Guide to Public Worship
We love a good story. Apparently God does too. Dorothy Sayers said that Christianity was the most interesting story ever told, as countless people can attest. At its heart, the story is simple: God saves sinners. That's good news, “the gospel.” What's surprising is the discovery that we are not the star of the story. Despite what we tell ourselves and what our social media feeds reinforce, the Triune God is actually center stage in reality. The Father working in the Son through the Holy Spirit is the main character. Not me.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks: What is the chief end of man? That is, why do humans exist? The answer is: to glorify and enjoy God forever. The church exists to direct and guide us toward that end, that telos. The church's worship tells a story too. It's relevant to ask what story our worship is communicating. Are we the main characters, or is God? Do the plotlines of our worship services speak of God’s age to come or reinforce the priorities of this present evil age? How is the Story told shaping us as Christ followers? Are we framed as the hero of the drama, or are we pointed away from ourselves to the Hero, God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself?
If you went to college, chances are you don't remember your commencement speech. I don't. But there's a commencement speech I'll never forget. David Foster Wallace was a writer and professor. Many think he was one of the best writers of the last few decades. Tragically, Wallace took his own life in 2008. But in 2005 at Kenyon College, Wallace gave a profound and penetrating speech into anthropology. To the graduates, Wallace - who wasn't particularly religious - said: “In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships.” Wallace understood that at our core human beings are worshippers. We all look to something or someone to give us significance, meaning, and security.
St. Augustine (354-430 AD) in his spiritual autobiography Confessions said effectively the same thing as David Foster Wallace. Augustine famously wrote: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Here Augustine recognizes several key aspects of our nature. First, we are made by and for our Creator. Second, we are made for something. We are oriented towards a purpose, an end, a telos ("goal"). Third, at our core we are creatures of the heart. We long, desire, hunger. In short, humans are lovers. And we are lovers desiring a vision of the good life that is shaped by our rituals, rhythms, and routines.
As a church, our primary purpose is the worship of the Triune God. It’s here where God speaks, instructs, assures, serves, feeds, and blesses us in his covenant love and loyalty. Every week, God’s people are called to hear, receive, and experience the gospel of Jesus Christ in Word, water, and wine. It’s in the corporate gathering of the church where Augustine’s anthropological vision is realized. The Creator makes contact with His creation through His law and gospel, word and sacrament. We are given a foretaste of Christ’s coming kingdom, our destiny; once again made grateful for a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And finally, our hearts made for love are enraptured and enlivened with the glad tidings: we’ve been loved by the King of the world.