Worship: Looking Up to God, Pt. III

IV. Corporate Worship

We have seen that worship is an ongoing activity but that we can also have special times of private worship. These facts don’t rule out the need to gather with other believers in corporate, public worship. In this post, I want to focus on the time of worship and the components of worship.

A. Time

Immediately after receiving the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the first Christians met together daily to worship Christ together (Acts 2:46). Corporate gatherings marked the life of the church from its very beginning. Eventually, the early Christians developed the practice of meeting together on the first day of the week to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, which occurred on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7, which probably refers to Sunday night). By meeting on the first day, Christians were expressing their confidence that the risen Lord was present with them, as he had promised in Matthew 18:20.

Even in the early church, some Christians felt this was an optional or unnecessary practice, especially during times of persecution. Consequently, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews admonished them to keep meeting together (Heb 10:24-15). Through the centuries, Christians have felt that meeting together in worship was such a high priority that they would even risk their lives to do it. From the Roman Christians who worshipped in the catacombs to the Chinese Christians of today who worship secretively in houses, Christians have always met together to celebrate God’s love, even at the risk of their lives. Richard Foster has noted that the strong emphasis on corporate worship sets Christianity apart from the religions of the East (Foster, 1988, p. 163).

Why do Christians view corporate worship as so necessary for their spiritual growth? For one thing, meeting together strengthens our faith. When we are in physical proximity to each other, we kindle each other’s faith and love for God. At times, I may come to worship with a low spirit, feeling distant from God, but my brother’s or sister’s enthusiasm may spark a flame in me. And at other times I may do the same for the other. Martin Luther said: “At home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through” (Foster, 1988, p. 164). Isaac Pennington says that, when people are gathered for worship, “they are like a heap of fresh and burning coals warming one another as a great strength and freshness and vigor of life flows into all” (Foster, 1988, p. 172). Marjorie J. Thompson explains the need for corporate worship:

While a worshipful attitude should permeate one’s entire life, the role of common worship is crucial. We delude ourselves if we imagine we can live the spiritual life in total isolation from Christian community, for it is impossible to be Christian in solitary splendor. To be Christian is to be joined to the Body of Christ. The central and visible way in which the church expresses this reality is by gathering in the Spirit to receive and respond to God’s living Word (1995, p. 56).

In spite of the Bible’s command to meet together and in spite of the benefits of meeting together, a Gallup Poll in 1989 showed that 70% of church members thought they could be good members without going to church (Hinson, 1991, p. 23). The excuses people give for not worshipping on Sunday led one church to have a special “No Excuse Sunday.” Here is how they promoted it:

To make it possible for everyone to attend church next Sunday, we are going to have a special “No Excuse Sunday.” Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, “Sunday is my only day to sleep in.” Murine will be available for those with tired eyes… from watching television too late on Saturday night. We will have steel helmets for those who say, “The roof would cave in if I ever came to church.” Blankets will be provided for those who think the church is too cold and fans for those who think the church is too hot. We will have hearing aids for those who say, “The pastor speaks too softly,” and cotton balls for those who say he preaches too loudly. Score cards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present. Some relatives will be in attendance for those who like to go visiting on Sunday. There will be 100 TV dinners for those who cannot go to church and cook dinner also. One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature. Finally, the sanctuary will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen the church without them.

B. Components

The early church met in homes (Acts 2:42, 46), and their corporate worship occurred in the context of a communal meal (Linton, 2005). Based on the evidence in the New Testament, Dennis Smith concludes that “we should imagine Christian meetings taking place at table most if not all of the time.” In fact, he argues that the entire worship service took place in the dining room (Smith, 2003, pp. 177-179, 200-202). Sharing meals together was a central activity of various social groups in the first-century world, and the Christians also found special meaning in that practice.

First, these meals recalled Jesus’ customary practice of sharing meals with his disciples and others (Mark 2:15-17; 6:35-44; 14:3-9; Luke 5:29-33; 7:36-50; 11:37-52; 14:1-14; 22:7-23; John 12:1-8). Second, they provided a foretaste of the coming kingdom, which Jesus described as a banquet (Matt 22:1-14; 25:1-13; Luke 12:35-48; 13:22-30; 14:15-24; 15:11-31; 17:7-10). Third, they reminded the disciples of Jesus’ postresurrection appearances during meals (Mark 16:4; Luke 24:13-35; 24:36-49; John 21:9-14). For these reasons, the early Christians called their meal gatherings “the Lord’s supper” (1 Cor 17-34). The Greek word for “supper”, deipnon, means “banquet” or “feast.” The Christians had a full meal when they gathered together.

The ancients thought that eating a meal together created a social bond among the diners, and the same was true of the Christians. The Lord’s Supper symbolized the fellowship and unity that existed among the believers. According to Robert Banks, the meal “deepened those relationships in the same way that participation in an ordinary meal cements and symbolizes the bond between a family or group” (1994, p. 83).

Based on the cultural practices in Jewish and Greco-Roman settings, early Christian gatherings may have followed this format:

1. Blessing and breaking of bread
2. Meal (which was a full banquet with courses)
3. Blessing and sharing of the cup
4. Singing (Eph 5:18-20)
5. Teaching, discussion, and sharing of spiritual gifts (Acts 20:7, 11; 1 Cor 14:26)
6. Prayers

Ronald Allen and Gordon Borror (1982, pp. 69-70) provide a fuller list of New Testament “givens” for the worship service, drawn from Don Hustad’s Jubilee: Scripture readings (1 Tim 4:13; Col 4:16); homily (Acts 20:7); a confession of faith (1 Tim 6:12; Acts 8:37); singing (Col 3:16); prayers (Acts 2:42); congregational Amen (1 Cor 14:16); collection (1 Cor 16:1-2); physical action (1 Tim 2:8); thanksgiving (Luke 22:19); remembrance (1 Cor 11:25); the anticipation of Christ’s return (1 Cor 11:26); intercession (John 17:1a, 9b); the kiss of peace (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 1 Thess 5:26; 1 Pet 5:14).

One may notice that the way most of us worship in America today is very different from the way the early church worshipped. The time is different: Sunday morning instead of Sunday night. The setting is different: buildings and rented spaces instead of homes. The format is different: a token meal in the middle or end of the service instead of a full meal at the beginning; a sermon instead of discussion; sitting in rows instead of around a dining room or table; passive observance of a performance instead of participatory contributions to the gathering. Why have things changed so much?

After several centuries, Christianity became legalized and, under the sponsorship of Constantine, Christians began building basilicas for their gatherings. The church left the home, and since their buildings did not contain kitchen and dining facilities, the Lord’s Supper was transformed into a token meal that included just the bread and cup. Sometime between AD 360 and 370, the Council of Laodicea banned Christian gatherings in private homes. And the Lord’s Supper was transformed from a joyous celebration of fellowship into a somber ritual of mourning.

The way we worship corporately today is the result of centuries of historical and cultural developments. That does not necessarily mean that the way we do worship today is wrong. Although I prefer the house church setting for worship in the context of a meal, I can also worship God in a building or rented space as I sit in a row facing the front listening to musicians perform and preachers preach. Why? Because as I wrote earlier, worship is not about me. It is about giving glory to God. Therefore, I can find meaning in worship regardless of the setting, format, structure, or custom.

V. Conclusion

Let me close these thoughts on worship with a quotation from Robert Webber (1982, pp. 11-12). He described worship as “a meeting between God and his people”:

In this meeting God becomes present to His people, who respond with praise and thanksgiving. Thus the worshiper is brought into personal contact with the one who gives meaning and purpose to life; from this encounter the worshiper receives strength and courage to live with hope in a fallen world.

Reflection Questions:

1. What blessings do you receive from corporate worship that you do not receive from private worship?

2. How does the style and structure of the worship service affect your ability to worship?

3. What draws you to gather with other believers in worship?

Sources:

Allen, R., & Borror, G. (1982). Worship: Rediscovering the missing jewel. Portland, OR: Multnomah Press.

Banks, R. (1994). Paul’s idea of community (Rev. ed.). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

Foster, R. J. (1988). Celebration of discipline: The path to spiritual growth (Rev. ed.). San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Hinson, W. H. (1991). The power of holy habits: A discipline for faithful discipleship. Nashville: Abingdon.

Linton, G. L. (2005). House church meetings in the New Testament era. Stone-Campbell Journal, 8, 229-244.

Smith, D. E. (2003). From symposium to Eucharist: The banquet in the early Christian world. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Thompson, M. J. (1995). Soul feast: An invitation to the Christian spiritual life. Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press.

Webber, R. (1982). Worship, old and new. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Next topic: Study: Looking into God's Word

Worship: Looking Up to God, Pt. II

III. Private Worship

Worship is both a private and a public activity. It is both personal and corporate. In this post, I want to describe how worship takes place in private, personal settings.

During Jesus’ time, worship was generally viewed as limited to specific times, specific places, and specific rituals. Jews viewed God’s presence as restricted to the innermost room of the Temple, and only one person, the High Priest, could enter that place once a year on the Day of Atonement.

This perspective on worship was displayed by the Samaritan woman who said to Jesus: “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20). She was referring the temple that was built on Mt. Gerizim by the Samaritans as a rival to the Jerusalem temple. Since she recognized that Jesus was a prophet, she wanted him to settle this interreligious dispute.

Instead, Jesus challenged her to expand her understanding of worship: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). Worship is not a matter of external ritual but of internal fellowship with God, which can take place at any time in any place.

After his death and resurrection, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on the church. Now, every person who surrenders his or her life to Christ receives the Holy Spirit as a permanent possession. Because God’s own Spirit dwells within his people, we can turn within and commune with God at any moment.

Other passages of Scripture suggest that our entire lives are to be characterized by an attitude of worship. Paul says: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). He also suggests that every word and act should express worship for Christ (Col 3:17). Worship of God is not restricted to one hour on Sunday morning when we meet together in a building. Worship occurs any time our thoughts are centered on God’s greatness and any time we say or do something to bring glory to God’s name.

This attitude of ceaseless worship was exemplified in the life of Brother Lawrence, a fifteenth-century French monk. He discovered the secret of what he called “the practice of the presence of God.” Whether he was cooking in the kitchen, washing the dishes, or scrubbing the floors, he had learned to maintain a constant awareness of God’s presence with him (Foster, 1988, p. 162). His devotional book about this topic has inspired countless Christians through the centuries to look beyond the mundane activities of everyday life to experience the presence of God with them.

Private worship also occurs in moments of solitude when we turn away from the distractions of outer life and focus on the presence of God within. I have already written about this in a previous post. Our private prayers should always begin with praise for who God and thanksgiving for what he has done.

We will also find that certain places evoke an attitude of awe toward God. Paul wrote that “ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Rom 1:20). This “general revelation” that we receive through creation makes us aware of God’s greatness and goodness, and so we respond in worship. Athanasius rightly said: “No part of creation is left void of the Word of God” (Chase, 2011, p. 3). Even Calvin confessed that “nature is God” (Chase, 2011, p. 42).

According to Diogenes Allen, “we can better understand and admire God’s power, wisdom, and goodness as we increase in our knowledge of the world’s order, harmony, and beauty—God’s glory” (1997, p. 111). Allen shows that saints of the past such as Basil of Caesarea, Bonaventure, and Julian of Norwich “emphasized contemplation of nature as a way to increase our knowledge and love of God” (1997, p. 109). Bonaventure, for example, suggested meditating on the following seven properties of creatures:

•         Origin
•         Magnitude
•         Multitude
•         Beauty
•         Fullness
•         Activity
•         Order.

Similarly, John Scotus Erigena regarded the whole world as a theophany, a manifestation of God, in which the God of light illuminates and enlightens matter. Richard of St. Victor taught that “the visible, material things of creation lead those who are contemplative to the invisible, spiritual things of God” (Chase, 2011, pp. 32-34). Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote that “Earth’s crammed with heaven,/ And every common bush afire with God;/ And only he who sees takes off his shoes;/ The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries” (Aurora Leigh, Bk. vii, 1:821).

In her famous essay “Forms of The Implicit Love of God,” the French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil includes “love of the order of nature” as one of the ways that a person becomes aware of God. She describes how God woos us through contemplation of nature: “The soul’s natural inclination to beauty is the trap God most frequently uses in order to win it and open it to the breath from on high” (Weil, 1951, p. 103). She describes nature as a labyrinth that leads us to God:

The beauty of the world is the mouth of labyrinth. The unwary individual who on entering takes a few steps is soon unable to find the opening. Worn out, with nothing to eat or drink, in the dark, separated from his dear ones, and from everything he loves and is accustomed to, he walks on without ever knowing anything or hoping anything, incapable even of discovering whether he is really going forward or merely turning round on the same spot. But this affliction is as nothing compared with the danger threatening him. For if he does not lose courage, if he goes on walking, it is absolutely certain that he will finally arrive at the center of the labyrinth. And there God is waiting to eat him. Later he will go out again, but he will be changed, he will have become different, after being eaten and digested by God. Afterward he will stay near the entrance so that he can gently push all those who come near into the opening. (Weil, 1951, p. 103)

John Eldredge profoundly describes an experience like this when he was a young boy of six or seven. As he wandered through the landscape of the farm, he sensed that, through the music of life sung to him by crickets, katydids, cicadas, and bullfrogs, he was being romanced by some unseen lover (Curtis & Eldredge, 1997, pp. 14-16).

Worshipping God in the cathedral of nature expands the self beyond one’s own petty concerns. It draws our attention away from the orbit of our own self-centered desires. It calms the emotions and pacifies the mind. I have had this experience standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon overlooking that great chasm carved out over the ages. I have experienced the presence of God in the deafening roar of Niagara Falls while riding the Maid of the Mist. I have sensed something greater than myself while standing in stunned silence with my parents in the yard of our house as we watched the Northern Lights spread their shimmering, multicolored curtains across the night sky. I have seen God’s power and majesty as a young boy watching the midnight sky lit up by the heat lightning from a massive thunderstorm rolling in from the prairies of Illinois. I have come to know the greatness of God while standing on the tower on Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In these moments of transcendence generated by nature, we join in praising God with creation: “Praise the Lord!/ Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!/ Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host!/ Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars!/ Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!.... Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps,/ fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!/ Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!/ Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!” (Ps 148:1-4, 7-10).

St. Francis of Assisi also joined in creation’s praise in his famous canticle “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”: “Praised be You my Lord with all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun…. Praised be You my Lord through Sister Moon and the stars…. Praised be You my Lord through Brothers Wind and Air…. Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water…. Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire…. Praised be You my Lord through our Sister, Mother Earth…. Praised be You my Lord through Sister Death….”

Worship is not a purely private experience. Worship with others is also necessary, as I will show in the next post.

Reflection Questions

1. How would it change the way you live to understand that worship is a ceaseless activity?

2. How do you worship God in private?

3. When and where have your thoughts been lifted up to God by the contemplation of nature?

Sources:

Allen, D. (1997). Spiritual theology: The theology of yesterday for spiritual help today. Lanham, MD: Cowley.

Chase, S. (2011). Nature as spiritual practice. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Curtis, B., & Eldredge, J. (1997). The sacred romance: Drawing closer to the heart of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Foster, R. J. (1988). Celebration of discipline: The path to spiritual growth (Rev. and exp. ed.). San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Weil, S. (1951). Waiting for God. Translated by E. Crauford. New York: Putnam.

Next Post: Worship: Looking Up to God, Pt. III