Thought for Today
Exodus 3:12 "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain."
Psalm 102:18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord . . . 21 so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.
John 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
Usually the first person to arrive at church on Sunday is our treasurer. She unlocks the door, turns on the lights and adjusts the thermostat. Yesterday, the furnace did not work! Just to make things more interesting, many of us got an email from our organist who had been in an accident and would not be able to be there. We ended up worshiping in the cold and singing a cappella. It was okay, but I suspect I am not the only person who had some thoughts about ‘what constitutes ‘true’ worship.’
Every denomination of which I am aware has at least a suggested Order of Worship. For some, the ‘suggestion’ is more binding than for others. There are impugned theological reasons for each variation, but who is right? None seem to address the issue of whether worship requires heat in the cold or cool in the heat. Some do address instrumental accompaniment for the singing. Some form of music does seem to be an element of every Order of Worship I have encountered. I refuse to consider whether my vocalizations are really singing or not!
The author of Hebrews wrote, “8:5 They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one; for Moses, when he was about to erect the tent, was warned, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." I am confident that, beautiful as it is, our own sanctuary is probably “a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one.” The “pattern that was shown you on the mountain” was probably meant in terms of the sanctuary itself, not the Order of Worship and almost assuredly not the presence or absence of heat. What constitutes ‘true’ worship?
We know that our earliest ancestors-in-the-faith worshipped on a mountain. Is flat-land worship ‘true’ worship? My Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms defines worship as, “The service of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and petition directed toward God through actions and attitudes. Christian worship is Trinitarian in form as praise is offered to God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (pg. 307) That same source says of the Order of Worship, “The sequence of liturgical actions in a service of worship. It is often printed in a ‘bulletin.’”
That formal definition of worship does not mandate nor does it prohibit singing, instrumental music or many other of the elements many of us enjoy as we offer praise, adoration, thanksgiving and petition to our Creator God. And, that definition does restrict itself to Christian worship. Christians should probably often remind ourselves that Jesus’ own worship would have been in a synagogue or at the Temple in Jerusalem.
As I think about that definition and about our service yesterday without instrumental worship and without heat, I know that ours was ‘true’ worship. We praised God. We sang songs of praise and adoration. We included the Doxology which includes the line “Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” I believe we were all led by and aware of the Holy Spirit as we worshipped with our family of faith.
We were cold, or at least chilly. My own fingers were a bit stiff as I wrote notes for myself when I asked for prayer concerns (I cannot read those notes today). But our hearts were warmed by our worship, by our concerns for our organist and by our love for our God. As we go forth into God’s Creation this week, our faith strengthened by yesterday’s worship, the lives we live will be lived in worship of that same God. Christian lives are a true form of Christian worship. But someone will say, "James 2:18 You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.”
Stay safe, worship God in how you live, trust God,
Pastor Ray