Kenya Update 10/23/09 - Sunday Service

Does anyone find it strange that we call our worship times every week "services"? I imagine that someone unfamiliar with the English language would consider this one of the "idiosyncrasies" of English; in every other context the word service means something different than what happens on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening! Besides the complications this might mean for an ESL student, I have often thought about the implications this has on our tradition of worship. A story in Matthew 12 tells about Jesus and his disciples breaking the Sabbath law; they were meeting their very real needs (hunger) by eating corn off the stalk. Jesus boldly refutes the protests of the Pharisees when he says: "...the son of man is master of the Sabbath!"

Barclay expands upon this in his commentary, claiming that real Christian service might be different from what a "service" has evolved to in our tradition. He writes: "Christian service is not the service of any liturgy or ritual; it is the service of human need. Christian service is not monastic retreat; it is involvement in all the tragedies and problems and demands of the human situation." If we are truly purposeful about making this "involvement" our priority, would our "services" look any different?

I don't mean to condemn Sunday morning "whatevers", perhaps it is just a poor label for a good practice. Sunday morning worship offers praise and adoration to God through song and devotion, church leadership meets the spiritual needs of congregants, and ideally, congregants meet the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ through community and friendship. Yet how often are things ideal? Avoiding the temptation towards cynicism, I believe it is reasonable to claim that many Christians view Sunday morning as a spiritual "pit stop", a practice of self service that helps them in real and important ways, but it stops there. If the only person being served at a service is yourself, something is wrong.

It is easy to be wrapped up in our traditions, to let the logistics and habits become our reality so much so that we forget the call to serve the needy. What if someone skipped church to go to Boston and feed the homeless men and women in the Commons? Or if we missed our devotions to comfort a mourning friend or family member? If there are real, human needs in places that Christians "just don't go", should that stop us from going? That is a scary (but challenging and exciting!) thought, because there are real, human needs everywhere we look. Whether it be hungry orphans in Africa, lonely teenagers in high school or depressed co-workers at the office there are always opportunities to translate our tradition of worship "service" to a lifestyle of worship-service!

I will finish with a poem Barclay included in his commentary, but an author I have never heard of (Barclay's good at finding those) J.G. Whittier:

Oh brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother!
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;
To worship rightly is to love each other,
Each smile and hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.

For he whom Jesus loved hath truly spoken;
The holier worship which he deigns to bless
Restores the lost, and binds the spirit broken,
And feeds the widow and the fatherless.

Follow with reverent steps the great example
Of Him whose holy work was doing good;
So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple.
Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.