Good morning!

It has been a while since I have seen many of you. I hope that your summer weeks have been filled with loved ones and relaxation.

I have a question for you, and although I do not expect you to answer outright, I would like you to take a moment and think about your corporate worship experience in the summer months. Does this experience differ from your worship experience in other seasons? I usually feel that summer allows for a break in my routine of  the “fast paced church experience” of the school year. This change of pace has caused me to stop and consider what my focus should be in the summer months, especially in my corporate worship experience.

So I went searching for a word on worship, and I found an article from Relevant Magazine that discusses the relationship of Worship and Mission. I have linked and posted the article below, but I would like to highlight one thought in particular:

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

In the presence of Jesus in worship, we behold His glory and realize that it is only He who can save us and our sinful world. We are transformed into a just community; we actually accomplish and enact justice. The injustices of this world are socioeconomic, political, systemic and individual, but first and foremost, they are spiritual realities (Ephesians 6:11-12). When we offer praise as a community, we enter into this spiritual conflict as we encounter God and participate in His holy mission to liberate the oppressed.”

Isn’t it wonderful to consider worship as a pure part of our mission against the injustices of this world? It is not just an act to fulfill our spiritual needs. It is an integral part of the spiritual battle that rages around us.

It is my hope that this encourages your worship experiences, and causes you to seek out a deeper more purposeful worship.

-Jennifer

Your Worship Isn’t Enough

Sometimes church feels like a surreal high school pep rally. The guy with the bullhorn (worship leader) pumps up the fans (congregation) to go out and win the big game (do the right thing, live missional lives, pursue justice, draw others to Christ, etc.). Like pep rallies, these worship services fulfill a particular, focused purpose: they are a means to a victorious end and preludes to the “real action” of life.

Do we worship to give us the emotional energy for the application part of our faith? Tim Hughes, a worship leader, writes in one of his choruses, “Keep us from just singing, move us into action.” While his message is important—that we are living lives of meaning and mission and not ones of stagnant faith that lacks deeds (James 2:14)—these lyrics could be misconstrued to assume “just singing,” just worshiping, isn’t as important as the action.

To be fair, the hierarchy of mission and worship is easily flipped for many Christians. These people are perfectly content going to church, worshiping and living without a greater awareness of our world, or even the neighbors around us. In The Dangerous Act of Worship, Mark Labberton says, “The crisis the church currently faces is that our individual and corporate worship do not produce the fruit of justice and righteousness that God seeks.”

But, if we rank mission over worship or worship over mission, we end up sabotaging both; worship and mission are equally and intrinsically linked. If worship is merely the thing that makes us feel good, feel “full” so we can go and do the important, active stuff, we lose. On the other hand, if mission is the thing that’s flippantly tacked onto our faith, we lose. Either way, our definitions of worship and mission are sickly and insufficient. We are missing the engaging, challenging, and courageous call of the Church to enact both.

Worship as Mission

In worship, we encounter not just a good feeling or a boldness for justice; we encounter the living person of Jesus Christ—the embodiment of perfect justice. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus begins His public ministry by quoting Isaiah:

“[The Spirit of the Lord] has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

The good news Jesus is talking about is redemption for the whole of life: spiritual, physical, emotional, social, etc. Our attempts to fulfill this Gospel mission fall short unless we are being transformed more and more into the image of Jesus: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

In the presence of Jesus in worship, we behold His glory and realize that it is only He who can save us and our sinful world. We are transformed into a just community; we actually accomplish and enact justice. The injustices of this world are socioeconomic, political, systemic and individual, but first and foremost, they are spiritual realities (Ephesians 6:11-12). When we offer praise as a community, we enter into this spiritual conflict as we encounter God and participate in His holy mission to liberate the oppressed.

Mission as Worship

Meeting God in worship impels us to carry on the mission of Jesus in the world. Mission flows directly from the worship of the Church and the two cannot be severed. In her book Everyday Justice, Julie Clawson writes, “Worship doesn’t merely involve enacting the cultural rituals of worship or personal piety, but more importantly, it involves how we treat others. […] Following God in full obedience in as an act of worship, which means that acting justly is part of what it means to worship God.”

Living a life of true worship means feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. In fact, Jesus promises that when we do these things, we actually meet Him in the faces of those we love and serve (Matthew 25:31-46). Here mission and justice become worship.

Matt Redman addresses the connection and cyclical nature of worship and mission in his song “Mission’s Flame”:

“Let worship be the fuel for mission’s flame

We’re going with a passion for Your name

We’re going for we care about Your praise

Send us out

Let worship be the heart of mission’s aim

To see the nations recognize Your fame

‘Til every tribe and tongue voices Your praise

Send us out”

The first lines from each verse describe mission flowing from worship and mission flowing to worship. The aim of mission is God’s holistic restoration (physical, spiritual, emotional, socio-economic) so that all people can come into His transforming presence. In the bridge of Redman’s song, he describes the scene from Revelation 7: people from every tongue and tribe and nation will one day be clothed in white, gathered around the throne of God in worship.

Breathing with Both Lungs

We need worship and mission; they are essential and inseparable. In our church, we talk about worship and mission as two lungs: we need both to breathe. A hierarchy of either leads to asthmatic Christians and churches, shallow-breath worship, and missional wheezing. So breathe deeply of worship and mission, the way we were intended to live.

Bonnie and Trevor McMaken are songwriters and worship leaders from Chicago, Ill., where they live with their daughter (www.themcmakens.com).
Read more at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/worship/features/18614-your-worship-isnt-enough#JRemXhUqthWzwV8u.99

Categories: Jennifer Chlumsky RELEVANT Magazine

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