After last week’s blog, I was asked the question, “What’s the point of corporate worship?” It’s an interesting question especially if we acknowledge some of what can cause us to struggle with it. Issues of style that become a stumbling block to us fully engaging, old hymns or new songs; the sound of a worship leader’s voice, the pitch of the songs, particular songs that get “played to death” or that are theologically unsound or when a little child “joins the worship” and becomes a distraction. Musicians who find it difficult to tune out their gifting and worship without cringing at errors, technicians whose ears are tuned to the imperfections of the sound mix instead of the Holy Spirit and those who have the pleasure of worshipping alongside someone who ‘makes a joyful noise to the Lord’ in a very off-key way. Ah, the joys of corporate worship! So why would we bother?
I remember as a young Christian being told an analogy that explains the need to keep going when church feels hard. A burning coal is taken out of a fire and put on the grate where it gradually stopped burning and goes out. A vivid and self-evident picture.
One reason we join with others to worship is scripture tells us to! For example, we can’t obey this scripture on our own:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:18-20
Another reason is related to the coal picture. My picture would be that of a burning match being held close to an unlit one. When you hold it close, the unlit one will burst into flame, they don’t even have to touch. I have observed this effect in corporate worship. I could feel relatively “unlit” but in the company of other fiery worshippers, I can be pulled into a deeper level of encounter with God, of engagement, that I would not have experienced on my own.
On days when I am struggling, on days when the battle seems fierce, I need my worshipping family around me to encourage me in the presence of God. In the corporate context, my flickering flame is strengthened to burn brighter. There are also days when I need to do the same for others, to stand alongside them and encourage them. Together we burn brighter. We need each other, as we are exhorted in Hebrews 10:25,
This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.
Christianity is not meant to be an individual thing. God invited me into fellowship with him and with others. He is “our Father” not “my Father”. I was saved into a family; we are one in him – that means we are all in him, together! He has deliberately made it so that I only bring part of the story. No-one can have the whole picture on their own. Like instruments in an orchestra, we need all the voices, even the ones that are slightly out of tune. My faith is to be worked out in the context of community. My sung worship is not just about me doing my own thing and feeling good. I am part of a greater whole.
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John17:20-21)
Jesus prayed for us that we would be united as one, just as he and the Father are one. Our unity is to make the world know we are his. I have heard people talk about unity over the years, but unity is not achieved by doing the same thing together or by talking about being united. It is a heart thing; it is a supernatural, Holy Spirit thing. I was reminded today of the phrase “one accord” which is in the NKJV version of scriptures. For example, in Acts 4:24:
… they raised their voice to God with one accord …
Accord means agreement but I when looked up the word used in the Greek, it can be translated “same passion”. I really like that, it expresses something deep, heartfelt, and whole-hearted, more than just a mental agreement.
The unity Jesus was speaking of is a “unity of the Spirit”. That oneness is his work in us. It comes when we have hearts and minds focussed the same way, passionate about the same things.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:3-6)
As I read through these verses in Ephesians, I was struck by how Paul is emphasising that single-minded focus. The bond of peace focusses us on the things that join us, the things we agree on. When we worship together, we declare that togetherness.
There are evil manifestations of accord in the bible, for example in Acts 7:57 when they stone Stephen. Genesis 11:1 tells us:
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
And God says in verse 6,
If as one people speaking the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
When we are together, speaking one language, “singing from the same hymn sheet,” (pardon the pun!) there is real power, but it is more than the words we share. Like the ones joined in building the tower of Babel, there is single-minded purpose, hearts that are on fire with the “same passion” for our Saviour. The key is being one in Spirit, not one in style, song selection or any other external factor.
We could collect a group of people with the most amazing voices and musicians and have them sing the same song but unless there is that oneness in the Spirit and heart, it will not hit that sweet spot in worship. The passion that he inspires, transcends other factors, helping us to push past the distractions, and join those worshipping round the throne. Every tongue, every tribe, bringing their voice. We can all be singing different things but as we allow Holy Spirit to be the conductor, we bring something beautiful, pleasing to God. He is so worthy.
When we are in “one accord” in this way, look what can happen:
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
When we gather in worship in this way, it builds something with the capacity to take the weight of his glory, a oneness in us where the oneness of our trinitarian God is able to dwell more fully. In the process we are transformed, like the disciples in the upper room, to be more like Jesus.
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