worship: some brief thoughts

when i asked myself, "what is worship?" for the first time, i didn't know how to answer. but having been helped along for a time by some older, wiser, more knowledgeable Christians, i think i have at least one answer. i've blog'd it before, but always introspectively and never (for the most part) didactically.

the Bible is, for us today, God's primary Self-revelation. it makes sense to begin there for any "what is ___" questions concerning our faith in Him. what would we have, if He had never revealed Himself to peeps past?



most of the time, when the Biblical story shows God's people worshiping, it follows some significant event. e.g., the Red Sea destroys the Egyptian army, ending hundreds of years of slavery; David slays a whole mess of Philistines and saves Judah from invasion and imminent doom; God shows up in some dramatic theophany; a remnant of Israel is preserved, even through prolonged persecution and captivity; Jesus of Nazareth is raised from the dead.

today we hold 'worship' services every Sunday. have you ever noticed how most weeks go by and nothing particularly eventful or theophanic happens? when was the last time God saved you from your enemies? (that reminds me: read the Psalms for some good examples of worship. the event isn't always specified, but you can tell there's a story behind those things.) when was the last time you saw someone come back from the dead (spiritually, even)? when was the last time you made it through something only by God's special gift of grace for that situation?

sometimes, trying to testify to the goodness of Christ is like trying to describe a dream i had last year sometime.

~ ~ ~

i have this problem with spiritual, and even emotional, object permanence. fortunately i've realized it at this point, so i can start to combat it. but i have a feeling it'll take a while to grow into.

it's silly, really. every time i think God's finally gone, He eventually shows up again, in such a way that i won't believe it was anything or anyone but Him. but if i keep going back and forth between belief and disbelief, then really all i'm doing during times of 'disbelief' is waiting for Him to interrupt my life again! (and by the way, i recently prayed that He would do exactly that... and He did. for about a second or two, maybe less. but those two seconds have changed the way i live. they caused me to re-arrange my plans for the weekend, and for the summer as well.)

the deal is, i find it easy to worship God when i have some reason to.

stop praising or worshiping God...
...unless you have a good reason.

we have to be careful, here: "i feel like it" is not always a good reason, and "i don't feel like it" doesn't always indicate a lack of reasons. i may not feel like worshiping God for something He's done, but i can still thank Him for it. isn't that how we learn gratefulness as children? by doing it even when we don't feel it? and eventually, we find that our feelings have been trained, so that we are naturally grateful. or, we were never trained that way, so we become ungrateful people.

the Christian life is at least partly all about re-training. transformation. God wants us to become the kinds of people who do good by nature (the new nature, of course). that involves training, and training means things like intentionality and discipline. read I Timothy 4 for further thoughts there.

try to worship God for no reason, or just because He's God, and you'll probably find yourself asking questions like, "who is God, that He deserves praise?" i'm not suggesting that He doesn't; i'm simply suggesting, now that we know (i.e. believe) that He does, let's find out why, so that we can begin to turn our hearts towards Him more permanently by turning them towards Him in specific moments and situations.

so God, i thank You for interrupting my weekend, for giving me the tiniest glimpse of what You desire, so that i could participate in it. it's a great privilege, and i still wonder why You let me in on Your plans. i can't say my whole life will please You or testify to You, but i can say that i worship You right now because You've shown Yourself to be who You say You are.

grant me many more opportunities such as this one. please teach me the art of expectation, that i might wait eagerly for You, rather than despairing that You aren't always visible. make me a worshiper by nature, bit by bit, more and more as i come closer to death.

amen.