Archive for February 6th, 2006

Palpable Worship

Monday, February 6th, 2006

I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

Psalm 122:1

I was in the lobby of the Baytown Little Theater a few years ago. My husband was in the cast of the show, and his bio was hanging next to his headshot in the lobby. As I read it over I was so proud that he dutifully mentioned he was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church where his wife was pastor. Yes, I was so proud of him … that is until I read the bio of another woman in the cast which finished with “and I love to worship and meet Christ with the people of …”

I felt a huge pit of humiliation in my stomach … being a member of a church means nothing to un-churched people, but meeting Christ and loving it … now that speaks volumes! My humiliation was heightened by the revelation that there was no one in my church who could show as much compassion, joy, and relevance as this woman did when discussing our worshipping community. We were missing visible joy and desire in worship. We had more people watching their watches in worship, so they could get the good seats for lunch at the restaurant across the street, than we had people really engaged in joyful worship.

Rev. Dr. Joseph Kwak, pastor of a fast-growing new church in the suburbs of Seoul, Korea, visited with our new church development committee in January. His message to us was that the number one principle of church growth centers on worship … implementing piety worship. He says his church grew to over a thousand in worship in a few months because he expected people to meet God there. In his book he writes, “[Worship] is not simply a gathering of human beings, but God’s act of self-revelation and the Sacrament, which transforms the proclaiming Word to be become the living Word. Worship must be understood as the mysterious reality where the proclaiming Word becomes the living Word, which transforms, empowers, and sustains human life”

If this were truly the experience of people in our churches, then it would be palpable. We would feel the awesome presence of the mystery as soon as we enter the worship space. We would see it in their faces, their eyes, their smiles; they would all proclaim an expectant joy in their words and actions as soon as they enter the sanctuary.

Instead, I am reminded of all the pastors who have confided in me over the years that they are unable to worship themselves as they are leading worship. Some have confessed that if they weren’t the pastor, they would never choose to worship with their current congregations. But Rev. Kwak’s principle leads me to think that in a vital growing church, the pastor, too, should be visibly moved in worship. The congregation should be demonstrating authentic piousness during the service and the pastor should be the leader/model of that expectation. A Hispanic pastor told me that his congregation expects to see all the pastors of the church on their knees in prayer during the worship service, because watching their pastors encounter God is an important part of their worship experience … it helps them meet God.

Just about every time I have spoken with a group since I became your Associate Presbyter, someone asks the “worship question.” Do we have to move to contemporary music in worship? The short answer is “no.” But more important than what kind of music or the style or worship or whether the pastor wears a robe or preaches from the pulpit is this: Are people encountering the Living Word? Are their lives being transformed? Is the mysterious, awesome presence of God palpable in the worship service?

If you and your church members really expected God to show up on Sunday morning, wouldn’t it be visible? That’s what un-churched people are attracted to … the presence of God … more than music, preachers in blue jeans, or video screens. More important than putting on a good show, they need to know that your worship is real. They want to know that it makes a difference. They want to see your joy and your strong desire for Christ in your life. They want to know that you are genuinely glad when it’s said, “Let’s go to the house of the Lord.”

This was originally printed in the March 2006 issue of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant.

Posted in Baytown Little Theater, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Where to draw the line?

Monday, February 6th, 2006

So, the bible readings for today (OYB) included a lot of “rules” that God gave Moses to share with the Hebrew people. Some of them we still treasure today. Others we have dismissed because they just don’t seem to fit us the same way they used to for one reason or another … like we don’t sell our children into slavery anymore, so we don’t need rules on how to or how not to. It all reminded me of a phone call I had last Thursday … from another pastor in Houston. He asked, “how do we decide where to draw the line?” When are the rules “cultural” and no longer applicable? How do we know? How do we decide?

I felt I only had a trite answer … “pray about it”.

But when I heard the context of the question it hit me personally. He was on his way to visit someone who was trying to talk a good friend out of experiementing with new age mysticism … it says we should stay away from mediums and psychic things in the Bible, afterall. Well … little did he know he was talking to a woman who has personal experience with people close to her exploring psychic and mystical expression of truth. (My mom is a very good meduim… one who sees her gifts as a gift from God to be used for the common good.) hmmm …. this is too close to home. Everyone KNOWS the Bible condemns consulting mediums. So how do we know where to draw the line?

I deflected the direct question (something I’m pretty good at) and talked about what a great opportunity this was to engage a person on a spiritual journey … if they are interested in psychic and spiritual things we have a natural “in” to talk and walk our faith with them. That’s really good, in my opinion. Is it so important to convince her that she’s wrong to explore this other path? Why not allow her natural curiosity to help lead her to knowing Christ? Why is it that Christians want to begin a spiritual conversation with someone by explaining how they are wrong? Why can’t we just meet them and have honest conversations about our own spiritual journey in the process? And thank God for the opportunity.

OK … so I’m biased … my brother is gay and my parents are “new age”. (don’t you think we’d made a great sitcom?) Seriously, though, I’ve had years of both learning from them and, I hope, teaching them a few things, too. Could it be that my job isn’t to change them? But, perhaps to allow God to use them to change me into being a little more like Christ? Could it be that my role is to keep building the relationships of love and acceptance so that we can all experience the grace of God in real and tangible ways?

I guess I know that knowing where to “draw the line” is terribly important for most people. It just seems that everytime I seem to know where to draw it, God challenges me again. Maybe drawing the line, isn’t the important thing …. maybe crossing it is more important.

Comments are really welcome … really …

Posted in Church, Evangelism, homosexuality | 1 Comment »

accountability and discipline

Monday, February 6th, 2006

(This post was written last week, Wednesday, February 1, saved but never posted )

Because of the news lately, I’ve added a blog-search feed to my blogwatcher that looks for blogs containing references to Faith Harbour, Randy, Eklektos or … well, me. Today, after the Christianity Today article was published this morning, two new blog postings appeared, The Prodigal Sheep, and A Classical Presbyterian. They each raised the issue of the church to enforcing its “rules”.

It’s true that Christians need to hold each other accountable. And the Churches needs to hold congregations accountable. But, to what or whom are we accountable? Church rules, specific interpretations of scripture, traditional doctrines? In a church that acknowledges that “there are truths and forms with respect to which men of good characters and principles may differ” (G-1.0305 of the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (USA)) our strength comes in our ability to hold each other accountable to growing, learning, praying, reading scripture, studying, and discerning the will of the Spirit.

Accountability and discipline is not about punishment. It’s not about control. It’s not about keeping the right rules. It is about learning and practicing a way of life. When I discipline my daughter, I do so not to “keep her in line” or to be sure she grows up to be just like me, but to help her learn appropriate ways of living according to the values our family lives by. A community of believers also have a responsibility to hold each other accountable to a specific way of life — Christ’s way. And we do that, not by shunning or judging or excluding, but by entering into relationship with each other as we encounter the living Christ.

I think the church needs to hold its members and leaders accountable to the marks of discipleship … daily prayer, Bible reading, spiritual friendships, significant giving, regular worship, and meaningful ministry or service. When we hold each other accountable to that … when we hold ourselves accountable to that … the rest will fall in line. I think many of the problems our churches have faced are because we are not paying enough attention to how we live the path of discipleship, and, instead, we attempt to “discipline” good, faithful people for not following the rules.

Posted in Christianity, Church, Congregational Transformation, Prayer | Comments Off