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Good News from David’s Desk

November 2008

Why Do People Come to Worship?

Jesus said to them, "Come and see."

John 1:39

"Turn on the light, I cannot see!" In worship, when we say, "Let us worship God," we turn on the light for the human soul. Leslie D. Weatherhead, in his book, Time for God, put it this way, "As the eye cries out for light, the lungs for air and the mind for truth, the soul cries out for God."1

In his book, Beyond the Worship Wars, Tom Long set out to research what makes for excellence in worship. Through conversations with various people around the country and study of flourishing congregations, he found common characteristics. Among those characteristics that Long identified, are: intentional hospitality, excellent music, vital mission activities, and meaningful preaching. Though, the number one characteristic of excellence in worship of flourishing churches is to "make room, somewhere in worship, for the experience of mystery."2 Worship is not just a time for an edifying lecture, musical concert or lively social gathering. It is a time to turn on the light for the human soul. It is in worship that we have a higher opportunity to encounter the holy mystery of God. It is an event for people to come and to see and to experience the awe of the divine presence of the living God.

Worship is not a manufactured church product, which current fashions and popular preferences dictate. Worship is focusing our entire being on being in the presence of God. Worship is not meaningful because of what we are or what we do. It is meaningful because of the One whom we worship. And yes, authentic worship evokes from us our deepest longings for an experience of God. When the clutter and clamor of the world is silenced, from deep places, the soul cries out with yearning and questions, such as:

     Does life have a larger purpose outside the daily-ness of living?

     What is real and true and lasting?

     Is there more beyond this life?

     Who is God and who am I?

In authentic worship, our hungering spirits are nourished by the living Spirit. We can proclaim with the Psalmist of old, God restores my soul.3 The worship of God changes who we are and what we do. As we acclaim God’s holiness and love, we imbibe holiness and love. We become like what we stand in awe of.4

As we near our special St. Andrew’s Sunday on November 9, we engage in the worship of God in the roots of Presbyterianism in the Kirk of Scotland. From the Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland, comes this wonderful statement about worship: "Whatever else God calls us to, we are called to worship, to do so together, and to do so in the promised company of Jesus Christ. It is in worship that our lives are expressed before God and informed and converted by God’s Word. It is in worship that through song, prayer, and preaching, our theology is formed, our discipleship encouraged, and our spirits nourished. It is in worship that we reach out to touch the hem of Christ’s garment and find that, instead of touching the hem, we are being offered the grace of God by word of mouth and gift of hand."5

Come to church and join us in the worship of God. Let’s turn on the light!

David

1Leslie D. Weatherhead, Time for God (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1967), 47.

2Thomas C. Long, Beyond the Worship Wars: Building Vital and Faithful Worship, (The Alban Institute, 2001), 13.

3NRSV, Psalm 23:3

4Weatherhead, 50.

5Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1996) ix.

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