2 Responses to “Participation as Worship”

1.  Anonymous  on 8:56 PM  

   Hearing what Tom said Sunday and reading the post here has got me to thinking about this whole idea of worship. I suppose what ever a group of people call what they do at a Sunday Morning Main Event is their business. I am thinking that we read too much of a twenty-first century understanding of a Sunday Morning Main Event into the New Testament.
   I think that in the apostolic age church gatherings were not primarily for worship. They were for fellowship in all of its Biblical connotations, instruction and edification, motivation, and prayer. Worship might sometimes have been an element of a gathering but not the primary emphasis of the gathering.
   Tom rightly taught us Sunday that what we do in service to others is worship directed to God.
   
   He said in the recent post:
   
   "We definitely need everyone's help in March, but this is about much more than that. This is an act of worship. Your service to our community of faith is taught to be an offering to God. The invitation is for you to grow in your worship of your creator by..."
   And there is a list of some things that have to do with producing the Sunday Morning Main Event.
   
   Then Tom said a little further on:
   
   "Jesus (sic) mission isn't for us to have a weekly gathering at 11:15 on Sunday mornings, but that's a good starting place for us to being (sic) seeking His direction. As His representatives, our mission is out in the streets and homes of our city."
   
   Amen and Amen!
   Now how to do it is the big question.
   
   In the quote from part of the Sunday address there are some suggestions.
   
   "It makes a huge difference to hear another stay-at-home mom talk about a passage of Scripture that's really helped her cope with the challenges she faces. It's helpful to hear another parent of teenagers talk about his struggles, and how he's found comfort in God's Word that have helped him deal with having a teenage daughter. That's very different from just having the pastor speak. You're the experts on figuring out how the dangerously wonderful life of Jesus is fleshed out in the Valley here."
   
   I think in New Testament times that is the kind of thing that would have gone on in a public assembly of a congregation. The way I see it there were two ways this could have happened. Let's look at only the first example. Something similar could be said for the second as well. The stay-at-home mom could have talked to other moms about common concerns and interests and worked some element of the Gospel into the discussion. These women could have been in the church or not.
   Or, the stay-at-home mom could have given a short workshop in the congregation, or a part of it, so that other moms could use what she learned without having to do it the hard way or by trial and error all over again.
   Tom further develops:
   
   "Another passage talks of some other ways we can participate in the worship life of a group of believers. 1 Peter 4:10-11 says:
   
   '10God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you. 11Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies'.
   
   "You get the idea of a group getting together to worship God. Some are good at speaking, and can't wait to share what God has been teaching them lately. Others head right to the kitchen to make the coffee and food that are going to be served. Others come with a poem or art piece to share their story in a variety of brushstrokes. Others come in and quietly sit beside someone who looks down and who needs a bit of encouragement. I could go on. Everyone has something to offer, something they naturally love to do. Nobody's a spectator."
   
   Actually, I don't get the idea of a group getting together to worship God at all. I get the idea of a group getting together to have fellowship in all of its Biblical connotations, instruction and edification, motivation, and prayer. After the last bread was broken and the last prayer expressed the people went out and worshipped. They did this by such things as speaking a good word for Christ and His church, helping the sick and poor and needy, sharing a meal with a hungry person in Jesus name. If we got over the idea that worship is the focus of the Sunday Morning Main Event and began to worship by putting legs on our faith in the streets and on the job we would find we would have a lot more participation in the Sunday Morning Main Event. There would be success stories. There would be questions and opportunities for others to counsel. There would be prayers and songs, joy and tears. Christians would be involved in other's lives and wanting to tell all about it.
   
   Tom concludes his posted segment of the address:
   
   "1 Corinthians 14:26 puts it this way:
   
   'When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight' (The Message).
   
   "Everyone should come to our gatherings expecting to contribute something. And don't forget the the focus isn't on the front. It's on God, through each other."
   
   This is exactly right. There is one defect. None of the Greek words for "worship" appear in this passage. Even Eugene Peterson has read twenty-first century church practice into the New Testament.
   
   We play to an audience of One, true enough. Sunday Morning Main Events are not the primary stage for our worship. It has to be in the world. And you know what else? The audience is right there beside us helping us every step of the way.

2.  Anonymous  on 4:17 PM  

   The 3x5 cards that were left (I hope for me :) said:
   
   1) God doesn't want our worship as much as he wants worshippers. Not an event but a way of living.
   
   2) God will never abandon us.

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