We created a working definition for worship:
Worship is finding value in things and connecting that value to God. (Or "Worship is finding value in things and discovering how that value is connected to God.")
This definition opens up worship to include a lot of things. Things like skateboarding, computer programming, running, playing music, painting, talking to a friend, giving a gift to someone in need, sitting in silence, looking at art, imagining conversations between Jesus and a vampire, etc.
Does this definition open it up too wide, so wide that the definition isn't helpful?
I remember Mark yelling at one of the first Dandelion Seed conferences "I get it -- art, God! They're connected." That was a highlight in my worship life so far. I remember another conversation with a writer in which, somehow, his faith connected his writing -- in an organic, real way. Then there was that time when all of a sudden a love for music became also a conversation with God that had been going on in the background, unrecognized for years.
But is that worship?
If we open up the definition of worship like this, it now includes much of what most churches do together, but doesn't exclude the many people for whom those expressions are difficult to connect with. It also validates parts of the body of Christ who tend to be overlooked (which are the ones we should give special honor to -- introverts, visual communicators, etc).
So, with this new and much wider definition, how do we "worship together?" One way is to choose several worship practices and do them together.
For example, at the Charlottesville Project we're working at these practices:
1. Meditation. We're drawing on several eastern traditions in practicing this discipline. The goals are to slow down and make space for God, trust and a receiving posture.
2. Improvisational playing, singing and art making. We draw on a number of traditions here: gospel music, charismatic free-singing, jazz improv. I've also wondered whether a study of the mystical practices of the Hebrew prophets and Sufi worship might teach us something we could use in worshiping our Lord Jesus.
3. Corporate singing of old and new songs. We draw on Christian traditions here, which probably drew a lot from Hebrew traditions. We also use some popular music and original music when we sing together.
One element that made the discussions at our recent gathering great was that they included people from four communities: the Charlottesville Project; a house church in the Dallas area; a group made up mainly of 20 year olds who are trying new things within the wider context of a local church (New Hope); and Segue, a church plant in the arts district of Dallas. People had different experiences and perspectives—as each of these communities grow conversation between them will become more and more helpful.
We also had a lot of fun doing writing exercises. We started with the sentence "The air above my head was clear." The rest we wrote on the fly, quickly. Here is an excerpt from one of them:
"The air above my head was clear. I walked, stiletto-clap, click on plastic fields stretched tan and rose in all directions. Smoke stacks empty, machinery frozen, eyes of robots empty and staring, sockets, not grain of sand or smell of earth..."
It was a good DSC time: building relationships, building creativity, and exploring ideas.
Jonathan
5 comments:
Good to hear thoughts on worship... what do others think? I think in this case, worship and prayer become closely intertwined...caught up in "relationship" to God.
On another note--what did you think of The Dark Knight? Nate and I saw it last night and it got my mind racing with all sorts of metaphors and ideas... particularly: if there are all manner of agents of chaos in our world... the opposite position is that of agents of love/sacrifice/hope.. not trying to plan or control or contain (what we often place our hope in). For some reason this has inspired in me great hope for the future...where I can become more and more aware and willing to give what I have, with no guarantee on its return. More thoughts anyone?
Well, first, I wanna say that even though I like the definition, I kinda don't but especially don't like our need to be definitiony. I like the idea that worship is simply a response to the worth of God, which is really just about relating to Him and recognizing His presence and being appropriately present in His presence--which, at least in my head, encompasses the other. As I said at the meetings, I don't think wide or too wide is a problem. :-)
Amber, I think you're exactly right about prayer and relationship.
Something that started stirring this last weekend and maybe just crystalized is that there should be something extraordinary about that kind of being (and perhaps it's the potential ordinariness that troubles those concerned about wideness?). A Holy God evokes a singular and substantial response. Which implies that if our response--if our being--is mediocre, timid, weak, stultified, stale, etc. then, obviously, we've not allowed ourselves--for whatever reason--to encounter Him, we haven't confronted the reality.
You make a good point about awareness. And I can't help relating it to marriage. 1) It's one thing for me to do something in my wife's presence. It's another for me to do it enjoying her presence. I am distinctly cognizant these last several months about how so many simple activities in my life were imbued with significance because they were shared. 2) And, moreso, with just a little bit of interaction--a touch, a glance, a few words. It doesn't have to be much, but it mattered not only that she was there, but that I was aware of her being there and that, on some level we engaged. 3) And, of course, obviously, it's not only necessary but a lot of fun to fully focus.
It's not enough that we simply do something beautiful, valuable, but that we recognize the grace of God in it and His presence around us. And we ought to include him--it doesn't have to be a lot of words, I don't think, as big a fan as I am of words--in the on-going conversation.
On the corporate level, some things that come to mind are 1) that, as with any other collective activity, it makes sense to do something where, as my engineer boss puts it, "the vectors are aligned" because that kind of alignment increases the potency of the expression. Music makes a lot of sense for this reason because it tends to sort of force us on the same page and, if not on the same note, then (and this I find so much superior actually) harmonizing. Which leads to: 2) On some level, my individual response to God in a corporate setting should somehow function in cooperation with those around me, should be aware, appreciative, mindful (though, despite my word choice, this could be less conscious than intuited). Maybe those sound the same, but I guess I mean the latter to encompass more variety and even apparent contradictions, more subtlety of connection though, in fact, a great depth of sensitivity. If we're all singing the same line, it's kind of easy and perhaps less profound, but when we start to recognize and appreciate each other in more nuanced ways, when we start letting others and ourselves flow under less obvious homogeny, a higher level of community is required.
Yeah, words like appreciation, harmony, cooperation, awareness--these all seem especially important, individually, but particularly as we move into a community experience.
Here's where I think the Church has faltered. She's okay when we all sing melody. She's even okay when we start singing four-part harmony. But throw in a little jazz, a tuvan throat singer or two, or silence or synesthetic (sic; not simply synthetic) chords and she bounces off the walls. For all of our troubled history with music, I really don't mean that literally. Ironically, it seems to me that we're farther along musically than in most other venues and especially in the broader context of lifestyles and modes of expression. Music just makes a great metaphor.
Oh, and one note on extraordinary: it's not the same as flashy, produced, self-conscious--and it may not be apparent to everyone or even most.
Joel: I love what you're getting at when you talk about worship as a lifestyle of living extraordinarily (I agree that we've lost touch with the simple meaning of that word). I connect worship with the concept that God intends for us to be gradually but continually TRANSFORMED. If we're being continually transformed, then surely there are going to be moments of newness, of new perspective or of just plan enjoyment, moments when some recently transformed part of our being expresses itself for the first time. And if that new part of ourselves is deeply aware that it was God alone that transformed it into its present shape, isn't that inherently worshipful?
One thought that I had towards the end of our discussion in Texas that helped me was thinking that there is a difference between worship and praise. I (and the church as I've experienced it) tend to use those words as synonms, but I'm wondering if praise is actually one very important (but still just one) facet of worship.
Amber: I had a very similar reaction to The Dark Knight. I was struck by the fact that the characters of Batman and the Joker had really become archtypes, which is why I think that the movie has connected with so many people right now. We want to be reassured that Order and Justice really can withstand Chaos, because we aren't so certain anymore.
It's kind of cool to think that, as we begin to become more aware, as you said, and take responsibility for living as agents of love/sacrifice/hope, we can all growl "I...am...Batman!" to ourselves in that crazy voice. Or maybe I'm just goofy =).
-- Justin --
What struck me most in the movie was that Batman had to be willing to be misunderstood, disliked and even resisted by the very people he was helping to really make a difference for them. Jesus was so totally that so much of the time that I can't even begin to get my head around it. And yet this willingness is nothing like the self-righteous arrogant "I'm getting persecuted for what's right" mentality that we often see (and have) when it comes to being misunderstood or resisted by people.
I just have to say that I agree with what both of you said about Batman, Justin and Jonathan. Justin, you are goofy; why do you say that like it's a bad thing?
One of the images I can't get out of my mind is of the Bat riding off on his bike--it seemed so scapegoaty to me.
Along with the theme of the messiah being misunderstood, despised, rejected--to me, at least--is this idea of our basic misperception of what is--i.e., our misunderstanding of everything--, especially our failure to perceive things that happen in the deep, dark places (and I mean that in many different ways--probably every one you can imagine, actually), where God is indeed at work.
I love the fact that salvation in one particular situation that I won't spell out (lest I spoil it for those who haven't yet seen it) comes from where we wouldn't expect it, from someone we've already written off (well, not really--and in some ways, it was kind of cliche, but I still loved it and it at least defied conventional convention). Like I said, I don't want to ruin it, but suffice to say that it's a major dilemma and it isn't Batman who makes the save.
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