Our Worship

Because of the shifting climate of our culture, the changing of modernity into that which comes next (post-modernity?), and the nature of people that have grown up in a society of bigger is better and more exciting is more desirable, there is a move for us as ministers to help people experience worship instead of simply participate in it. My first exposure to a move toward experiential worship was by Leonard Sweet, who teaches that our worship needs to become EPIC: Experiential Participatory Image driven and Connective. It is with this and some of Sweet’s other writings in mind that I first opened up to the idea of experiential worship.

I believe that God made us to be tactile creatures. In instituting the Passover, God ordained the using of all of our senses to remember the salvation that came from the blood of the lamb which was spread on the doorpost of the Israelites’ home while in Egypt. The smell of the bread baking, the taste of the saltwater, or vinegar, the telling and hearing of the story, the feel of unleavened matzo in the mouth, and the sight of something very different than most nights, all lean toward God wanting His story told in a way that would not be forgotten because it was so fully experienced.

Our worship has become the opposite of this intense experience. Our worship has become something we do to fulfill a requirement and not something in which we honestly engulf ourselves. While most of us still do participate in a continuation of the Passover in the form of The Lord’s Supper, even in our Communion, we often rush. We need to find ways to create sacred experiences; celebrations, laments, and services that lead us into knowing God more fully.

If we are to engage our world, and especially our young people, then alternative forms of worship need to be explored. The way we look at the world has changed. People are questioning the facts and beliefs that we have held as the fabric of life and Godliness. We need to help them engage in the One True God. This is not a cheap way to entertain people so they like us better or feel better when they leave. It is a way of helping people, both alone and within community, come face to face with God. As we grow to know God more fully this worship is a way to help people leave our community of believers and go into the world knowing that serving God means serving others, that loving God means loving others, and that the light of the Creator God should flow through us into the world.

What time is it.

I just wrote this for a class, thought I would share it. It is in response to a question about the intersection of faith and culture.

Wow is right. I see that we are at a really neat place in history. The way we as the leaders of Christian church in America treat the next ten to twenty years will determine whether or not Christianity can grab ahold in this culture. We are in a time period where people are questioning everything including the things that at the very fiber of who we are has simply been assumed.

I think it is great. We have a product that is THE TRUTH. It answers all questions. It weathers all storms. It puts out all flames. It quenches all thirsts and fills every hungry belly. God is the answer.

We must though take an honest look at how we have presented God to the world in the past. We must check, double check, and even have our friends check to see if the way we are living stands up to what we are teaching. God is perfect, the way we do Christianity is not. God is perfect, the way we do church is not. God is perfect, the way we live our lives is not. We must stop faking it. I don't know is a viable answer. Faith by definition is an -- "I don't know, but I know" -- kinda answer.

We must hold to the absolutes that we know. Before we can do that we have to honestly look at what is an absolute and what is not. Looking at the far ends of the spectrum and working our way to the middle. There is a God -- I don't have to wear a tie in worship to serve God. Now start working your way to the middle. We should then focus on the absolutes.

Once we have done this we focus on what God focused on. We should all conclude to focus on Love or relationship -- which entails love. If we major in what Christ majored in and focus on grace and love, the world we live in will come to know Christ. Christianity may look different than it has for the last several hundred years, but people will follow Christ.

Bread

Every weekend our children's home goes to a local grocery store and picks up their day old bakery items. We take all that we can use. Then, we give away what we can according to our agreement with the grocery store. Next, we store the bread in a closet. Every Thursday or Friday we throw away what is left. Sometimes it is only a little, often it is a lot. It is great that the grocery stores are willing to let an agency like ours have this bread, but so much of it, still gets thrown away and there are still people who are hungry.

This weekend as I threw away the old and went and picked up the new, I thought of Jesus - The Bread of Life. No matter how much of Jesus we use through the week, there is still a lot of Jesus left over. And there are a lot of starving people. Lets do what we can to spead THE BREAD around this week. No matter how much we spread there will be more Jesus left than we could ever imagine.

Baseball and Church

Ok, I am officially tired of baseball. I get so frustrated. I am sick about it. Don't get me wrong I love the game. There is just something so cool about something with so much history and so much fun. A day at a real ballpark with your family while costly is very relaxing.

What I don't understand though is the refusal to go to instant replay. In tonight's game six of the NLCS a batter was hit by a pitch but the umpire called it a wild pitch which means the guy on third base could run home. If it was called a hit batter then the batter would go to first, but the runner could not come home. On replay, he was clearly hit. Major League Baseball has forgotten the purpose of the umpire -- to get the calls right. In their stubbornness they hold on to being "pure" and refuse to use instant replay which would arguably speed the game up not slow it down. I don't suggest they use replay or computers to make every call but something has to change. No one can argue that instant replay would get more calls wrong or that it would hurt the umpires in fulfilling their purpose.

It reminds me of something we do in church. So many of our congregations forget our purpose -- to help non Christians come to know Christ and to help us all grow closer, to each other and to God. Sometimes we get so caught up in tradition that we refuse to change and to do things will help us become more welcoming to outsiders. We have to be willing to look at how we do what we do and decide if there is a way to do it that will help us connect to non-churched people. The function of church, -its purpose- needs to be a constant steady thing over time. The form of church- how we do the function- needs to be fluid and moving so that we can fulfill our mission. I have spoken to members of churches that say, "we do it this way because it is what we like. Doing it the other way isn't sinful and might help us reach people, but we don't really like it." The congregations have forgotten their purpose.

I'll still watch baseball. I'll still be in church Sunday Morning. I love baseball. I love my church.

God, Please help me be open and fluid to your will in my life. Help me keep my eyes and heart focused on you and let your love flow through me to the world.