also lives in you.”

Timothy’s faith was not a completely new thing, unrelated to those who had come before him. On the contrary, Timothy had a faith that was passed down - rooted in the faith of his elders. As fashionable as everything to do with youth may be in our world today, our faith is shallow and poor if we ignore the stories and memories of our elders. And those among us who are advanced in years, have a responsibility to pass our faith down - through our example, our story-telling and our mentoring. This does not mean that youth has nothing to offer - it certainly does, and I will explore the gifts of youth in a future article. But it does mean that we must be careful to preserve the treasures of our past as well.

When worship is practiced thoughtfully and faithfully, it gives us a connection to this faith-history. Our ancient hymns, well-used liturgies, historic symbols and age-old rituals all open doors to the wisdom of our mothers and fathers in faith. Yes, these traditional worship elements can be “packaged” or expressed in fresh new ways, with new instruments and new technologies, but let’s never make the mistake of abandoning them. As the old saying goes: “Those who fail to learn the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat them.”

So, who are the mothers and fathers of your faith community? How can you value their stories and memories better? How can you enable them to pass their faith down to new generations? What are the ancient practices of your church? How can you honour and preserve them? What “packaging” can you given them to make them more attractive to the young people who need to learn their lessons? And when the time comes, how can you pass your faith on to others, so that they too can enjoy the benefits of a faith passed down?

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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.