Week 7 - Holy Week - Worship
Although Lent is coming to a close and Holy Week is upon us, I wanted to speak with you about one last discipline that you currently adopt but my hope is you adopt it in a deeper sense after Lent is completed this weekend. I hope you have taken the time as you read these articles to adopt one of these disciplines from the previous list I spoke about and made it part of our spiritual life moving forward.
Our last discipline is probably the most important one: worship. Worship is the expression of much of what we do as Christians. In the reformed tradition, we worship in response to what God has already done for us both in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I believe, as many throughout the church do, that we are created to worship God. I believe that there is something engrained in our being, something we cannot corrupt or deface, that calls us to worship God.
The practice of worship can vary from person to person as it varies from church to church. Few bodies of believers worship in exactly the same fashion but all worship the same God. Worship leads us from a place and stance of selfish-visions and into the revelation of God with us as He directs us. Worship opens our minds as it changes our hearts. Therefore worship is both a unique experience to the individual and it is a community practice. Our faith is not lived out in a vacuum and neither is our worship of God. However, there are worship elements that are best done alone.
I once knew a man named Gus who was adamant that he found God out in his sugar shack every fall making maple syrup. It bothered Gus that he found God here since his children and many in his church did not share his belief that God could be found in a sugar shack in the middle of the woods. But God showed up there; Gus knew it. I knew it when I spoke to Gus about the times he was alone in the woods and felt God with him.
There watching the sun come up through the trees and hearing nothing but the sound of the wind, Gus experienced God’s love and would say if asked, that he worshiped God in the woods as the sap boiled and reduced becoming the maple syrup he loved.
My worship style may not resemble the style Gus embraced every Saturday morning, but we worshiped the same God and both he and I have been transformed by the worship of our God.
Another example I can share with you comes from the Eastern Orthodox Church. One of their classic books is an anonymously titled work called The Way of the Pilgrim. In the book the Pilgrim, feeling called by God, embarks on a journey to find God’s voice in his life. Along the way God encounters him and challenges him to pray without ceasing as part of his daily worship practice.
The Pilgrim tries many ways to pray and many ways to worship God along the way. He becomes discouraged and even contemplates giving up the journey God called him to, but through worship he finds a steadfastness that keeps him moving. Eventually settling upon the Jesus Prayer which he says as he takes each step, the Pilgrim finds God in those simple words that he prays and teaches his friends, and those he finds on the road, how to worship as God once taught him.
Worship is unique to the individual. It is shaped by what you and your Lord decides is the best course of action for your faith. It is a responsibility of the faithful to worship God and teach those around them how to follow God’s leading and worship God as well.
My first Lent has been a time of joy as it has been one of reflection. Keep practicing your faith this Holy Week and God will encounter you. He may encounter you as you worship him in the woods and he may find you along the path of a great journey. Wherever it is, if you worship him in your way, with your words, and all of your heart, God will find you. Just keep going!!
Our last discipline is probably the most important one: worship. Worship is the expression of much of what we do as Christians. In the reformed tradition, we worship in response to what God has already done for us both in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I believe, as many throughout the church do, that we are created to worship God. I believe that there is something engrained in our being, something we cannot corrupt or deface, that calls us to worship God.
The practice of worship can vary from person to person as it varies from church to church. Few bodies of believers worship in exactly the same fashion but all worship the same God. Worship leads us from a place and stance of selfish-visions and into the revelation of God with us as He directs us. Worship opens our minds as it changes our hearts. Therefore worship is both a unique experience to the individual and it is a community practice. Our faith is not lived out in a vacuum and neither is our worship of God. However, there are worship elements that are best done alone.
I once knew a man named Gus who was adamant that he found God out in his sugar shack every fall making maple syrup. It bothered Gus that he found God here since his children and many in his church did not share his belief that God could be found in a sugar shack in the middle of the woods. But God showed up there; Gus knew it. I knew it when I spoke to Gus about the times he was alone in the woods and felt God with him.
There watching the sun come up through the trees and hearing nothing but the sound of the wind, Gus experienced God’s love and would say if asked, that he worshiped God in the woods as the sap boiled and reduced becoming the maple syrup he loved.
My worship style may not resemble the style Gus embraced every Saturday morning, but we worshiped the same God and both he and I have been transformed by the worship of our God.
Another example I can share with you comes from the Eastern Orthodox Church. One of their classic books is an anonymously titled work called The Way of the Pilgrim. In the book the Pilgrim, feeling called by God, embarks on a journey to find God’s voice in his life. Along the way God encounters him and challenges him to pray without ceasing as part of his daily worship practice.
The Pilgrim tries many ways to pray and many ways to worship God along the way. He becomes discouraged and even contemplates giving up the journey God called him to, but through worship he finds a steadfastness that keeps him moving. Eventually settling upon the Jesus Prayer which he says as he takes each step, the Pilgrim finds God in those simple words that he prays and teaches his friends, and those he finds on the road, how to worship as God once taught him.
Worship is unique to the individual. It is shaped by what you and your Lord decides is the best course of action for your faith. It is a responsibility of the faithful to worship God and teach those around them how to follow God’s leading and worship God as well.
My first Lent has been a time of joy as it has been one of reflection. Keep practicing your faith this Holy Week and God will encounter you. He may encounter you as you worship him in the woods and he may find you along the path of a great journey. Wherever it is, if you worship him in your way, with your words, and all of your heart, God will find you. Just keep going!!