One of the questions we have to ask ourselves when talking about liturgy and worship is: who is the audience of our worship?. The "audience", perhaps surprisingly to some, is not the people sitting in the pews! The audience is primarily God. Our church is not filled with observers who have gathered to watch a small group in the sanctuary engage in "worship" - we are all engaged in the work of worship. This is a difficult concept to get across to Anglicans sometimes because I think the former is exactly what we have been sub-consciously indoctrinated to believe.
There is a secondary audience, however, and that is the outside world - those who don't belong to the church. Paradoxically they are (usually) not present, but they may be there in the form of newcomers or visitors and our worship is intended to witness to them our faith in Jesus Christ and our following of the gospel. We have to constantly ask ourselves what would the unchurched think of our worship? And what does it say about us? And...if we dare... we have to ask ourselves the really interesting question - what does God think of our worship??!!
How do you think God would rate our worship during Lent - lets say on a scale of 1 to 10?
I thought that God would think our worship is heavenly. We all come to God to worship Him at church as a community, and I think it doesn't matter how 'durgy' the music is, no matter how out of tune we sing, we are people who come to God with our hearts open to Him.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of witness, I believe that worship is not only in the service, but also throughout our daily life outside of church. What we do in our homes, communities, educational places and work places all reflects to God and to others how our 'warming of our spiritual coals' at church on Sunday affects how we are as humans walking in the light. If we are a good witness in and out of church, then we are truly free and live in Christ's love continually.
God bless
Stanley
This is a bit confusing to me as I am not really clear as to what is meant by "worship" as presented in this blog. I believe the intent is to comment on the worship during the mass. However I am still unclear whether the whole service is considered worship or only parts of it. Is there a particular Anglican definition? Over the years I have heard that singing is worship. I have also heard that giving is an act of worship. Maybe Stuart could clarify.
ReplyDeleteI am not 100% sure of who the 'our' is referring to in the question. Am I asking myself what God thinks of the worship of Swan Anglican Parish or what God thinks of my personal worship?
ReplyDeleteI really don't think I could give an answer on behalf of the Parish, as I expect that God would look at each person's heart and motives on an individual basis. (Sometimes this is comforting - at others, not so comforting!!) The framework for our Lenten worship is beautifully provided for us at a communal level in the Parish, however the challenge is for each one of us to earnestly engage in using this framework to bring our own worship/offerings/sacrifice to God in a way we believe is pleasing to him.
I really like the idea of exploring this very important question, though. So I am off to do some SERIOUS soul-searching.
Lyn
For a long time, like most Anglicans (I think anyway) I perceived worship to the be the time I spend in church at a service... the performance time.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I attended a "retreat" with the theme of "Doing It ALL to the Glory of God", and my perspective changed and I realised that my life should be an example of worship to God. No matter what I am doing it is through HIS grace that a)I exist and b)am forgiven, so surely my life is or should be spent worshipping.
Now I am extremely human... and I dont even think about pretending that I get it right - not even 5% of the time. But most people who I deal with in the secular world know I am a practising Christian and despite the odd ribbing I get, it is respected. I hope that even if its a fleeting thought in their mind, God is there too, so in some quiet way, they too are worshipping- without meaning to or probably even recognizing it.
Sarah