On Worship and Unity
On Worship and Unity:
One of my absolute favorite things is to hop atop a stool behind a mic with my guitar and worship God with a room full of people. We were all created with an innate yearning to worship something, or someone. Jesus said, The Father is searching for those who worship in Spirit and Truth. So while I try to remain keenly sensitive to the Spirit and in pursuit of Truth, one of my imperative aims is to create and cultivate a sense of unity in the room around one thing; the presence of God. The Hebrew Scriptures use a very powerful idiom for God’s presence; Face. What a glorious way to describe the presence! We don’t gather around a teaching, belief or denomination, but rather we gather around the face of God.
I am becoming evermore grieved and deeply disturbed at the faceless, gaping chasm of division which continues to grow amidst our citizenry. In fairly recent times, healthy debate over ideas was just that; debate. Not that long ago, robust disagreement over politics was just that; disagreement. And it seems like only yesterday, contemplative reflection over the things of faith was just that; reflection. Now, we find ourselves navigating a cultural landscape so deep with dissonance and replete with those who, with almost triumphal glee, are armed and poised to deracinate the longstanding roots of friendship, family and reputation for the mere offense of stating a belief, fact or position, that we are left wondering; is social media social at all? Without risk of taking a punch, social media has trained us to knock someone down with a comment, force them into submission with a down-vote or choke them out with a tweet.
Pernicious combat is being waged on social platforms portraying embattled masses marching into their own WWIII. Trip-wire after trip-wire gets yanked amidst the cyber minefields as both warrior and foe are ingloriously dissolved. Bravo, Big Tech, for creating a bloodless, nonetheless cadaver-rich battlefield history had yet dared to envision. Borders fall to troops of keyboards which release the dreaded impetus to overrun not only a newsfeed, but a nation itself.
As the metamorphosis of human interaction devolves from having company in our homes to beating on keys with fingers and thumbs, my grief succumbs to this recognition; civility, respect and honor are fast diminishing. The great cultural partition which used to stand guard between the secular and the sacred has now, at an ever-increasing rate, been broached by the same feverish disdain in and among people of faith.
And here lies the rub: How does one lead a group of people who have been unconsciously trained to accept division and intolerance as the new norm, in unity around the face of God? The scriptures hold a profoundly beautiful word for ‘Unity’. We often confuse unity with uniformity or unanimity, but when the scriptures speak of the first church being united, the best word picture we have describes this trait as a symphonic orchestra. While each instrument, musician and part of the score are distinct and uniquely different, the combined sum of the parts creates a glorious, transcendently harmonic and soul-moving sound which could never be produced save each piece is seated properly in its’ place.
As I watch the social feeds and comment sections, it astounds me how discussion and debate inevitably erode to personal insult and labeling - particularly today among people of faith. Who knew heaven had so many press secretary’s willing to step up to the mic and speak on the King’s behalf, only for us to soon realize they have not had audience with the King for quite some time on these topics. For the last 10-12 years, it’s been common place within the political arena to hurl invectives like bigot, racist or homophobe. But today, the faith arena has whipped out their old Dymo Label Makers and voila; church imitates world. For me to insult and silence someone for a differing position is like the Bassoonist demanding the Violinists leave the stage. And how would the Piccolo effect a crescendo if the Tympani had long been removed? While the political arena knows not what they do, the church should.
If you read my earlier post on the Leaven of the Kingdom, you will easily see why Jesus warned us to beware the leaven of the political system (and religious system) because the resultant is always abuse of power and division. Spend an hour reading his parables which begin with, “The Kingdom of God is like…”, and see what begins to take shape. Whats my point? The Kingdom is the only system which can transform all other systems for the good. Sadly, the church is swallowing a big, heaping helping of the political spirit and is now bearing the expected fruit; anger, division and confusion of truth.
While leading worship, I am often caught up by the felt needs people come in with. They often come hoping and seeking to receive something from God’s hand. As Jill and I took communion together this morning, I pondered the things which Jesus held in his hands; The bread and the wine. The oil and the dirt. The hammer and the nail. The leper and the child. While the invitation is always open to draw near when we are in great need, it’s in those times our tendency is to focus on what He holds in his hand; left and right, good and better, yours and mine. But in true worship, our eyes are lifted beyond what’s in his hands and we behold: His Face. And once we behold His face, we are less demanding of what we can have from each hand.
In this Christmas Tide 2020, may we all behold the face of God’s presence in such a manner that 2021 truly begins to birth the symphonic sounds we can all unify around.
