{"id":53000,"date":"2014-10-28T00:04:11","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T05:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=53000"},"modified":"2015-03-13T22:24:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T03:24:38","slug":"when-worship-becomes-formative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/10\/28\/when-worship-becomes-formative\/","title":{"rendered":"When Worship becomes Formative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Screen<\/a>There is a lot of chatter today about the formative dimension of church worship. One can be forgiven for thinking that if we would just get our worship right we\u2019d all be formed into model Christians. My observation is that if gathered worship is formative then the best liturgies should produce the best Christians, and then one could just wander into any one of the major liturgical churches and\u2026 well \u2026 it\u2019s rather obvious to me that liturgy does not formation make. At least as many are making the claim.<\/p>\n

Yet, I agree: liturgy and worship are formational. But faith and genuine engagement are required for it to become formational, and when the worshipping community (and its individuals) are genuinely engaged, formation occurs at the deepest levels.<\/p>\n

A good example of this is Barry Jones, Dwell: Life with God for the World<\/i><\/a><\/strong>. His chapter on worship \u2014 and here is thinking of the church gathered for worship without ignoring that private worship flows out of corporate worship \u2014 instructs on how worship can be formational.<\/p>\n

Three words about church rise to the surface immediately:<\/p>\n

For the early Christians, the fullness of their experience of church could be captured by three Greek words: leitourgia, koinonia and diakonia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Leitourgia<\/em>\u2014the \u201cwork of the people\u201d\u2014referred to their gathering for public worship.<\/p>\n

Koinonia<\/em> is often translated by the word \u2018fellowship,\u201d but that is too thin a word for many of us (especially those with memories of bad potluck dinners in the fellowship hall). Koinonia is a rich word that refers to shared life lived in intimate community.<\/p>\n

Diakonia<\/em> is the calling of the entire community to participate in the mission of God in the world. \u2026 It is our collective vocation to give ourselves away in service for the glory of God and the good of other people. And no one is exempt. Every Christian is \u201ccalled to ministry.\u201d Our \u201cbreathing in\u201d in worship comes both as response to and preparation for our \u201cbreathing out\u201d in mission (141).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is the issue: many American Christians are convinced set patterns in worship are ruts we need to jump rather than rhythms we need to indwell. Everything then needs to be thought up anew by each generation and each church and each pastoral change so that today many think the major formative elements of worship and the major accomplishments of worship \u2026 well, these things are not thought about because we go to church to hear sermons. We sing and we think that\u2019s worship. OK, these are all important but when they are divorced from the church\u2019s wisdom about a properly ordered time of worship as a gathered church they do form us: into passive watchers and in-takers.<\/p>\n

In a moment we will get to the major elements of the church at worship, but the point needs to be made in advance: when the fullness of the church\u2019s wisdom becomes integral to worship and when that is combined with faith-engagement, the church can be formed. First, what worship accomplishes:<\/p>\n

Barry contends worship is designed to accomplish four things:<\/p>\n

First, worship redefines our identity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Second, worship reorders our affections<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Third, worship repatterns our imagination<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Finally, worship reorients our life in the world<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

How does this all happen? What is going on in the worship that leads to these four elements? What are we doing in worship? What are we to be doing when we gather for worship?<\/p>\n

1. Confessing our sin.
\n2. Rehearsing our story. \u201cWhen the gathered church sings songs, recites creeds and reads Scripture, we are rehearsing the story of God\u201d (149).
\n3. Hearing God\u2019s Word.
\n4. Sharing God\u2019s table.
\n5. Being sent on God\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

Notice these elements as the church\u2019s longstanding wisdom on integral elements in worship. Confession draws us into why we gather: to worship the God who forgives us of our sins. Rehearsing the Story entails the public reading of Scripture \u2014 not simply a snippet of a text for the sermon itself but\u00a0the Body gathered to hear God speak<\/em>, regardless of the pastor\u2019s sermon. Hearing God\u2019s Word teaches us to listen to the sermon as a response to the reading of Scripture. The table draws us into confession and the grace of forgiveness so we can leave as those sent on God\u2019s mission. Fellowship surrounds these five elements.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a lot of chatter today about the formative dimension of church worship. One can be forgiven for thinking that if we would just get our worship right we\u2019d all be formed into model Christians. My observation is that if gathered worship is formative then the best liturgies should produce the best Christians, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[484,1733],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-prayer-and-formation"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Worship becomes Formative<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is a lot of chatter today about the formative dimension of church worship. 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