The Call to Worship

This week, I wasn't really inspired to write anything specifically related to the worship theme for this Sunday. So I dug up something I already wrote that has just been sitting on my hard drive. Recently in reading Mark Labberton's book, The Dangerous Act of Worship, I began to think about the meaning of the various parts of the worship service as they relate to the issue of justice. Much of what I write, here, is based on Labberton's book, especially as it relates to justice. I expanded on the issue of justice by also discussing how acts of corporate worship build community.

From time to time, I'll post these thoughts. This week I start at the beginning of the service and the "Call to Worship."


The Call to Worship

What Is It? A call to worship is a re-focusing. It is a call to take pause from the rat race we call life. Our focus has a way of warping as we go about our daily life. God’s presence and true Lordship can be drowned out by all of the noise and stress of our reality. Other things scream loudly at us. A call to worship calls us to recognize a different reality. It brings God back into focus and calls us to place Him back on the throne of our hearts. The most important thing to realize about the call to worship is that we do not call ourselves to worship, GOD CALLS US. It is based on Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all of your might.” To start a service by singing, “I will worship with all of my heart” doesn’t quite qualify as a call to worship. Worship does not start with us. It starts with God calling us. The Bible is full of calls by God for people to worship Him. Two of the most common calls to worship that are chanted every morning by monastics are Psalm 95 and Psalm 100. A true call to worship implies that we have heard Him calling us to worship Him, so “Come, let us worship Him and bow down…” Let us acknowledge God’s rightful place, “For He is our God and we are His people.”

How Does It Form Community? For those who accept this call and gather, they are gathered TOGETHER in His name for one common purpose; to worship God. Our individualism is set aside and as a community we do the work of worship. We together acknowledge and bow our hearts before God. He is our God and we are His PEOPLE. I am no longer just an individual worshiper. I have been gathered by God into a community of worshippers. A worship leader who starts off a service with, “How are you doing today?” is not recognizing the purpose for which we are gathered. He/she is taking the individual “temperature” of the room to see what must be done to move individuals "into the presence of God." This type of greeting reinforces individualism. The traditional greeting of worship is, “The Lord be with you” and the congregation calls back, “And also with you.” This is a recognition of the presence of God that exists in Christian community “where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there.” If two or three people come together around a meal, you have community. If two or three people come together and recognize that God is in the middle of that gathering, there is true Christian fellowship.

How Does It Confront Injustice? The call to worship is an invitation beyond all other power. This world is a loud mix of often competing and disordered powers that burden us and weigh us down. God calls us to bow before the power that is above all powers. God’s call is both a command and invitation in that it is not like the call of powerful people/institutions who make their demands on us and “manipulate” our submission. God gives it to all who have ears and he says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). Mark Labberton says, “At the start of worship, the Lord invites all who have ears to hear. This call goes to God’s people as a whole as well as to individuals. The qualification we bring is our neediness, NOT OUR STATURE….God calls us ALL to worship….The call is based on the power and grace of God, not on our own power or worthiness. It places everyone on even ground.” Therefore a church that is called to worship is a church that is not divided by race, class, levels of education, or stature. It flies in the face of power structures that divide and reward people based on their status and positions in life. We are equal at the foot of the cross.

How Will It Look? How can a congregation be called to worship in ways that make sense within its cultural setting? The work of the people (liturgy) must be in the “language” of the people. As people walk into the worship space as individuals each coming from a different place, how can we gather them so that they hear God’s call to drop everything for the next hour or so and worship? What can be done to encourage people to recognize God’s presence within the community gathered to worship? For those new to the Christian community and who are unfamiliar with corporate worship, how do we create an environment where they can, maybe for the first time, begin to hear God calling them to worship? Will we use a song, scripture, a prayer, a poem, art or visuals? What medium does God want to use to call us to worship Him?

Call to Worship
By Vicki Beeching
2005

Verse 1
The blazing sunrise
The endless oceans
The spinning planets
All reveal their Maker's pow'r
They shout His glory
They shine His beauty
Their voices cry an invitation to us all
They are summoning every soul
Summoning every soul

Chorus
This is a call to worship
Let it echo all around the earth
This is a call to bow down
And give God the glory He deserves

Verse 2
We have gathered
To praise our Maker
We've come to worship Him
For we have heard the call
Let ev'ry nation and all creation
Join us worshipping the holy God of all
As we cry out to all of this world
Cry out to all of this world

Bridge
To the north and the south
Let this invitation resonate
To the east and the west
Let this invitation resonate
'Til the north and the south
'Til the east and the west
Overflow with praise