Worship's Effect-iveness

The ultimate goal of worship is to glorify God; any other motives render worship an exercise in self-aggrandizement unworthy of offering to the Lord. But worship offered to the Lord will have an effect on the worshiper, and this effect could be a barometer that indicates whether our offerings of worship are biblical and, in this sense, worthy of the offering. Noted Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann offers this insight about biblical worship’s effect on the believer:

…worship in the biblical tradition that eventuates in Christian practice consists in regular, ordered, public, disciplined resituation of the life of the community of faith and of each of its members in the presence of the God who has called that community into existence and who continues to call that community into a life of praise and obedience.

Worship that is scriptural, then, is consistent and guided by the traditions of the scriptural community. This cuts against the free-styling tendencies of many modern Christians. We simply take the approach of God too seriously to do it on our own terms and in a willy-nilly fashion. Worship in the biblical tradition, as the Church has continued in it, is not sporadic, but marks the time in patterns which open up the mystery of the life of Jesus. It is not a matter merely of private and personal meanings, but defines the community of the Lord, shaping our often selfish hearts to serve Christ as his Body. Worship is informed by more than individual tastes or current styles: it rests upon the patterns of scripture and proceeds with history in mind as a guide for the expectations of God’s future.

Worship, if it is true to biblical and Christian tradition, is life-changing. “Going through the motions” simply won’t cut it. We come together into the presence of God in order to be changed. Even when the liturgy is unchanging, the hearts that are offered in the context of that liturgy are ever in flux. Changed from glory to glory to the image of Jesus, our worship is risky business in that it puts us in God’s face and calls us to obedience and holiness.

The patterns of worship in which we are discipled as Anglicans are often misunderstood, even by Anglicans. The historically and scripturally-minded liturgy which we love calls us to faithfulness together before God. It calls us to take seriously the business of belonging to God and to one another. It calls us to be ever “resituated” as our ever-changing lives demand fresh praise unto him who is ever holy. If worship is too spontaneous and self-styled, we are not taking him seriously enough. If worship is too tamed to spark new songs and new praise, it is no longer worship of the Lord. Worship is the response to his call on his terms, after all, and is never an easy matter to be entered into either flippantly or absent-mindedly. Worship, done fervently and scripturally, glorifies God worthily…and changes us completely.