Part II: Meeting God and One Another
Chapter 5: Gathering: Worship, Imagination, and Formation
Philip Kenneson
"No issue is more central to Christian ethics that worship. Moreover, human gatherings alway involve worship, and worship always implicates human gatherings."
The Pervasiveness of Worship. Western societies think of worship as a religious activity. Worship, if you look at the meaning of the word, is ascribing worth. And int that way, every activity we choose to participate in is in some sense worship.
Learning to Worship. Because humans are social creatures, their gatherings are bout the meaning and purpose of the world they understand themselves to inhabit. As a result, every way of life is ascribing worth, an act of worship.
- Gatherings, the social imagination and human action. Our imaginations are formed inside a complex web of social interactions, not something we create for ourselves. A school used as an example.
- The relative power of gatherings. Not all gatherings have the same power. A sports event has less impact that school. Boot camp has less impact that an amusement park. "Should Christian formation … be more like an amusement park or more like a boot camp." The author believes the later is more appropriate. "One does now wake up one day and find she is a disciple of Jesus Christ any more that person wakes up one day and finds she is a Marine." Worship is important because it is paradigmatic for actions outside of worship. And the ekklesia, the gathering or the church, must concern with how it does liturgy, not just that it does liturgy.
The Ekklesia as Formative Gathering. The ekklesia refers to the "community of disciples of Christ Jesus." The ekklesia in ancient times was about a gathering, not a place, and it had no religious connotations.
- Learning to glorify and enjoy God. Simply gathering together is an act or worship. We are called as disciples to gather together to glorify God, and to enjoy him.
- Learning to pay attention. Disciples gather together to learn to attend to the right things. The gathering space should be designed to help draw attention to the important symbols of the church.
- Learning to speak truthfully. The ekklesia's truest speech about God is speech directed to God. Speaking truthfully also involves understanding the community's calling to do God's work in the world, not man's work.
- Learning good posture. "In a world that urges people to be always doing something productive with their time and energies—something that makes a noticeable difference in the world—the ekklesia dares to gather and wait upon God."
- Posture ofDependence
- Posture of Humility
- Posture of Trust
- Posture of Hope
Conclusion. "When the ekklesia gathers to worship, it does not gather to grumble, compete, or secure for itself what is needed; rather, the ekklesia gathers to rest and be renewed by giving thanks and praise to the One who so graciously supplies all its needs.