One Life of Worship
My upcoming book, The Worship of God in the Real World: the Interlacing of Gathered and Scattered Worship, needs to consider Jesus as an example of one who lives out a life of daily worship on earth. As a Jewish man he attended the local synagogue. Did Jesus allow the worship practices of this gathering to be reflected in his everyday life? It seems that he did, and Scripture seems to support this.

Jesus regularly gathered with people and seemed to do so with the intent of engaging them with the message of God. We know nothing of his singing, though it is likely that he joined in the singing of the gathered congregation at the synagogue. We do know that before he left with his friends to go to pray in Gethsemane that they all sang a hymn. We do know that he prayed and taught his followers to pray. We know that he read and recited Scripture. We know of his preaching through both his words and his deeds. We do know that he praised those who lived generously, though we do not know that he gave money to any cause other than taxes that were due. Of course, he instituted the rite of Communion with plans to celebrate it again in a great day that is yet to come. We do know that he left good words for life�s journey that were meant not only to commission his followers, but to comfort them as well. It would seem that as a person who went to the synagogue, as a person who gathered for worship, Jesus allowed his worship practice to be reflected through his daily life.

How can follow his example? Perhaps the apostle Paul�s notion our being �in Christ� could be helpful here. Paul�s call is for all people to be in Christ, even as Christ is in us. This relationship defines the meaning of the word Christian.

Is it possible to somehow be �in Christ? According to Scripture it is. The seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John declares Christ�s oneness with God the Father, and that Jesus prayed that this same oneness would be realized in all who would later come to believe in him. This oneness with God was to extend from those who would come to believe in Christ through those who shared the message of Christ. Then, this oneness extends from God though Christ by the Spirit to those who believe, and it is reflected back to God from those who hear the word through those who share the word by the Spirit who proclaims the Son to the glory of the Father. By this all who believe in Christ become one in Christ.

Why is this oneness so important? Because Christ the Son does the work of God the Father in the power of the Spirit, and Christ calls all people to join in this work of God. Rather than fighting among ourselves -- or within ourselves -- we are to be doing the work of God. And what is that work? Jesus comments throughout the Gospel of John regarding his call to do the work of God, and how that this was the reason he was sent to earth. He came to complete the work of God. When people asked Jesus, �What must we do to perform the works of God? Jesus answered them, �This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent�� (John 6:28-29).

Human division fights against the work of God. It fights against the oneness that God is calling all human beings to embrace in order to enjoy the real world. The oneness of God is not some idealistic common agreement on all things. God created diversity. Creation rails against homogeneity. Oneness is found in the response that comes from all of the diversity of creation as it worships the One who created all things. The worship of God is only possible by the Spirit of God. The Spirit calls us to life in Christ and enables all life to offer worship to God.

One way to be one in Christ is to allow the actions of our lives to be reflective of the worship of our lives. Our worship is offered to God in Christ by the power of the Spirit. Our lives should reflect our belief and practice. Our lives should become the practice of our belief.

Gathered worship provides us with an overview of life and how we are to live it. It should be a template for how we live: gathering, singing, reading, hearing, sharing, receiving, all going in a continuous cycle of gathering and scattering, scattering and gathering, in order to integrate a cycle of life built on the purpose of knowing and enjoying real life which is enjoying our relationship with God and each other in the real world.

The connection of these �two parts� of our �one life� is the connection between the life we find inside of us and life we experience outside of us. Much of humanity ignores what is going on inside of them. This often seems true particularly for men. They seem to stay purposefully unaware of their feelings, a sort of non-conscious form of living. Perhaps women do the same. The integration of these two parts is sometimes referred to as spiritual formation, making our many selves one. This is often part psychological, part philosophical, part spiritual, part physical, and perhaps other parts as well. All of these make up the �us� that we are in two parts, one body and one spirit, and even these are totally interlaced: body in spirit, spirit in body.

Joining all these parts into one is a holistic understanding of the real world of life as it is supposed to be lived. Lived apart, each of these parts is a nice discussion point, points that we sometimes objectify. This �objective� distance is an attempt to stand back and look at these parts, ponder them, talk about them, and treat them as if we can stand outside of ourselves and see ourselves �objectively� apart from the very things that make us us. However, all of us is bound together in our bodies in this present moment. We are not only material, we are also spirit. Scripture reminds us that we are but dust and vapor, thought and action, cause and result, all of these wrapped into what we call a person. Sadly, there are 6 billion plus us-es who tend to live in isolation alongside each other until we discover that it is God�s plan to unite us into one family in Christ, an interdependent family of God.

We are called to be one people, called to worship God, the One who created us to be one with God and one with each other. This making our many selves one is big stuff comprised of lots and lots of little stuff, all interlaced through each other. This is the stuff of the real world. And it is all to be found �in Christ.�

The basis for life in the real world is interrelatedness with the One who created and sustains all life and who calls all life into relationship with the Creator and with the created. On a biological level, all created things are interrelated. It is intended by God that all things would also be related on a spiritual level connecting all life holistically. The best way to do this is through living a life of worship.