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art and culture

Worship is …

  • art and culture
  • faith and theology
By michael lee ⋅ October 11, 2005 ⋅ Post a comment

As part of my graduate class on technology and worship, I had my students write a paper, and then derive from it a one sentence statement that summarized the act of worship within their local communities. I thought some of you might like to see how I wrote out the example for our church, Christ Community.


“Worship is a communal event celebrating the narrative of God with musical, prayerful, and missional acts.”

The goal was to get specific enough that it made sense to our local community, and wasn’t easily transferable. In analysis of CCC, the key points that I hinged my statement on were:

Communal - we see worship as primarily something done together in a group, and less often as an individual act. I think there is also the view that the community itself is an act of worship. Community is such a strong value at CCC that for many people the idea of worship outside of a group context maybe wouldn’t hold much meaning.

Event - our acts of worship are usually event-oriented (fixed gathering time and place) rather than spontaneous or continual.

Celebrating - I think this is the primary response of our congregation (particularly 2nd service), rather than petition, contrition, meditation. Again, here I’m redacting a complex group of people down into simple responses, but that’s the point of the exercise.

Narrative - True now, and becoming more true; our congregation seems to respond to the story of God, and to find themselves implicated in it. That said, there is a sizable segment of the congregation for whom this would more properly read ” … celebrating the propositional revelation of God … “.

Musical, Prayerful, Missional - These seem to be the cardinal acts of worship in our congregation. They sing, they pray together, and they act together in service. The last one is becoming more true.

So what about your congregations? How does this flesh out where you live? I turned a corner a while back, and I’m trying to come to grips with the fact that my primary responsibility to my congregation isn’t to be cycnical or frustrated with them, but to understand them, and to place in their hands the tools that are appropriate to their background and values. This exercise was part of that process.

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Discussion

8 comments for “Worship is …”

  1. This is beautiful, Mike, and a wonderful and important exercise for anyone studying to serve the church. I especially resonate with the key point of “narrative.” I’ve observed that our current “worship” canon falls into two main categories: 1) theology (reminding Jesus followers of the basics regarding Christian doctrine) and 2) personal response to theology (my feelings or thoughts about the claims of Christian doctrine). Given your emphasis on the narrative dimension of God’s story, do you think we should write and sing more songs that tell the story, rather than draw doctrinal conclusions from it?
    .
    Ash & I were talking last night about classical music - music we don’t get to sing much anymore [*sniff*] - and the habit of those composers to take their texts directly from Scripture. (We were talking specifically about Handel’s Messiah. “The chastisement of our peace was upon him” is a line I’m literally incapable of singing without choking up. Incredible lyric, powerful melody, incomparable counterpoint.) I’d love to see a trend back toward lyrics derived directely from The Story, rather than modern-day commentary on it, whether the lyric comes from the KJV or The Message.

  2. “Zaccheus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he…” Oh, that probably isn’t what you meant Aly… actually I think that music is one of the best ways to learn scripture. I have countless verses concreted in my brain that come to mind, as scripture will, and I realize I could probably sing most of them as well. Music is powerful. I think that is why many people often associate worship with music.

  3. When we gather in our worship event, celebration is the most consistent mood. We celebrate not only the “big” story of God in history, scripture, and Jesus, we also celebrate the “little” stories which number in the hundreds as they dwell in the heart of each who sings, prays and serves. When our people sing “blessed be your name on a road marked with suffering” they are thinking of the difficult week they just lived through. I am hoping that they connect that road of suffering they have walked, with the one that was walked for them and now with them in Christ. Our communual experience of corporate worship becomes very personal in the hearts of those who enter in. Sometimes you can see it expressed in an upturned hand or a face lined with tears. For me, worship must help me connect my little story to God’s big story and then take me out of myself and into God. Because I worship, prompted and led by a very gifted and capable worship leader that is often my experience.

  4. [Aside: Mike, you've got to feel blessed and affirmed right now. It's far, far too seldom that a pastor gives props like that. I wish with all my heart that Ash had a relationship with the pastor of our church like you have with yours. (And Chad has with his.) I feel simultaneously grateful that affirmation and faciliation of this kind is your normal experience and saddened beyond measure that it is so bloody rare.]

  5. Quick show of hands: how many worship leaders have had their pastor suggest that you ought to put a mini-fridge in your office and stock it with Sam Adams so that the Thursday post-rehearsal hang will be more relaxing? (Just a quick thought, doug, does the church board read this? We have to be kind of careful, because we wouldn’t want them stealing from the worship mini-fridge.)
    .
    There are certain people who stand as piers, points of foundation in your life. Coming to CCC was, for Gretchen and I, like sticking our toe back in the water after an awful burnout. Doug will stand in my life as one of the primary reasons why we jumped back in the water. And not just because we both enjoy a good brew and a spirited disagreement.

  6. good exercise and good process

    now I have my work cut out for me too :) thanks

  7. I don’t mind the idea of using holy scripture as lyrics, not at all, as long as there’s as little fighting about translations as humanly possible.
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    However, two songs come to mind where this idea was done poorly in the extreme. “As the Deer…” for one - sorry if I just offended people for whom this song provided a life-changing experience or whatever - and that dreadful, spiffy little rhumba - “Beloved, let us luuuuv one another…” Ugh.
    .
    Trust Aly to come up with a really killer example, though. I wish I knew what “the chastisement of our peace” MEANT, though. Anyone care to…?
    .
    Smugness alert from an insufferable person who is in not one but TWO classical chorales at the moment: did I mention that the Seattle Symphony Chorale does the ENTIRE Messiah every year for a week at Christmastime? Yeah. That’s right.

  8. I can’t hear “beloved, let us love one another” without thinking of my grandpa’s old electronic organ with the built in skating ring rhythm effects. ba-dump-cha-cha-cha

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