just worship...

from the "just worship!" newsletter........[i'd put a link but i don't know how]


WHEN IS WORSHIP WORSHIP? Part I
By Dr. Harold Best (Copyright Leadership U)

Permit me to approach this subject from the rather odd perspective of the design of an airplane, let's say the successor to the still-new Boeing 777. This airplane--let's call it the 787--will, of course be a larger, faster, safer, quieter, and more fuel-efficient version of any of its predecessors. Its designers will be uncommonly aware of the gastronomic and ergonomic well-being of the passenger. No longer will the lasagna taste like oregano-flavored silly putty. No longer will the passenger have to assume and maintain a fetal position while using the lavatories. There will be quadruple redundancies in every mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, navigational, and flight control system. State-of-the-art automation will make present-day hands-off flying seem primitive by comparison. The latest structural concepts will be employed: light-weight, resilient, and super-tough composites will be used.

A wonderful airplane so far, yes? But only so far, for one strategic question remains. Without a satisfactory answer, the project is nothing more than second-level busyness and group-think. The question is this: What makes airplanes fly? What will hold this new 787 up there? Oh yes, wings. No problem. And, of course, tail surfaces, for all airplanes must look not only like airplanes, they must be controlled in the usual way. Right. But what makes airplanes fly? Wings. Right. But how do wings work and how should this particular wing work to lift this particular aircraft?

There is a fundamental law which lies at the heart of these questions: Bernoulli's law. To violate it is to invite abject disaster. It is one of the laws established by the Creator and for as long as this creation endures this Creator will see to it that the airplanes that have been designed to obey this law will certainly fly. Thus, we can rest assured that, once this new 787 reaches a certain ground speed, and once the pilot pulls back on the yoke; once the aircraft rotates on its axis by reason of the down forces acting on the elevators; and once this rotational angle is correct, the partial vacuum created by pressure differentials on both sides of the wing will literally be enough to lift this shining and comfortable leviathan from the ground. It's not that this aircraft decides to fly, because it feels like it or because the pilot wants it to. It simply has to fly by reason of adherence to this fundamental common ground law.

Now how does this talk about designing an imaginary airplane and obeying Bernoulli's law relate to the subject of worship? In this way, I believe: We can make the mistake of coming at the subject of worship in the same way the airplane was designed. That is, instead of first of all delving into that elemental, fundamentally simple, and understandable principle of worship--its Bernoulli's law--we may be more likely to go into extended detail about the works that comprise worship, studying up, consulting texts, attending seminars, brainstorming here and planning there, locating all of the amenities, techniques and technologies, delving into options, searching out the histories and selecting among the diversity. Instead of asking what worship is , we concentrate on what worship does , striving to make worship work, hoping that the works of worship get the job done. If they don't we are compelled to call our methods into question, consult culture for its latest advice, attend another conference, or read another book, each of which adds detail to detail, option to option, diffusion to diffusion and--oftentimes--come-on to come-on.

Think of the ways we have of late made worship into such a self-conscious flurry: cutting it up into styles; segregating it away from other spiritual activities; idealizing or Utopianizing it; thinking of worship as an end point or a high point--an event instead of a process; making worship so heavily dependent on--overly consumed by-- music; music as the fulcrum, the catapult, the lubricant; separating worship away from witness and evangelism; making worship either into the emotional and experiential antidote to formalism or the formalized answer to emotion and spontaneity. We see worship as denominationally determined; worship as ethnocentrism or cultural separateness; worship this, worship that, conferences here, symposia there; source books, methodologies, cue sheets and, sadly enough, worship styles as litmus tests for spirituality. It just may be that, instead of worshipping, we have come to the dangerous condition of worshipping about worship or even worshipping worship.

To be continued...