Interlaced Worship is Essential

The gathered worship of the Church that is practiced in a disconnected fashion from worship that is lived out in a daily lifestyle practice makes the gathered worship experience little more a religious ceremony.

Recently, while in Jordan as part of a trip to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI is reported to have argued that “when the mix of beliefs and lifestyles goes down, orthodoxy rises as does uniformity of the cultural landscape in a region where tolerance is not an outstanding virtue” (Ethan Bronner reporting in the New York Times, May 13, 2009, “Christians in Mideast Losing Numbers and Influence”).

The importance of an interconnection between gathered worship and daily practice is a central tenet of Christian worship. How one actually interlaces the worship practices of the gathered worship of the Church with a daily life of faith-filled living is central to connecting belief and practice. Simply put, the gathered worship of the Church uses various rituals in Christian worship. These elements of worship have significant, relevant ties to daily life as Christians gather, sing, pray, give, preach, receive, and share good words in their daily journeys among believers and non-believers outside of the gathered community.

The importance of such an interlaced lifestyle is critical, for everyone but especially for those who live in the troubled areas of the Mideast. Christian worship practices which ignore the real world miss the heart of worship, which is loving God with all of one’s heart, mind, soul, and strength, and neighbors as one loves oneself.

The common practice of many Christian communities is to be a shield from the world. This tends to divorce worship from daily life in an almost monastic-like attempt to practice a purity of worship. Such worship minimizes the definition of worship.

Worhsip is best understood as a flow of love. It begins with God. God first loved us. This graceful act of God toward us allows us to respond in kind. This love of God toward us is meant to be lived out by us in our daily lives rather than hoarded. We are to care for those around just like we were first cared for by God, care extended to us even while we were yet enemies of God. As we love those around us, God receives this love as care given to "the least of these." This love flow completes its journey from God to us through others and back to God.

Our acts of worship offered directly to God in the gathered celebrations of the Church are measured by our acts of love in our daily lives. In this way, God becomes part of all of our worship, first gracefully calling us to worship, then gracefully enabling our worship, and finally gracefully receiving our worship.

Apart from the daily worship practice of the Church, practices performed as the Body of Christ scatters into the world, it is questionable whether gathered worship would be recognized by God as anything more than empty ceremonies. The interlacing of these two, gathered and scattered worship, is essential to Christian worship that is more than just form or style.