Worship is like meatloaf?

Have you ever heard, or perhaps you might have said, something about worship on Sunday morning that could be mistaken for a critique of a restaurant?

"Well, that was good."

"I really liked it today."

"I will be back next week."

All of these comments, and others like them, are built upon the idea that Sunday worship is very much like a dish that is served up for our consumption. And just like after a meal at a restaurant, we have a number of comments that "evaluate" what we just experienced.

"The service was slow." 

"After that, I feel full."

"I am not sure I would go back."

"I could not read the menu."

Worship "evaluation" is built on the idea that it is just another thing we consume. If we do not like the "head chef" then we will not go back to that restaurant. If we had a good experience we might attend again, but we really would tell someone about our dislike of the music (selection or volume). 

When we are hungry we have any number of food options at our disposal and it really does not matter which restaurant we go to because they all ultimately serve the same thing - calories - just in different styles. 

Worship is consumed like meatloaf.

Worship is not something to consume. We do not attend worship in order to, like a meal, "get something out of it". We are not looking for a "nugget" that we can "chew on" for later this week. We are not attempting to "fill ourselves up" with an experience with the Holy or Mystery. 

Worship is not something we just consume, but something we participate in.

It is the difference in going to a restaurant and ordering the meatloaf so that someone else makes it and serves it to you or going to a kitchen and learning to prepare meatloaf in a class. 

What time does worship begin?

As an ongoing struggle to combat the enslavement many American are in to the power of the almighty clock, worship is a protest against this constant master. Why?

Because no matter what local church you are at, no matter what time is noted above the "attempt at humor but often highly inappropriate and offensive" sign outside your church building (can we get rid of this please!), worship does not begin at 11am.

Worship began eons ago and we just happen to join in that ongoing worship at 11am on Sunday.

If we were to meet at the river at 11am and jump in for a swim, our actions did not "start" the flow of the river. Rather the river has been there long before and will be there long after our actions.

We just join into the flow of it for a time.

Bibliolatry and John 1

Reading the opening verses of John's gospel, I am reminded how incredible the incarnation is. That is just how amazing it is that in Jesus is what a life full of God looks like - Jesus is God incarnate.

As great as the Bible is, let us be very clear, the Bible is not the greatest revelation of God. John is very clear that the greatest way we know God is not through scriptures but through the Word made flesh (aka - Jesus).

The UMC has a tradition of holding the scriptures as one of the four corners of the quadrilateral. You may have heard it before that the UMC "does" theology using scripture, tradition, experience and reason. But again, for clarity sake, these four sources, even if they are combined, are not even close to being on par with the Word made flesh.

So while we read the Word, let us not be confused. John is not talking about the written words on a page. John is not talking about the Bible. John in not talking about any scripture at all. John is talking about Jesus Christ.

We do not worship the Bible. We worship Christ, whom we understand to be the Word made flesh.

In our efforts to better understand Jesus, let us not forget that the Bible is but a finger pointing to the moon that is Christ. Do not confuse the finger with the beauty and complexity of the moon.