Worship, being celebration, is a near neighbour of the wedding breakfast, the birthday party or even the wake. But that can be misleading. When we celebrate, we put one or more of ourselves in the spotlight. Very properly that involves delight, delight in being together, delight in the best things we know about particular friends. And worship can be seen as just another example of this. When we get together, on-line or in person, on a Sunday morning, we may be putting ourselves at the centre. Worship then becomes an experience – just as shopping or university education has become styled an experience. Both involve expenditure. Both are subject to quality control. Their worth or quality is determined in some measure by the satisfaction of the participants.
To look at worship that way is valid but it is inadequate. Worship has other perspectives. And one of them is awe or dread. What does this mean? It means what the shepherds experienced in Luke when the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified. The women who went to the tomb after Jesus was crucified had a similar reaction. They could be forgiven for saying they had had a dreadful experience. The words ‘dread’ and ‘awe’ have changed their meaning. One component of worship – and it is basic – is fear. Is idle to discuss the meaning of worship without considering the one we worship. If we allow our consideration to take place purely in terms of our own satisfaction, delight or benefit, we shall be missing the point.
For worship to be what it should be, we have to start with the character of God. That involves not guesswork but attention to what we find in what we may call his own revelation of himself. In short, that means turning to the Scriptures. If we are accustomed to putting ourselves at the centre of worship and regarding God as a benevolent onlooker, we shall have to change our approach. The God of the Scriptures is something more than an onlooker. And he is something more than benevolent. To encounter him is to experience dread. We are talking about one who by himself spread out the heavens. The Scriptures, the music, the building can foster that understanding.
The natural world can help us here. Whoever gave a name to Loch Awe, that massive body of water that seems endless as we drive along it, chose wisely even if he was unaware of that. Worship, to be genuine, must be informed by fear, dread, awe. When we use such words we are closing in on magnificence. We are likely to begin prayer with the word ‘Almighty’. ‘Dread’ is – not surprisingly – a key word in Blake’s great poem ‘The Tyger’. The poem could never be a hymn but it can be a spur to worship.
BUSY KNOWLE
Knowle parish church in the West Midlands produces 1600 copies of its magazine each month, thanks to a team of 150 who see to the production and delivery of copies. Knowle has become an Eco church and is at present busy organising events bearing on climate change. Leading the ministry team is the Vicar, Geoff Lanham.
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