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Tag: #worship

In The Stillness Of This Hour

Back in the days when I followed a rather narrow, evangelical theology, I was what we called a “Worship Leader.”
For those not indoctrinated into that culture, a Worship Leader is the person who performs, leads the church congregation in music and praise before the main speaker comes on to deliver a sermon lecture.
This person is essentially the warm up act before the headliner comes on stage.

When I had that job I did try to do what everyone thought we should do. That was to “invoke the Presence of the Holy Spirit.” Through music, prayer, and sometimes testimony, we sought “God’s Face” and “prepared our hearts” for the soon-to-be-delivered Word of God.

It was all very holy and, you know, uh, holy.

There were moments when it did seem as though God had condescended to join our little gathering. These occurred, not when the person leading yelled, “Hallelujah!” loud enough. Nor did God show up when someone or other began rambling in unknown ‘tongues.’ “Leaping and dancing and praising the Lord” didn’t usually attract the attention of the Lord of the Cosmos.

No.
In those rare moments when it seemed that time was suspended and you could reach out and touch the Holy One, silence reigned.
It was when we closed our mouths and put our emotions back in their storage unit that the Ineffable Presence of Yahweh walked among us.

I was reminded of this as I reflected on the time we shared last night at St. Barnabas. We began to learn how to be still. Sitting silently; expectantly.
It was a good time. At least, I thought so. And, no one else complained. So, I’m going with that!

There is one song that I remember from my days of standing on the platform with a guitar in hand. It’s one that I still find myself singing to myself as I sit at my desk in the wee hours before old Sol raises his head above the Eastern horizon. While I know that this song, nor any song, can invoke God’s Presence, sometimes a song can touch a part of our own heart and mind to focus our attention and help us be intentional about God in that moment.

Here are the lyrics to that song.
If you want to hear it, I’m sure that Google or YouTube can help you out.

In The Stillness of This Hour

In the stillness of this hour
I worship you my lord
Singing holy is the lord on high
In the quiet of my heart
I sing this song of praise
Crying holy is the lord on high

And for all of my days
I will bow down before you
Giving glory and honor to your name
And for all of my life
I will worship and adore you
Crying holy is the lord on high
Singing holy is the lord on high

Sit. Settle. Stillness. Silence.
See God.

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The Work of the People

The Divine LiturgyDamaskinos, 1579-1584.

In just under two weeks I, and nine others, will be confirmed or received into the Episcopal Church at St. Barnabas. This will be the next step for me in a long journey as I searched for a community of people with whom to share life in Christ. The past few weeks we have been meeting for Episcopalian lessons, better known as confirmation classes. Last night we spent the entire two hour class going through, and celebrating, the Eucharistic Liturgy.
I want to share a bit about that.

Those of you who know me understand that I hold traditional liturgy in high esteem. Attending St. Barnabas was initially my attempt to find a liturgical church where I could fit in. I’m not entirely sure what was the draw to liturgy for me.
Was it the history of the tradition?
Perhaps, some.
Was it the ceremony and symbolism?
Yeah, probably.
Nothing really, though, stood out as my Must See Moment.

I have studied the liturgy ever since I was in seminary. I learned all about the theology behind the ceremonies. I delved into the history of the various actions and found out the reasons that certain words were used and when to use them.
As a student, I was enamored by all of these things.

That is, until last night.

Last night our priest walked us through the entire process from preparation and vestments all the way to the dismissal.
And, my eyes were opened to something that I had probably heard before. But, it had never really taken root in my heart.

Many people think that liturgy means some kind of ritual or tradition that people simply follow. However, the word “Liturgy” comes from the Greek word “leitourgia.” That word literally means “work of the people.” For the Liturgy truly is a group effort. It is not a spectator sport.

I saw during our class the substance behind the actions. These words, prayers, and actions were put into the Liturgy with Intent. They aren’t there just because some guy 5oo years ago thought it would be cool to bow here or cross yourself there. Each movement is a neatly choreographed piece of an intentionally constructed whole.

To be sure, the Liturgies that we now have are not prescribed by the Bible. The only parts of it that are found in Scripture are the Eucharist, which Jesus instituted, and Baptism. The prayers and readings and actions are extra-biblical and are not essential for either faith or salvation.
The Liturgy is, however, an effective help for the Church. It is a means by which a diverse group of people can gather with one voice and one objective.

The Liturgy is constructed in such a way that it focuses the intention of the community on the only worthy Object of our worship: God.
This isn’t a social gathering where we are obligated to maintain relationships with the other people.
It is far more significant than that.
We gather as a community for the expressed purpose of worshiping God: Father; Son; Holy Spirit.

I came out of a tradition that does things quite a bit differently.
In that tradition, the leaders were routinely called Shepherds. We, the faithful, were called the ‘flock,’ or ‘sheep.’ All apt metaphors found in the Bible.
But, therein also lies a distinction that many folks seem to overlook.
In my old tradition we were treated like sheep. We were herded into our sheep pen on Sundays where the shepherds would dutifully feed us whatever the sheep food of the week was.
The form that this took was, we got together to sing some songs so that we could feel good. Then, we got to sit and listen to a lecture telling us how to live and vote and stuff like that. All of this was done so that we could grow and mature as good church members.

Am I harsh? You bet. And, with good reasons. But, that’s a topic for another post.

The main difference that I see between these traditions is that the one from which I came out all of the emphasis was on Me. Was I fed? Did I get anything out of it? Was I touched by the Spirit? Me; My; Mine.
This could all be done in any motivational setting with similar results.
Were MY needs met?
Does this help ME grow as a person?

In a liturgical setting, like I mentioned above, the Only Object is God.
Everything about the Liturgy points to God. From start to finish; front to back, it’s all about God. Period.
Whereas the place I came from was always searching, searching to find a way to build Community, in the Liturgy we ARE community. We gather with one heart and one voice to come into the Presence of God and bow before the Divinity and Worship.

That’s it.

That’s plenty.

I have much to learn, yet, about the Liturgy and how it can be a real way to experience God’s Presence and Grace.
I have much to learn about how to set my intention, coordinated with the intentions of all who gather with me, on the only Object worthy of our Intention…God.

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Spiritual Identity

Earlier today I wrote about the diversity of cultures and their intrinsic worth in the eyes of God. I hold that to be dear to my heart.

One point , though…

I am not indigenous. So, if I was to appropriate their spiritual practices I would very quickly find myself in error. It works the same way as demanding that ALL cultures embrace the Western Church’s spirituality. It’s just wrong.

I do have a spiritual heritage that does find its roots in the Western Church. For me, God worship should find its foundation in the historic practices that singularly identify the Church within the context of the World. I find people like Jonathan Aigner quiet refreshing as they urge us onward toward our better selves in worship. And, I have to agree with his assessment of contemporary styles of worship. They are shallow and without Soul. Click on the post below to read Jonathan’s recent post about this.

Yay, Jonathan!

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What is Corporate Worship for the Church? Here’s One Person’s Take

Many, many years ago I was the music leader at a small, charismatic church. Back then we called the position I held the Worship leader. It was my job to prepare music and other resources like readings drama for Sunday services. I spent a lot of time and money finding, purchasing, and arranging music for the limited team that we had. Some folks might think that it’s easy to take a full band arrangement and scaling it back for 2-3 pieces and a vocalist or 2. It’s not.

I remember one time we had some visiting missionaries. One of the members of that team questioned why I had the music and stuff all ready prior to the service. She thought that true spiritual worship had to “flow” from the Holy Spirit at that very moment. Even preparing music a day ahead of time would potentially stifle the movement of the Spirit. At that time I was pretty sure that the Holy Spirit was capable of knowing what was coming in some distant future. I could prepare for that time right now and it would be perfectly in line with what God desired.

But, even that has the potential to be off the mark.

I have since begun to believe that corporate worship for the Church should contain those things that make the Church remarkable. These things are the Word and the Table. Anything more than those can be done, and usually much better, by people outside of the Church. So, I have to say that I totally agree with what Jonathan Aigner wrote below.

Please note that I think that what Aigner wrote is appropriate for corporate worship. Other forms of prayer and singing may be quite appropriate for other occasions.

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