In corporate worship, God desires to remove our blindfolds and give us an extraordinary, breathtaking glimpse of divine radiance.
Jesus promised to be with us always. And we do believe that God is always present even in those moments when we feel like God is absent. There truly is no God-forsaken place! (See Romans 8 –neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come nor anything else in all creation can separate from the love of God in Christ.)
However, we also believe that God promises to be present in a special and unique way in our worship. Jesus indicates this in Matthew when he says that where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there. Hebrew Scripture talks of special places where God’s glory dwells and is especially present. And Christian experience has also indicated that there are times and places where God feels especially present. Celtic Christians refer to those places as “thin places” where the gap between heaven and earth seems to shrink. Worship (at least true worship) is one of those thin times and places. In fact, without a sense of God’s presence, worship is not worship!
God’s nearness is not something we “bring down,” “whip up,” or otherwise manipulate. God’s presence is always something we “come into.”
So the question for those of us who plan worship is: Who’s responsible for ensuring God’s presence? Okay—I realize even in the phrasing of that sentence I was being sarcastic. God’s presence is assured; our task is to create an environment where God’s presence can be experienced. So what creates that environment?
First, the presence of the Word – all things in worship point to God as revealed in Jesus including Scripture. We can read the Bible and give suggestions for better and moral living yet still fail to invoke the presence of God’s living and active Word.
Second, our heartfelt praise--Morgenthaller maintains the first responsibility of those leading and planning worship is to be worshippers themselves! She makes a scary suggestion that the quality of our worship makes a difference in how God is revealed to the congregation! This is why I feel privileged to be in ministry with worship participants who truly do worship! I love the moment before the service when we gather for prayer. I used to worry that it was too “clique-ish” for us to huddle together before the service, but I know understand it to be a statement to the congregation that we do know that we must begin with prayer and a call to God to work through us before we can begin. It’s like a band taking a moment to tune up before a concert. This moment of prayer is the most important tuning of our instruments that we can ever do!
However, she leaves off the responsibility at that point. Perhaps because she is addressing worship leaders, pastors, and worship planners, she doesn’t go into the responsibility of the congregation—which by and large is out of our control. However, I know that part of entering into God’s presence is being receptive to it. As a lay person, I discovered that I experienced more in worship when I prepared myself for it. For instance, if I laid out the clothes and shoes on Saturday night rather than scrounging on Sunday morning, I was less stressed when I entered worship. Or when I read the scripture and ponder it before hearing the sermon. Most importantly, when I began to come to worship expecting to hear God’s voice instead of expecting someone to make God present for me, I began to experience God in every service no matter the quality of the music or the preaching! I share this observation not because it lets us worship planners off the hook, but because it frees up the worshipper to experience God even when we miss the mark!
God may indeed be waiting to reveal himself, but God is also waiting for us to draw near. C.S. Lewis
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