Is Worship on the Agenda Again?

I was recently reminded of a serious discussion that seems to take place annually somewhere around the church. In presbyteries where I have served it has led to special committees, surveys, and reports to the plenary with “the best” recommendation for a balanced meeting. I hear from those moderating sessions that the challenge is also raised in their meetings. It is expressed as, “If we are meeting to do business, do we really need to worship?” Or, “How much time should we spend on worship when our to-do list seems so long?” Occasionally such a question is followed by, “If I want to worship I will go to church on Sunday. I don’t need to worship in a meeting.”

The Directory for Worship in our Constitution is based on the conviction that “the life of the Church is one, and that its worship, witness, and service are inseparable.” With this bit of theological truth at hand you are now in a great position to induce guilt in anyone bold enough to complain about too much worship in meetings.

That said, I think some additional conversation about this topic is important. Meetings are about how we organize and about how we serve. Being elected to serve and being nurtured in faith both occur when we are together as a worshiping community. In W-3.3201, the ordering of worship is done when “the pastor with the concurrence of the session provides opportunity for the people of all ages to participate in a worthy offering of praise to God, and opportunity for them to hear and respond to God’s Word.” Both of these aspects need to be present when we worship, meet to plan, study, or pay bills. It is a healthy cycle of receiving and responding to God’s Word that fans the spark of faith that the Spirit of God puts in us. Lifelong nurture is received in this cycle. Praising, sustaining, nurturing worship is at the very core of our being as Christians.

Neither “being without doing” nor “doing without being” is healthy for the worshiping community. I think the quandary about being Christian in worship versus doing the church’s business is really a matter of balance between faithful praise and living out faith. The apprentice approach to life as a Christian has been instructive for me in this recurring conversation.

Jesus called the fishermen to follow him and told them that they would then fish for people (Mark 1:17). As we follow Jesus we grow in faith and knowledge, casting our nets as we go. It is in the grateful response to the One we follow in worship that we become better at fishing for people. As apprentices gathered to worship respond to the grace received, their people gathering nets of good news grow larger and larger through witness and service.

If worship has become just another item on the agenda of things to do, maybe a conversation about this needs to be held. Instead of putting worship on the list of things we do, let’s be sure we put what we do back in our order of worship.