Christian Worship: What Do We Gather For?
by Nelson Rivera
Let us begin with some questions. When we gather for worship, what do we think we are doing? In other words, what is our gathering for? Just thinking of the ways that diverse Christian traditions begin their worship already tells us something about their understanding of worship. Worship could begin by inviting participants to silent reflection, announcing a call to worship, or through a rite of confession and forgiveness. We may ponder whether a congregation views their primary reason for their coming together as the praising of God, or maybe participating of the Sacraments, or being inspired by the Holy Spirit. In all those cases, a congregation’s own particular understanding of worship could shed light on their expectation of their time together.
Do we gather to give thanks to God, to experience the movement of the Spirit within and among us, or to pray for one another? The reader probably thinks “all of the above.” But what holds the center? In the community’s self-understanding, who or what summons them to the place of worship? Moreover, is there a pattern or basic structure to the congregation’s or denomination’s worship? What elements or actions are considered essential? Our answers to these questions will say much about our theological and ecclesiastical underpinnings as these pertain especially, but not solely, to the historic churches.
What Is Worship?
One basic definition of worship defines it as “religious exercises honoring the divine and uniting the community.”[1] That said, the manner in which we “honor” the divine and “unite” the community may vary from one gathering to another. All worship is first just that: worship. In Greek the word is latria: the communal adoration that is owed, and therefore given, to God or the deity alone. The Christian assembly adores God through Christ and because of Christ. Christ remains at the center, the key to the understanding of who we are as a people and what we do in worship and why.[2] The assembly does not focus on itself; that would be to practice a mis-oriented latria. Where do we think the word “idolatry” comes from? It is a misguided, mis-oriented, almost perverse dis-orientation of praise and honor.
In many Christian traditions, worship is a communal experience and endeavor, where each member is a participant. Together we do leitourgia, the public action and responsibility of a people. In Ancient Greece, “liturgy” was a citizen’s obligation, the “work of the people,” by which the citizens could render their public service, like paying one’s dues to society. In this way, they would subsidize public works, or directly serve the common good through their labor. They could even contribute to games honoring a deity or perform one of the arts during such games.[3]
What the main corporeal action and responsibility might be may also differ among worship traditions. Do we come primarily around the reading of the Scripture and preaching (proclamation), the table (communion), the bath (baptism, but also affirmation of baptism through confession and absolution), prayers, singing, dancing, personal testimony…maybe all of the above? Is it only sometimes, frequently, or always? Are we looking for the comfort of the known, or the excitement of the new?
The Language of Worship[4]
In traditional forms of worship, words matter. We say that language itself is a gift of God. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God is often portrayed as a speaking God, whose speech is creative and powerful. God said, and it happened. God speaks, and creation comes into being. In a manner of speaking, God gives people language so that they may respond to God and to divine acts and initiatives. In the Evangelical understanding, what God says and does is said and done for us, on our behalf, and for our sake. Through God’s speech in the words of Scriptures, in worship and prayer, through divine activity in nature, and in words and deeds, God communicates God’s purposes to us.
Because of our capacity to respond, we can enter into dialogue with the God who comes to our midst and who is therefore present in the assembly. Remember Jesus’ own promise on this regard that whenever two or more are gathered in his name, there he is in their midst.[5] Moreover, language is a means to community, to the building of relationships among us. Sadly, we are also made aware of the destructive power of words to insult, alienate, and oppress, such as hate speech.[6]
We also use language as a means for telling stories. There is a narrative dimension to language, the language of worship included. In the assembly, we tell the stories of God’s activity and saving deeds, with a unique focus on Jesus’ own story: on his passion, death and resurrection, the events where we now find the meaning of our own stories as a people.
God is present and acts through language. The language of worship—spoken, chanted, sung, represented, enacted—reflects the God who is revealed to us, while also evoking the mystery of God who remains beyond human understanding and experience.[7] The Christian assembly often speaks of God using metaphorical language: through words and images, body motion and gestures, in sounds but also in silence.
As we are aware, metaphors are varied and complex. Moreover, metaphors can be thought of as either “weak” or “strong.” The weak one is used to speak of divine reality only symbolically, by approximation, pointing to something greater than itself. The strong one has the capacity “to bend reality,” so to say: it comes to incarnate, to introduce us, to convey the very mystery of divine presence that it represents for us in both words and images.[8]
As we mentioned above, worship is more than words. Words alone could not express the fullness of God. Therefore, non-verbal elements complement words in the vocabulary of worship: through music and silence, movement and stillness, dance, gesture, visual representation, color, architecture, and the whole environment of the worship space.
The Community that Worships
The Christian assembly, the Church, is the eschatological community. The assembly is the community of the end time, of the end now. From the earliest Pauline letters, we get a sense of the urgency of the moment, while living in the “last days.” Early on, there was the expectation of Jesus’ return within the time of the lives of the earliest communities. That community is charged with proclaiming the coming of God’s reign or kingdom (basileia, in Greek), as Jesus did during his own ministry.
Looking at the canonical Gospels, we are made aware of how central the preaching of the “kingdom of God” was to Jesus’ own proclamation in word and deeds. Many of the parables are correctly named “parables of the kingdom.” This very idea and hope for the kingdom once promised by Jesus himself provides focus and orientation to what we say and do in worship. We consider what we do sub specie aeternitatis—viewed in relation to the eternal, or under the shadow of what is eternal or universal. This is another way to refer to that transcendental horizon of joined divine and human activity to which worship signals.
The Feast Now
There are communities of faith for whom the gathering has primarily a celebratory intent: basically, it is a feast. In my own experiences with worship, I have mostly encountered such a joyful engagement among Latino and African American congregations from different ecclesial persuasions, from the practice of “high church” to “low church” liturgical forms. The way that music is performed, prayers said, preaching happens, etc., may vary. What seems to be the common denominator is the desire to enjoy each other’s company and to support one another in their particular life and faith journeys. It is an occasion to express concern and love for the community and the communion that they share. Joy is expressed loudly. It is a time for celebration, if nothing else, another opportunity to be together and see each other. Such an occasion turns into a feast.[9]
Whether in Protestant, Catholic, or Charismatic experiences, worship is what we do together. The time of our gathering acquires a unique meaning other than the ordinary. And, as I believe, the very expectation of a time of celebration and joy, but also of mutual encouragement and support, drives many worshippers to want to gather again.
[1]. Gail Ramshaw, Christian Worship (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009), 1.
[2]. George Weigel, Evangelical Catholicism (New York: Basic Books, 2013), 154-155.
[3] Dominic Frisby, “The Genius Way the Ancient Greeks Taxed their Citizens” in Aeon (June 16, 2017); accessed on October 23, 2018. http://theweek.com/articles/703720/genius-way-ancient-greeks-taxed-citizens
[4] Because of its current value and clarity of presentation, in this section I am indebted to the publication Principles of Worship (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Augsburg Fortress, 2002), 2.
[5] Mt 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
[6] Ibid, 4.
[7] Ibid, 6.
[8] On this point, I draw from, and thus recommend, the arguments for what the authors called a “metaphoric process” for my own purpose; see, Mary Gerhart and Allan M. Russell, Metaphoric Process: The Creation of Scientific and Religious Understanding (Fort Worth: Texas Christian UP, 1984).
[9] On the festive character of worship, see my article on “Mestizo Spirituality: Notes from a Latino and Lutheran Perspective” in Lutheran Partners (Sept/Oct 2000): 34-38.
