Worshiping with others - 2020 annual Worship Symposium

Something happens when a worship space fills with people who mostly don't know each other, but who all come with some sort of prior Christian worship experience and now are willing to try to fit into the general order of service that may well be unfamiliar or possibly contradict or at least contrast their own worship habits at a home church. It is a kind of affirmation that seems to emerge from this experience of not being in control; not knowing how things are supposed to (or may be expected to) go. Everyone seems committed to going with the general flow of events and not judge or criticize or compare or condemn. So with nothing to defend, the overall experience is fluid. Those attending are guests of the hosting worship leaders and can let go of any worries, responsibilities, or performance anxiety. Instead, the main purpose is to be a gracious guest and accept what has been prepared and now is being presented, inviting participation as much as one is able or comfortable to do so.

This photo collage comes from the opening worship in the campus chapel of Calvin University as part of their Thursday-Friday-Saturday Worship Symposium at the end January every year since 1997. It shows the miraculous transformation from pre-worship space mostly empty, to the seats filled and voices raised (complete service online), to the assembled worshipers departing the chapel.
[click the photo for larger view]

Thursday, January 30, 2020 at the Calvin University chapel

 People come to the annual event from all over North America and many countries overseas. So only a few of the repeat attendees will know each other by face, and fewer still by name. Probably for most of those worshiping this morning the experience is a peculiar mix of familiarity (yes, this Bible is one that is identical or at least bears a family resemblance to one's own) and strangeness (order of worship, styles of music, customs of greeting one another). When one almost exclusively worships with the same people, same place, same weekly time/day, then any worship outside of that seems slightly unfaithful in a double sense (being absent from one's familiar co-worshipers; but also being present among strangers in a strange place and acting in ways unfamiliar). Somehow, the space is filled with fellow worshipers who have possibly similar mixed feelings and despite that, the overall experience together does flow, does teach, does inspire, does ring true to the God one seeks after.

When I pray; Precious Jesus

etymology online for "prayer" click for larger display

Personal statements differ from more distanced, 3rd person descriptions. Here is a flash of insight from Barbara Brown Taylor's chapter on experiences praying,

...my sense that there are real things I can do, both in my body and in my mind, to put myself in the presence of God. God is not obliged to show up, but if God does, then I will be ready. At the same time, I am aware that prayer is more than something I do. The longer I practice prayer, the more I think it is something that is always happening, like a radio wave that carries music through the air whether I tune in to it or not.
     An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith, page 190

My own process of aging and wondering at things around me included a time near the start of middle age when I started going to a weekly 7 a.m. Men's Bible Study. Most of the other 5 or 6 guys were older than me and had been meeting to read, chew on, and reflect on the Bible a few lines at a time, going from the start to the end of any given chapter, sometimes taking months to complete one chapter before polling everyone to pick another one. One guy in particular has a powerful way of directly engaging God and the Word of God that included the phrase "precious Jesus." At first I doubted the genuineness of what seemed on the surface to be a cliche or set-phrase. But little by little I learned to see how deeply this meaning was for him. It was personal and he was not shy about professing it before the others sitting around the table.

That feeling of confidence and lack of performance anxiety in putting something very personal in plain view is what helped me to do something similar; treating prayer as a direct expression of what can be articulated or sometimes is too big or small to fit properly into words, but at least can be hinted as. As a result, a few times I have paused at restaurants or other public eateries to say a brief, usually silent prayer ahead of rushing to the plate. And at family gatherings when asked to pray before mealtime, I don't feel too shy either.

Each week at the Men's Bible Study there is an opening and a closing prayer that is pretty open-ended, but normally includes at least one element of praise for God, and one element of thanks to God. Otherwise there is a mix of supplications for people named in the circle, for our own hearts, and for fellow believers. What seems to matter most, though, about getting accustomed to praying to punctuate events, but also when anxious, afraid, uncertain, or even when full of hope, is that by pausing long enough to collect some calm and to quiet one's heart something important seems to happen. Rather than to trust in one's own powers and direction, the posture of prayer demonstrates to self and others that answers lie outside of one's control, wishes, or power. Furthermore, the certainties of a hard heart also loosen up by the habit of prayer as one can see the shortcomings of people, including oneself. In other words, the more one prays, to better one hears and the more carefully one listens to one's own heart, and listens also to the people in one's life at work or at home.

Like any habit, it develops and emerges over time and through frequent use. At first that might take the form of collective, unison (printed or memorized) prayers. Later there might be opportunities to pray by improvisation, without great rehearsal. When the circle is small, there is a blanket of trust to support the awkward first steps. A bigger, more public setting may overwhelm, by comparison. But with more and more experience, even a prominent speaking role is within one's abilities to engage in.

Looking back, there is a lot of worth (worth-ship; worship) in the phrase "precious Jesus" and I am thankful to my fellow seeker for that.

Rough and tumble? Consumerism vs. Christ'ism

image search "coupon" collage shows full color wares to buy

How best to follow Jesus when descriptions show him challenging the status quo of Pharisees and the strong language and actions he metes out to his all-too-humanly-frail disciples? He demonstrates infinite love and patience in many ways, but also insistence and impatience about fools and foolishness.

Ever since the "single use" disposable approach to mass production, distribution, consumption, and landfilling, the worldview of consumerism and advertising has almost completely dominated our societies: to spend (therefore to earn) is to live. That seems to leave little time to reflect and seek relationship with God, all of creation, and one's neighbor. So the iconoclasm we read of in the Bible by Christ's example seems to be less Pharisees (although the legalism, head-smart but heart dumb, bull-headed self-assuredness can be seen today in pulpits and lay leaders and followers, too) and more a problem on consumerism that blinds us from seeing each other. Perhaps in our time to "be in the World but not of the World" means to reject the many incentives and rewards of buying more and more. And it means not to measure self-worth or the success of others by brand of clothing or personal automobile. So long as we consist of flesh and blood, the body will be blessing and curse at the same time; something that shapes our engagement with all that is around us and thereby a source of being prey to temptations. And yet, when eternal life or else damnation is at stake, the present moment of living is no time to obsess about 'being a nice person' if that separates you from God and God's will, or it separates you from one another as a wedge instead of a bridge. In the end, following the Jesus example, is to "speak truth to the power" that so dominates our minds and times: consumerism and reducing and simplifying the world of experiences into "maximizing utility" as an economic animal.

Grace is similar to Mercy in that it is given, no matter if merited, earned, or paid for. But it differs in that grace makes whole, holy, completed. By contrast, mercy is granted in place of expected punishment or debt that is owed; it does not by itself create wholeness or completed relationship (repair). And grace differs to righteousness, too. Righteousness means being attuned to God's word and desires, in tune with God by direct and correct relationship. Grace repairs and fills the gap that separates self from the Creator. And so with respect to Jesus' example of himself disregarding The World in order to keep in constant prayer and communion with Father/Mother God, this idea of grace is central, because it fills any gap or separation or shortcoming.

With something like 1 in 4 residents in the USA defined by income as impoverished --this in the wealthiest and most resource-wasting society on the planet-- Jesus would surely engage directly and persistently with people struggling to survive. Again and again the ones with ears to hear and eyes to see are the ones he meets at the margins of society, the edge of the road, or the outer part of gatherings. People who are ill, or who are impoverished, or who have been humbled by circumstance (or possibly by their own disciplined habit) are most primed to embrace the message of love that is abundant and unending, without conditions and status.