Author: Hope Schwartz

There are many voices calling out to us everyday, be it the Church, our parents, our teachers, or our friends. Each voice that we allow to impact us, has the potential to be formative, to create us into whom he or she, they or it wants us to be. If one of the voices is of greater significance than the rest, the potential of being formative is increased. With greater significance comes greater power. With greater power comes great danger. The potential of abusing the power to be formative in the lives of those around us is increased provided the avenue into the person’s life remains open.

There have been many different people, experiences, and institutions that have been formative in my life. The morals and values I was raised up with in my family, my faith tradition, and my network of friends have played a role in creating me into who I am today. There have been those who have not abused the power to form who I am, but then there are also those who have abused their power to contribute to my formation. Sexual abuse and destructive relationships have also contributed to my formation. In those relationships, I was not given the freedom to speak.

Recent chapel speaker Sheridan Voysey spoke about his journey through the wilderness. He said that the wilderness is a place of revelation, a place of discovery, and a place of transition. I felt a deep peace as he offered a different view on time spent in the wilderness. I have been in the wilderness for some time now, and I always felt the guilt of ending up here. I felt an urge to leave as quickly as possible, for the shame that typically follows when others find out. But now my perspective has changed. I am not ashamed of the wilderness. This time in the wilderness has been revealed as a time of formation. I am discovering new formative practices. These practices are meant to make me into a new person. One of the new formative practices I discovered is speaking. God has given me the freedom to speak.

So what does speaking as a formative practice look like? Speaking is a practice that can take many forms. One can speak through spoken words, writing, body language, sign language, art, poetry, journaling, and prayer among others.

The Bible can be our guide in learning how one should use the formative behavior of speaking. The Bible commands us to be slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to get angry. Speaking and listening are practices that are linked together. This passage suggests that if a person doesn’t listen, he or she may get angry, and choose to speak too harshly, or say something that he or she will regret. It is within our control to think before we speak.

Additionally, the Bible encourages us to speak truthfully and speak words of edification to others. I wonder what it would look like if I chose to have nothing negative to say about the people in my life, but only chose to say words of edification. Edification isn’t simply the absence of negative word; it is choosing to use words that will encourage growth.

Speaking is a gift. Speaking grants us the ability to worship and praise God through spoken, unspoken, and written words. With my voice, I can call out injustice, and speak truth into the lives of those around me. Learning how to speak is my attempt at nurturing and using this gift wisely.

I want to encourage all of you to discover what has been formative in your life.  Are there specific people that have influenced you more than others? Is there one specific Bible verse that has been formative in your life? Are there negative experiences in your life that have formed you? I want to encourage you to spend some time in reflection and maybe try some new formative practices. You don’t have to be in the wilderness in order to be in a place of revelation, discovery, and transition!

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!