I began to prepare a sermon on the theology of worship and it turned into a poem – rather meaningful yet cheesy in places.

Worship means to come towards to kiss

It means to accept and be accepted.

It means to forgive and be forgiven.

It means to recognise and be recognised.

It means to value and be valued.

It means intimacy

It means to be seen close-up

It means vulnerability

It means to be seen to care.

It means submission

It means sacrifice.

 

Worship with attitude

Worship with words

Worship with singing

Worship with shouting

Worship with groaning

Worship with silence

Worship with action

Worship with serving

Worship with giving

Worship with writing

Worship with looking

Worship with eyes closed

Worship while motionless

Worship full of movement

Worship full of food

Worship full of nothing

Worship full of thinking

Worship with arms full

Worship with hands up

Worship with knees up

Worship with knees down

Worship with instruments

Worship with rhythm

Worship with melody

Worship in harmony

Worship with growling

Worship with howling

Worship with pencil

Worship with paintbrush

Worship with glue stick

Worship with post-it notes

Worship with mis-placed jokes

Worship with serious tones

Worship with microphones

Worship with flags

Worship with hand bags

Worship with track pad

Worship with I pad

Worship with wallet

Worship in Sonnet

Worship with airtime

Worship with pantomime

Worship with bread and wine

Worship with friends of mine

Worship with stranger

Worship alone

Worship with the masses

Worship at home

Worship with family

Worship in twos and threes

Worship in light or dark

Worship with field and trees

Worship on gym machines

Worship with flat screen TV 

Worship with animals

Worship in cathedrals

Worship with bricks and mortar

Worship with son and daughter

Worship in sackcloth and ashes

Worship by growing or shaving beards and moustaches

Worship with clothes on

Worship in the nude

Worship on the tube

Worship with perfume

Worship with food

Worship by fasting

Worship by baking

Worship by hurrying

Worship by waiting

Worship in the cold

Worship in the warm

Worship at sunset

Worship at dawn

Worship in a cave

Worship on mountain

Worship in desert

Worship by fountain

Worship while bleeding

Worship while needing

Worship while sowing

Worship while reaping

Worship by helping

Worship by receiving

Worship in celebration

Worship while grieving

Worship in private

Worship in public

Worship in secret

Worship with announcement

Worship by being seen

Worship by sharing dream

Worship through fears

Worship through loss

Worship with tears

Worship while you floss

Worship with sad eyes

Worship on spiritual highs

Worship wherever

Worship whenever

Worship together

Worship forever

Worship with who you are

Worship with what you do

Worship in faith

Worship with proof

Worship in spirit

Worship in truth

Who is worthy of all this?

To draw near to kiss?

Who’s nature, who’s claims?

Who’s attributes, who’s ways?

 

God – Father, Son Spirit.

Creator of cosmos

Holding all in his great loving hands

Giving life and identity from I am to I am.

On Sunday we sang: “forever I am changed by your love” repeatedly, almost until it sank in (we were singing about God).  And it struck me that that is what happens when you get drawn into a relationship with somebody – they affect you.  Whatever is going on in them, be it good or bad, starts to demand a change in you.  And it is not always comfortable, indeed it is not always good, but it is inevitable.

Last week my mother presented me and Emily with a crystal bowl (not ball).  And it’s not just any crystal bowl – it has meaning.  It represents 15 years of tangling, 15 years of two people increasingly wrapping themselves up in each other to the point where, whilst we are still individuals, we are no longer independent.   It’s quite scary really – risking being hurt, risking being changed, risking freedom – all in the hands of another imperfect human being!  I’d like to say I am proud of achieving 15 years of marriage, but really I am wrecked by it, changed, affected – I might be able to say I am proud if I had had stayed the same whilst taming a wild animal to meet my demands – but I can’t.  In truth I have been changed and it is humbling and wonderful all at the same time.

Emily and I have been wound into each other’s identities.  We have both changed, it has not always been comfortable, but we have embraced it and it has born real and remarkable fruit, in our lives, in our community and not least in the form of our three children.

As we are drawn into God we find that we are increasingly required to change.  Not because he tells us we have to, but because of who he is.  Fortunately, unlike people, God doesn’t have psychological and emotional problems.  Drawing into a closer relationship with him means being drawn into love – after all that is who he is (1 John 4).  It’s not always comfortable because it doesn’t always come naturally to us – for example I have never found it natural to respond to somebody abusing me with the words “forgive them for they don’t realise what they are doing”.  But nevertheless that’s where we are headed – that’s where being tangled up in God takes us.

Emily and I didn’t get married so we could get a crystal bowl after 15 years, but it is amazing to look at it and reflect on how much change and shaping it represents.

When I look at my heart and reflect on Paul’s words: “you are a letter from Christ.. written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Cor 3:3)   I find it absolutely mind-blowingly wonderful and awfully worrying at the same time.

Will it be painful?

Yes!

Will it be worth it?

…………!   

Our friends and children have just returned from a life changing time in Uganda. For some it has deeply challenged their worldview. For other it caused them to reevaluate their understanding of faith and justice. For weeks / months (maybe even years) they will be making comparisons between life in London and what they have seen. Some may be quiet and withdrawn, others may be angered and frustrated by injustice. No one will remain unchanged.

So how can we help them to process? How can we partner with God as He forms them? Let me make some suggestions:

1. Listen to their stories. And celebrate them.

2. Help them to tell not only what happened but how it makes them feel.

3. Don't try to answer their complex questions - allow them to grapple.

4. Pray for them.

We have invested much in this trip - much money and time and faith and energy. Through this team many have been blessed in Uganda. But more than that, our friends have been changed. And through them, we too have been impacted. Let us do everything we can to protect that investment and secure the change that God has wrought.

Sean C