Worship

In a wonderful little book titled For All God's Worth, the English Bible scholar, N.T. Wright developed a beautiful meditation on worship by substituting the word "worship" for "love" in 1 Corinthians 13. Here is a portion of Wright's reflections.

"Worship is humble and glad; worship forgets itself in remembering God; worship celebrates the truth as God's truth, not its own. True worship doesn't put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn't forced, isn't half-hearted, doesn't keep looking at its watch, doesn't worry what the person in the next pew may be doing. True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God, even in the dark.

Worship will never end; whether there be buildings, they will crumble; whether there be committees, they will fall asleep; whether there be budgets, they will add up to nothing…For now we see the beauty of God through a glass, darkly, but then face to face; now we appreciate only part, but then we shall affirm and appreciate God, even as the living God has affirmed and appreciated us. So now our tasks are worship, mission, and business, these three; but the greatest of these is worship."

It is easy to substitute the word "worship" for "love" in 1 Corinthians 13 because worship is nothing more or less than love on its knees before the beloved; just as mission is love on its feet to serve the beloved.

In this new year, I have asked our staff to focus their energies on the accomplishment of three goals in each of their respective ministries. First, I asked our staff to consider how they can better saturate their ministries with worship and prayer. Before busyness in the church, before our activity, before anything…we as Christians must make it our business to worship and to pray. Toward that end, I am attempting to keep a personal commitment of never leaving my home before I take time to worship and pray. Beyond that, I am making a serious effort to attempt to "practice the presence of God." (Perhaps in this new year you may wish to pick up a copy of Brother Lawrence's great Christian classic, The Practice of the Presence of God)! And I am teaching a new series on worship that I hope will call the church back to the centrality of worship in our lives.

The second thing that I've asked the staff to focus on is the weaving of our discipleship wheel into each of our various ministries. How exactly can we train children in this church to believe that praying for a headache to be gone is the first and most natural response of a Christian (even before reaching for a bottle of aspirin)? How can we train teenagers in this church to believe that one can barely call themselves a "Christian" unless they are somehow meaningfully involved with people less fortunate than them? How can we communicate to young adults that they simply will not be able to move on in their relationship with Christ, unless they first win the battle for sexual purity? How can we teach older adults that a significant part of discipleship in America is practicing self-control over our greed for more stuff, and in place of acquisition, learning to give financially to the work of Christ?

As a church, we don't want to confine the word "discipleship" to a set of classes or small group experiences. Our desire is for every person in the church, regardless of his or her age, to pursue perfection that Jesus demands of us (Matthew 5:48).

As C.S. Lewis wrote,

      "When [Jesus] said, 'Be perfect' He meant it. He meant       that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but       the sort of compromise that we are all hankering after is       harder-in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg       to turn into a bird; it would be a jolly sight harder for it       to learn how to fly while remaining an egg. We are like       eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely       being just an ordinary decent egg. We must be hatched,       or go bad…

      If you let Him-for we can prevent Him, if we choose-He       will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a dazzling,       radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with       such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot       now imagine, a bright stainless mirror, which reflects       back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller       scale) his own boundless power and delight and       goodness. The process will be long and in part very       painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less!"

Is that what you want? For you and for everyone else in the church? To "reflect back to God perfectly his own boundless power and delight and goodness?" What kind of commitments do you need to make in this new year to prod yourself so that you will be satisfied with nothing less than "perfection"?

The third and final area that I've asked the staff to consider is how Vineyard Columbus can have a greater impact and influence on our surrounding community and our world. As you have heard me mention on several occasions, we are pursuing a radical expansion of our after school program so that we might love and reach neighborhood kids for Christ. In addition, we are planning a significant expansion of our ministry called Church Without Walls (our ministry to the homeless, to prisons, to nursing homes, and our medical clinic and food pantry).

One final way that we seek to expand our influence is by offering a 15-week class called Perspectives on World Christian Missions. Billy Graham said, "There is nothing that will inform, inspire, and motivate Christians for world evangelization like Perspectives. It will stretch your mind, warm your heart, and stir your will."

Perspectives is a dynamic, college-accredited 15-week course on world missions taught by ministry experts. We have invited into our church a first-class list of speakers from all over the United States to instruct and inspire you. I want to encourage small groups to consider taking Perspectives together as a group. Through this class, you will be able to discover what God is doing in the world and to clarify your ministry focus.

Perspectives is being hosted here at Vineyard on Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. beginning February 5 and ending May 21, 2002. You can pick up an application in the church lobby or check our website at www.perspectivescolumbus.org. We have never offered a more important set of classes in the history of the Columbus Vineyard than the Perspectives course. I will be teaching one of the sessions, but will personally be taking the course because I think it will be a great encouragement to my own Christian life.

Prayer and worship, discipleship, and expanding influence-those are three of the items on the Vineyard's radar screen for 2002. Pray for our leadership team and for our church as we seek to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in this season.

With much affection,
Rich