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Friday, September 4, 2015

Good, Better, Best





Good, Better, Best


2 Chronicles 5:11-14
I have read many articles on worship that refer to good or better worship that present a tried and true formula of liturgy (liturgy = recipe) that will revitalize congregational worship.  Mix a bowl of well-blended music, add a sprinkling of relevant Scripture, insert the right amount of prayers and flavor with a tasty homily; bake it in a warm worshipful attitude and you can’t miss. Right? Well, maybe. Maybe not.
Before you read further, remember this series of blog entries are for the worshipper in the pew, not worship leaders.
In my pilgrimage of Christian congregational worship, I have come to learn the quality of our worship experience is not so much about our efforts to reach a perfect mix of ingredients as it is about overcoming an affection for our liturgy. As a congregation gathered for worship, we need to step beyond the recipe and worship God outside the limits we set with preferred styles.  Are we married to a tradition that defines us as footloose or straight-laced? Is our focus truly on the presence of God, or are we more concerned with staying between the “lines that bind”?
I believe our challenge in Christian worship is to take good worship and make it better, hoping for the best worship of all.


Good worship is intentional. Good worship involves  ingredients that are consistent with whom we honor.  Hymns, prayers and Scripture unify us and point us in a single direction.  Good worship is when our minds and hearts are remembering  who we are and who God is.  
Better worship is when we move beyond the recipe of good worship. We purposefully or accidentally deviate from our usual path or tradition.  (Maybe you wandered into the contemporary service when you meant to attend the traditional worship service.) Like children, our crayon sometimes strays  outside the lines or a tree might be colored blue instead of green.  I vividly recall when our refrigerator was covered with drawings and cards for Mom and Dad. What appeared as chaotic scribbles were cherished works of art by my wife and me.  Those young expressions of thankfulness were precious in our site. Better worship is more related to effort; not the effort of master craftsmen, but more like a stumbling toddler learning to walk.


Image result for crayon scribble
The best worship is when the worship plan is exhausted and we recognize the greatest obstacle to the worship of God is prideful liturgy. A congregation worships best when they realize they cannot impress God.  The Scripture in 2 Chronicles 5 tells of one of the most meticulously prepared worship celebrations of all time and yet it broke down. The priests failed to complete their acts of service and what was meant to be a great showing of tribute fell flat. The irony of this narrative is there was no lament for the liturgical faux pas. God’s presence disrupted their worship and there was no regret. For a glorious moment God was so overwhelming they could not stand. 

When we worship, we are not dependent upon an undisturbed path that stays between the lines. Remember, our best efforts are as a scribbled crayon. 
Good worship is better when we hope for the best; a distracting presence of God that moves us beyond our favorite recipe.


the friar

1 comment:

  1. Wonderful, John. I especially liked your analogy of our worship being like a child's work of art on his parents' refrigerator. It really puts things into perspective.

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