Worship

SO WHAT?

I’ve heard this – not in so many (or more accurately, so few) words – about the whole church-thing.   And about the whole “institutional” church thing.  

So what?    Basically these words question the relevance of all this in our world.   And in a world where the whole idea of “church” is becoming less and less relevant, I seem to ask my self more and more often why we do all this church stuff.    What’s the point of inviting people to come together?  Why do we come to church still?    

But I still come back to the idea that “church”… that time we have, maybe more out of custom, set aside from our “normal” schedules and routines, to come together on Sunday morning has meaning.    It’s time that we’ve, over many, many generations... identified as “different”.    We’ve used this time to come together as the people of God in a place and time set apart ; to remember again that which is important to us… and that this time really can be different!   

BUYER BEWARE

We inadvertently bring with us the whole “consumer” mindset where ever we go.   We’re trained to see the “world”, and all the “world” as “products” to be consumed or as “services” to be used.    Having been trained as good little “consumers”, pretty much every where we go, our underlying question is… “what am I going to get out of this?”   Or “what’s the investment I’m getting out of this”?   What’s the value… in dollars? 

The advertizing world really has spent literally (and I do mean literally) hundred’s of millions (if not more) of dollars to get to know us better (how we think, our habits, etc) so they can more efficiently and effectively get us to buy more of their stuff.   This idea is so pervasive, we’re not the only ones that buy (no pun intended) this image about us.   The September 2001 attacks occurred on our financial centers (as well as military targets) as a means to “get us”!   And following those attacks, our president advised us to get back to our normal lives… to go shopping again.         

Morihei Uyeshiba founded the Japanese art of Aikido (“the way of universal harmony”), and based it around movement, and using the attacker’s movement against them.    The older he got, the more meditative and spiritual he became.   And his practice of the martial arts reflected this.   There is a story about him leading his students from one location to another.   On their walk, they came upon a shrine of some sort.   He stopped, indicating he would pray there.   So he and his students stop for some quiet meditative time.   After a short while, he get’s up, and starts to move on… saying that place had no “spirit”.   It turns out, that “shrine” was in fact built for tourists.   The shrine was located within a place geared for consumers; people would come from all over Japan and the world, take pictures, spend money, and leave.    

And yet, as a person who has spent a lot of time with people… I have to really question whether most of us, in our heart of hearts, really believe this about ourselves and life?     

DIFFERENT KIND OF TIME

Worshipping together certainly has a “social” aspect to it… and it’s appropriate.   It makes sense.   We are social animals.   That can’t (and shouldn’t) be denied.   But I can’t help but believe that “Worship”… that our time together, invites us to “see” differently, to think differently.   And part of that difference is that our times together are set apart… to help us remember that although we do in fact consume… there’s WAY more to us than just being good little “consumers”. 

Maybe our time together helps us remember…  

…God more – like those times we don’t often think of God (at meetings, actually at work, shopping, etc)

…That although we “consume”, that we’re not “consumers”.

The church doesn’t have millions and millions of dollars to help us remember who we are.   And the church really isn’t as pervasive in it’s message about life and God.   But we do have time set apart – time that’s different.      

Ideally we would hope that Church be a place where we not just come to “Sit and worship” and the go home – but strengthen community and social bonds, affirm faith, share stories (formally and/or informally) and help each other in various ways.      In the most positive scenarios, worshipping with others on Sunday mornings can be certainly a positive experience; we help each other through life issues, we pray for each other, we share our concern for each other, and we remember what God may be calling us to do in this world we share with others.     

If nothing else… we’re invited to be present with each other and God in mind, body and Spirit!    And being “present” is a challenge all its own.    Here’s a test for you… how long can you sit waiting somewhere (doctor’s office, etc) without pulling out a smart phone?   We’re overall less and less comfortable with silences, and with being alone with our own thoughts.  

I can’t imagine most of us have many other places… and time… like this in our lives; where people come together to share, talk (and in our case – pray), and be community.    But if you ask people if they’d actually want a place and time for this… most say yes. 

DEPTH OF SPIRIT

There certainly are places around that think of people as more than just purchasing units.    There are places that help people deepen their sense of living.   There are places that help people find a depth of Spirit that most our culture seems to lack.

Have you heard of “Nature Deficiency Syndrome”?   It’s not a recognized illness DSM and all that), but the developer of this hypothesis, Richard Louv, claims more and more children (and adults) are experiencing less and less time in natural settings – and more and more time in artificial settings (like in front of TV or computers).  And as a result these children are experiencing psychological issues that their great grandparents would never have dreamed of.

I wonder if we – us modern, developed, consumer people – are experiencing a deficiency in the depth of our Spirits?    Would we be able to tell whether a shrine had “spirit” or not?   Whether it was built with the “consumer” in mind?  

I think worship can help us; worship where we take time to listen, to hear, to share, to pray… to be with God.   Yes there’s manipulative worship, and I agree that not all worship is theologically or practically healthy… but I think worship is a place to start if we’d like to find some islands of sanity in the most of the ocean of crazy.