Thinking Theologically 4: Worship as Remembrance
READ:
Jonah 2: 7-9
DISCUSS:
1. What happened when Jonah remembered God? What is role of ‘remembering’ in worship?
2. How is idolatry connected to ‘forgetting’ in our passage? How does this happen to us?
3. How does worship ‘orient’ us?
4. Think about the last two worship services you attended. If you take away the sermon, what ‘story’ would the other elements of worship (from songs, prayers, etc…, to peoples demeanor on stage, etc…) be telling? If you had never stepped into a church before what would you understand of the gospel through the service?
5. How are we doing at ‘recapitulating salvation history’ each week as worship leaders?
REFLECT:
As we continue our section on ‘thinking theologically’ we are going to spend the next few weeks thinking together about how to understand worship. In this section we have already discussed how important it is to understand our own theology and how we are theologically teaching our congregation through the songs we sing and the ways we lead. Over the next few weeks we are going think through a theological framework of worship, building from our definition of worship as ‘giving worth and glory to God’ and seeking to understand how worship functions in the worshipping community and our lives individually.
We begin with worship as remembrance. As Robert Webber writes, worship in its most basic form “celebrates God’s saving deed in Jesus Christ,” and in the words of theologian Stanley Grenz: “in worship we gather to “commemorate the foundational events of our spiritual existence, at the center of which is the action of God in Christ delivering humankind from the bondage of sin.”
Christian worship first and foremost remembers the salvation story; that God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has always been seeking to save and deliver humanity from sin and decay, and God does this through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate. Any worship time or church service that doesn’t tell this story through word, song, and other expression is simply not Christian worship.
As we look back through scripture we see this idea of worship as ‘remembering the story’ is the central focus of worship. From the beginning God remembered His covenant with His people (Genesis 9:15-16, Exodus 2:24-25, 1 Chronicles 16:12-15, Isaiah 54:4-7, Luke 1:68-75) and asked only that his people would remember Him as well. (Deuteronomy 4:10, 5:15, Deuteronomy 8, etc…) Remembering was the foundation of Israel’s practice and worship: the law, the feasts, and worship at the temple (Deuteronomy 4:9-14, 8:1-20-the law, 16:3-feasts, Exodus 3:12-worship) and the people of Israel, especially in times of hardship, often would ask God to remember His covenant with them and save them. (Job 10:9, Psalm 74:2-22, Jeremiah 14:21). When we forget God we fall into sin and begin to worship other Gods (Deuteronomy 9:7-23, Isaiah 17:10-14, Romans 1:21-32) and when we remember God’s love and work we are drawn closer to God and God’s purposes (Ecclesiasties 12:1-8, Psalm 119: 49-56, Jonah 2:7-9, John 16:1-4, Matthew 7:25-34).
A steady example of how worship as remembrance works (for me at least!) is my iphone. Before I bought an iphone I was constantly getting lost, as many of you know. Especially on streets here in Den Haag which, like most European streets, often change names, become one ways, or just end without notice, I would regularly be 30 minutes late because of getting lost (especially in the older parts of town). But then I got an iphone and everything changed. Especially the GPS on the iphone oriented me to exactly where I was and how to get where I needed to go. It is not perfect and I sometimes still get lost, but I have at least shaved 20 minutes off my old get lost time!
And this is the same with worship. In worship we are oriented on God and God’s ways. Often we lose our way and forget God in our lives, so we come to worship to be oriented again on God and to remember again who God is and who we are because of God’s great love and care. And out of this comes a new perspective on our lives and the world around us.
So as worship leaders it is essential that every week, through our songs, liturgy, preaching, times of silence and speaking, times of prayer, spontaneous worship, etc…. that we tell the story. And it is not enough just to talk about and honor ‘God’. Very religion honors some version of ‘God’. Similarly, it is not our task to solely focus on ‘being good people’, because all religions focus on morality. Our Christian worship gains its form and uniqueness in God’s revelation of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. As J.J Von Allen writes: “Christian worship is not just about honoring God but what God has done through Jesus Christ. Our worship begins and ends with Christ and recapitulates salvation history.”
Every week our task is to ‘recapitulate salvation history’ and to remember God’s great love for us in Jesus Christ. If a non-Christian who had never stepped into a church before came to your service, how much of the gospel would they understand through your worship time…not just the sermon, but the songs we sing, the ways we act, and all the other elements of worship? How are we doing at helping people orient their lives on Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and view their lives through the lens of Christ?
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES (to read throughout the week):
Deuteronomy 8: 1-18, Psalm 119: 49-56, Chronicles 16:7-15, 2 Timothy 2:8-13,
REFERENCES (for further reading)
Worship: It’s Theology and Practice, by J.J Von Allmen
Theology For The Community Of God, by Stanley J. Grenz
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