Overflowing
I recently was listening to a lecture by John Bell from the Iona Abbey in Scotland. A member of the Church of Scotland, he's a popular writer and speaker on the subject of music and worship. In this lecture, Bell described one of the problems he sees in contemporary Christianity, the tendency to seek too much from worship.
He said that in years past there were three spheres of worship. First, there was private prayer and study. This was the foundation of the individual's spiritual life. Secondly, many also had specific family devotions led by the head of the household. Thirdly, everyone went to public worship. The contemporary problem he pointed out was that for far too many Christians there is little private spiritual life. Private prayer and study, private spiritual disciplines, personal devotion to the means of grace, are far too uncommon. This is a dangerous phonomenon. Our spiritual lives are our own responsibility, not the church's, not the minister's. The life of faith is both personal and corporate. As I like to put it, the faith that saves is always personal, but is never private.
As a minister of the Gospel, I'm vitally concerned about the spiritual well-being of the people in the church. This being said, I cannot know and oversee the spiritual lives of everyone here. The faith that puts us right with God is our own, not anyone else's. Yes, the church must do all it can to encourage spiritual formation and discipleship. It can provide small group opportunities, it can encourage and educate people about the means of grace, but ultimately individuals must avail themselves of them.
The danger, as Bell explains, is that people who do little personal prayer and study will come to public worship expecting a personal experience. Public worship can lead to a private experience as the Holy Spirit moves, but that ultimately isn't the goal. The goal of public worship is to praise God. Seeking a personal experience from that public forum is the root behind all sorts of problems in worship. This can easily create a "consumerist" mentality regarding worship where the most important criteria are what will please the greatest number of people? what will I get out of it? From the church perspective, too much thought toward what experience people will have can easily morph into gimmickry and emotional manipulation.
A seminary professor of mine once said that a good sermon will be the overflow of our exegesis and study of the text. As I've reflected on what Bell said, the thought has struck me that our public worship must be also an overflow. In prayer, study, service, fasting, etc. our spiritual lives are filled. It is in these things that we can have profound experiences of God. The most genuine and powerful public worship then can be just an overflow of what we have experienced in our personal lives. Allow me to suggest that if your public worship isn't what you would like it to be, if it isn't moving you as think it ought, perhaps the main issue isn't what you are doing publically, but what you aren't doing privately.
He said that in years past there were three spheres of worship. First, there was private prayer and study. This was the foundation of the individual's spiritual life. Secondly, many also had specific family devotions led by the head of the household. Thirdly, everyone went to public worship. The contemporary problem he pointed out was that for far too many Christians there is little private spiritual life. Private prayer and study, private spiritual disciplines, personal devotion to the means of grace, are far too uncommon. This is a dangerous phonomenon. Our spiritual lives are our own responsibility, not the church's, not the minister's. The life of faith is both personal and corporate. As I like to put it, the faith that saves is always personal, but is never private.
As a minister of the Gospel, I'm vitally concerned about the spiritual well-being of the people in the church. This being said, I cannot know and oversee the spiritual lives of everyone here. The faith that puts us right with God is our own, not anyone else's. Yes, the church must do all it can to encourage spiritual formation and discipleship. It can provide small group opportunities, it can encourage and educate people about the means of grace, but ultimately individuals must avail themselves of them.
The danger, as Bell explains, is that people who do little personal prayer and study will come to public worship expecting a personal experience. Public worship can lead to a private experience as the Holy Spirit moves, but that ultimately isn't the goal. The goal of public worship is to praise God. Seeking a personal experience from that public forum is the root behind all sorts of problems in worship. This can easily create a "consumerist" mentality regarding worship where the most important criteria are what will please the greatest number of people? what will I get out of it? From the church perspective, too much thought toward what experience people will have can easily morph into gimmickry and emotional manipulation.
A seminary professor of mine once said that a good sermon will be the overflow of our exegesis and study of the text. As I've reflected on what Bell said, the thought has struck me that our public worship must be also an overflow. In prayer, study, service, fasting, etc. our spiritual lives are filled. It is in these things that we can have profound experiences of God. The most genuine and powerful public worship then can be just an overflow of what we have experienced in our personal lives. Allow me to suggest that if your public worship isn't what you would like it to be, if it isn't moving you as think it ought, perhaps the main issue isn't what you are doing publically, but what you aren't doing privately.
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