WHY COME TO WORSHIP?

Sanctuary in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland

 

Why come to worship?  It seems an odd wondering as the second Sunday in Lent approaches, on our annual journey towards Jerusalem with Jesus and his disciples.  A journey that inevitably takes us through the events of Holy Week--its horror and its mystery; and on to Easter morning which if we'd been there held some horror and mystery of its own. Remembering the disciples weren't coloring eggs, filling baskets with jelly beans, or parading with lillies quite yet.

This year the church I'm serving, has an extra opportunity for Lent, the addition of a mid-week worship service that includes the Lord's Supper.   It's quite out of the ordinary for protestants who have historically been happy with a monthly or quarterly inclusion of the sacrament to have the opportunity to partake weekly. There were times in my ecumenical past that I received the sacrament on a daily basis and still do during the week I spend on retreat at the Abbey.

As a child I thought that heaven would be a place where you'd have whatever you wanted. At that time, my best hope was a water fountain that provided pink lemonade!  It never occured to me that I wouldn't want silly things.  More recently, I've seen t-shirts and bumper stickers that allude to heaven being full of puppies or greens and fairways where no one has a handicap.  It seems that some folks don't outgrow wishful thinking.

Where this meets my regard for worship, is that worshipping God together here on earth is likely the best dress rehearsal we have for what we'll be doing throughout eternity.  Puppies, pink lemonade and fairways aside, the chief end of humankind is to worship and glorify God forever.  Forever is a long, long time. Ought we not be intentional in our pursuit of acquiring the taste, for what is to come?

Much that passes for a worship service in our day and time, unfortunately has little to do with glorifying God.  We come to be entertained and applaud when we've been satisfied.  We come to meet and greet, to see and be seen.  We rate the music, the message and the coffee.  We're often pre-occupied with the temperature of the room.  Much of what belongs in a class of adult christian education now finds itself in worship because folks won't spend the extra hours on a Sunday morning for education; so we attempt to cram everything into what we call worship.

My intent for worship (which I lead or attend) is to spend the majority of the time with eyes and hearts focused heavenward.  At its barest that means announcements and business before the Call to Worship. At its most graced, keeping God the center, the reason and purpose. A few weeks ago a caring soul left a note on the pulpit that read: "the police are out on Midway Blvd., tell folks to be careful."  I did not take the opportunity to warn the congregation during worship.

People come to worship for many reasons few have anything to do with the intention to worship and glorify God. It's often not their fault.  For many, no one has ever taught them that this weekly or daily ritual is preparing us for eternity. The Church has not been a faithful keeper of worship - its form, significance or theology. We've been co-opted by the culture and we've watered down the best we have to offer a world that needs to find its way--our vehicle of distributing hope.

Our little weekly extra opportunity for worship in prayer, song and sacrament this Lenten season leaves no room to wonder what it is we've come to do.  There are no words spoken other than those directed to the worship of God.  The tone is contemplative, the silences give our souls a chance to breathe, the songs are prayer and the sacrament is rooted in all that came before it.  At the end we give thanks to God and ask His blessing as we go into the night, knowing God was with us.

Why do you go to worship?  What compels you?  What do you expect to happen there?   For some the question might better be: why don't you go to worship?   The answer for a few will be that indeed the Church has not been a faithful keeper or teacher of worship.  Many who found it lacking or wanting just stopped going.

There is a long sacred tradition since the disciples walked with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem till now.  The history of the Christian tradition is checkered, not as pure as we hoped it would be.  But because of the grace of God and God's patience there is always time to turn things around.  To make what has become old, new again.  Even 21st worship can become the experience of the eternal it was meant to be. Sometimes change doesn't happen from the top down, but from the bottom up.  Sometimes it takes just one person coming to worship with a renewed heart, that will renew the experience for everyone.  It's not something we take responsibilty for, that's God's job.  But it's our act of faithfulness, our showing up, that God can use.

Why do you (or don't you) come to worship?  Might this high holy season of the church be your opportunity to try again?  We don't have to 'buy' everything that might be being sold during the hour.  But our right heart will be seen by God, and we will be blessed.  

In peace and joy,  Kathleen Bronagh Weller  THE CELTIC MONK