Worship is a lifestyle. The expression of worship as a lifestyle can constitute many different spiritual disciplines. Some of these disciplines include devotions, Bible studies, prayer, preaching, serving, fasting and meditation. As a chapel deacon, I am interested in corporate worship, which is an avenue through which many Christians can experience those different spiritual disciplines.
I spent this past summer interning at two different churches. Throughout the internship, I was able to participate in many different ministry activities. Out of all the activities I participated in, I feel one that had the greatest impact upon my life was active observation. Through observation I was able to take notice of behaviors that seem to go unnoticed. One of the observations I made was that traditional corporate worship seems to encourage Christians to live out their faith in conditioned ritualistic ways.
This deserves explanation. In this particular church, communion was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of every month. One particular Sunday I noticed something unusual during communion. The event of communion begins by a recitation of the Apostle’s Creed and ends with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. I realized that while I was reciting these prayers, as an expression of worship, I didn’t truly understand what I was giving assent to. It seemed as though the atmosphere didn’t foster the ability to truly participate in communion in remembrance of Jesus’ life, death, and even triumph over the grave. It was at that moment I noticed many Christians seem to go through the motions during corporate worship. I got the impression that although the group mentality contributed to a certain amount of unity, it also contributed to conditioning the group to worship in very specific actions; and if these actions continue over a period of time, they become more of a habit than a genuine expression of worship.
There have been numerous times throughout corporate worship that I truly was worshipping God, but it seemed that in those times, I was missing out on some other part of the regimented schedule of corporate worship. When I was praying, the group was getting out their money to tithe; or when the pastor was preaching, I was not even listening to his sermon, but reflecting on the songs we had just sung.
Based upon this observation, I noticed there seems to be tension in corporate worship. We may all sing together, recite the same prayer, and eat of the same Eucharist, but underneath it all, our faith is based upon our individual decision to enter into a relationship with God. There is tension between unity and individuality. I fear that if our corporate worship doesn’t give enough attention to the individual aspect we may actually hinder our maturity as Christians.
I am afraid that our corporate worship may become just another ritual, and not a genuine expression of worship. Can we truly draw close to God through corporate worship that gives little attention to the need for individual aspect of our faith? Does traditional corporate worship limit our ability to genuinely worship God?
If we are to live a life of worship, what happens during corporate worship is a significant aspect we have to consider.
I fear that Christians aren’t encouraged to engage personally in corporate worship. I fear observing Christians just going through the motions. We need to consider the different elements of corporate worship. Or maybe we just need to stop going through the motions and get serious about worship. If you ask me, as a community here at Houghton, let’s get serious about worship. Let us join together during our chapel services, Bible studies, and Sunday services, and make a decision to stop going through the motions, and let us use those different expressions of worship to genuinely grow our faith for the glory of God!