Worship of God

THE WORSHIP OF GOD

(Preached at St, Mary’s, North Mymms February 1996)

We are extremely fortunate to have such a beautiful church in which to meet, Sunday by Sunday.

Judging from the number of people who want to have their weddings at the church, and the enthusiastic response of the wider community to our recent restoration appeal, there is no doubt that people value the church building of St Marys.

Unfortunately, that is as far as many people are prepared to go in their spiritual journey. It is the building which they worship.

True, we are stewards of a priceless resource. After all, it is through the generosity of past parishioners that we are able to meet here today. True, we have a responsibility to future generations of parishioners to ensure that the church continues to be here for their use. Nevertheless, the primary function of this building is as a place of worship. Just as Hindus have their temples and Muslims have their mosques, so Christians have their churches in which to offer worship to the Deity.

Here, Sunday by Sunday, we meet together to express the worth of God in our lives. That is the meaning of the word "worship". It is about expressing the sense of God's worth. It is about expressing the value we place upon God in our lives. Those who are full of their self-importance and are quite self-satisfied, will obviously have little room for God in their lives. It is only those who are mindful of their human limitations, and who have glimpsed a vision of God in their lives, who fall spontaneously to their knees in adoration.

So we come, Sunday by Sunday, like the magi to the Christ child, to:

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,

bow down before him his glory proclaim;

with gold of obedience and incense of lowliness,

kneel and adore him - the Lord is his name."

Such worship involves our whole personality and every act of worship should seek to speak to the various facets of our personality. The Christian psychologist, Carl Jung, has revealed through his studies of human behaviour how very different we all are from one another. As a consequence, some parts of an act of worship will appeal to us more than others and therefore we should not be too surprised if we do not find all the parts of a service of equal value in assisting us to express the worship of God.

For instance, those of you who value the use of the senses of sight, hearing, taste and smell will probably appreciate the drama of the service and the colour of the vestments, the sound of the music, the tasting of the bread and wine, and the fragrance of the incense (if it is used).

Those of you who value the use of the mind will appreciate the words of scripture and its exposition in the sermon.

Those of you who value feelings will appreciate the words of the hymns (particularly those of a devotional nature), the assurance of the forgiveness of sins, the greeting of Peace and the intercessions since these tend to speak to our innermost self.

And those of you who value the use of the imagination will be content to allow the words and music to flow over you as you allow yourselves to be carried along to dream dreams and to see visions. Symbolism will also have a strong appeal insofar as it points beyond itself and thereby initiates the imagining process.

The value we place upon these four psychological functions of sensing, thinking, feeling and intuiting will also be influenced by the way we respond to life in general. For instance, those who are introverts will value being alone in worship and the opportunities for silence. Those who are extroverts will need to express themselves through words and actions.

Given such a variety of personalities which exist to a greater or lesser degree in every congregation, we should not be too surprised if we do not place equal value upon every aspect of an act of organised worship. It is the responsibility of the person who plans and leads the worship to ensure that this variety of needs is recognised and provided for.

This brings us to the need to have someone to lead worship with a degree of sensitivity. Such a person is called in the ASB, the President, for he or she presides over the service in the same way as a chairperson presides over a meeting.

And now I speak from experience as opposed to theory. Leading worship can be physically, intellectually and emotionally exhausting – an aspect of ministry which is often overlooked and which is difficult to quantify.

Basically, worship is operating at two levels.

Firstly, there is the earthly or horizontal level. At the start of an act of worship one is faced with a number of individuals. Each one has their own particular agenda to be addressed and needs to be met. Somehow, one has to draw each individual person into a single body which we call a congregation. Some days this can be easy and one senses an enthusiasm to jell together. On other days one senses a degree of reluctance.

Secondly, there is the heavenly or vertical level. We must never forget that our worship here on earth is a reflection of the eternal worship of heaven. It is rather like playing a second violin in a symphony of praise and thanksgiving. When we come to church, we pick up our violins and join in. When we go home, we put down our violins but the music still continues.

The author of the Book of Revelation describes the eternal worship of God in these words:

"I looked, and before my eyes appeared a vast crowd beyond man's power to number. They came from every nation, tribe, people and languages, and they stood before the throne of the Lord dressed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. With a great voice they shouted these words, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lord’.”

As the leader of the act of worth-ship, the President is not only seeking to bind individuals into a single body; he or she is also seeking to plug the worship of earth into the worship of heaven. In other words, one is working on both a horizontal level and a vertical level at the same time so that with one voice we can join in with the angels and archangels and say: "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest."

Finally, having glimpsed and tasted of the life of heaven, the President must enable the congregation, like the disciples upon the Mount of Transfiguration, to return back from whence they came, carrying within them the experience to sustain them throughout the coming week.

"Forth in your name, O Lord I go

my daily labour to pursue

you, Lord, alone I choose to know

in all I think or speak or do."

And so our worth-ship of God, which we have expressed upon our lips in church on a Sunday is expressed through our lives, in our homes and places of work during the coming week whereby we continue to express the value of God in our lives.