Why worship?
My last blog post crossed what would traditionally have been a theological “red line.” I came out, in essence, as a (qualified) a-theist. As I said, I do not believe in a divine being existing someplace “out there.” In the context of the Trinity, I rejected “God the Father” as an ancient concept that makes no sense in the modern world.
And what was the response? Silence. Well, mostly silence. I did get a few positive comments but nothing in disagreement. No one unsubscribed. One person made a donation. But the truth is that a statement which through most of Christian history would have been viewed as heresy, with possibly dire consequences, got nods of agreement or, perhaps, yawns of indifference.
Now I know that my audience is not a representative sample of the population or of Christians. Certainly, some Christians reading my post would have a fit. But I think it’s significant that this group of mostly mainline Protestant and progressive Catholics were open to what I said, either as a new idea or as confirmation of something they already believed. I don’t think they are unusual.
In the seven months since we moved, I have been to a church worship service six times, the last on Easter Sunday. The two nearby congregations my denomination don’t work for me at all. There are a few churches of other denominations I like, yet after worshiping at them I haven’t felt any real desire to go back.
After I left their services, my reaction was that they were just too much. Too much what? Too much talk, mostly. Paraphrasing the emperor’s criticism of Mozart in Amadeus, there were just too many words: hymns, prayers, liturgy, readings, sermons, and assorted miscellaneous commentary.
In the last years of my ministry, my goal was for a Sunday service to not last more than forty-five minutes. This past Advent, I attended an Episcopal service which lasted an hour and forty minutes! I couldn’t help but think of Jesus’ admonition in Matthew 6: “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.”
Increasingly I have wondered, “What is worship for?” Traditionally, Christian worship has been very theistic. Its various actions have been directed towards the God-out-there: praise, prayer, confession, lament, etc. Creeds and hymns usually presume a theistic God.
More recently, however, worship has become increasingly directed towards the congregation, with a wide range of entertainment and self-help components, plus the clergy’s inclination for chit-chat (yours truly included). The intention is to make worship personal, relatable, relevant, accessible, casual, etc. All of which is an admission that traditional worship is now failing most people.
So, what should worship look like if, as I wrote last week and I think many people intuitively believe, God isn’t “out there” but right here, within us and all around us? If, as Paul is quoted to say in Acts, God is “the one in whom we live, and move, and have our being”? Let me use again a quote I cited in a recent video. It’s from the story in John 4 of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. She asks Jesus whether the Jewish temple or the Samaritan one is the right place to worship. Jesus replies,
“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, … when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
What does “in spirit and truth” mean? From the rest of John, as well as from the other gospels, I don’t think Jesus has in mind anything to do with sitting in a building in rows of seats, focused on the action on a stage up front. In fact, this story is the only place in the gospels where Jesus actually talks about worship, and in its traditional sense, he essentially dismisses it. Jesus shows little personal interest in worship and rarely, if ever, directs anyone else to worship.
Traditionally, worship was done for God because presumably that’s what God wanted. Nearly everyone worshiped at their local congregation because that’s what you did. You might have opinions, pro or con, about the minister, the building, the music, etc. but it had nothing to do with deciding whether or where you were going to worship. Today, as I said above, the focus is on what the congregation wants. Where people worship, or if they worship at all, is very much dependent on what they like and whether they are “getting anything out of it.”
There is a story told about a medieval stonemason creating an intricate carving for a high and inaccessible space of a cathedral. He was asked why he was putting so much work into something no one would see. “God will see it,” was his response. He was almost certainly sincere but I can’t imagine anyone having such an attitude today.
To “worship in spirit and in truth” is much like Paul’s admonition to “pray without ceasing.” It isn’t about reciting prayers, performing rituals, or attending a weekly event called worship. Rather, it is a life stance, an attitude, an orientation. It is to live with a constant awareness of the sacredness of life: of ourselves, of every person, and of the world around us. This is the meaning of spirituality.
There are, of course, what are typically called “spiritual practices” which help develop and maintain such an awareness. Their purpose is not to “please God” but to awaken us to God’s presence within us, as us, and all around us. Meditation, or contemplative prayer, is usually seen as the basic and essential practice for spiritual awareness. But again, rather than something to be done, most spiritual teachers agree that ultimately meditation becomes simply part of who we are and how we are present in life.
Traditional worship is not about this. Worship is about fulfilling a religious task. In worship, some may experience moments of spiritual awareness, but they are not assumed or expected. Nor is it assumed that worship will lead to metamorphosis, to transformation, which is what both Jesus and Paul mean by salvation. It will not awaken us from the illusion of duality and separation to the fundamental truth of our oneness in God with all creation.
In a recent church newsletter, the pastor said that the single most important reason their church existed was to provide the space and time to worship. I have no doubt many or most pastors believe this, as do many of their churches’ remaining members. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer people share that interest, and for good reason.
Today, people don’t want to go through religious motions but to know spiritual truth, as Jesus says to the woman at the well. They want to know “the peace that surpasses all understanding,” the silent sacred presence that is at the core of our being. People no longer want to imagine a God out there but rather, they want to know the God within.
If you appreciate these posts, remember to “Like”, share, and subscribe, if you haven’t done so already. In the mystical world of search algorithms, this all helps “spread the word.” And add a comment, if you’re so moved, to be part of the conversation. Finally, thank you for your financial support, which covers blog expenses and helps me to keep doing this.