This is the first post in a series that will reflect on the nature of the Church in dialogue with N.T. Wright’s “For all God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church”.
Wright begins this book with two chapters that set a baseline for the rest of the discussion. One might consider these a sort of exposition on what he means by the words worship and calling in the context of the Christian church. This might seem a little strange at first glance. After all, don’t we all know what it means to worship someone or something? And isn’t the idea of calling commonly understood as something along the lines of “work that gives us purpose and fulfillment”? But even these questions highlight the need to define our terms.
It is certainly reasonable to assume that most people have an idea what we mean by worship; but can we be certain the views people carry around in their heads do, in fact, match up with what the Bible indicates is true worship? By way of example, in different contexts the word worship might variously be applied to the act of venerating an object or person; or it could mean holding someone in very high regard and so “worshipping the ground” on which he or she walks; or it could be a way of describing sincere devotion to an ideal. But is this what scripture tells us worship really means?
Or take the language of calling, which is so prevalent in conversations about finding one’s purpose, usually through a chosen occupation. There is a real sense in which
”calling” and “work” are closely related, as we shall see shortly. But it is too simplistic to limit our understanding of call to that which we choose to do in order to fulfill our own sense of purpose or meaning. For starters, the very idea of a calling raises some huge questions: who is doing the calling, and to what end is a person called? Then there is the question of what true meaning and purpose really look like. Are they as simple as finding something we are good at and makes us happy? Are humans even able to self-determine our purpose, and if so, how do we know that purpose will be fulfilling?
It has become all too common a practice to examine critical questions such as these through the lens of contemporary culture and personal experience, thereby arriving at a “common” definition in each age and culture. To be sure, both of these things matter and inform the way we think, feel, and act. But any lens that begins and ends with human experience will always be a bit blurry, as the Apostle Paul informs the church in 1 Corinthians 13:12. And because of this our definitions, taken on their own, are misleading at best.
The solution to this problem is to instead examine these important questions through the lens of scripture, which is the self-revelation of God given to humans so that we might come to know and love the God who created us, who sustains us, and who has given himself up for us through the person of Jesus Christ; who is, himself, the full revelation of God to humanity. What really matters is how God sees these things. What does God tell us about true worship and calling? And perhaps most importantly for those of us who live under the Lordship of Christ, what should the true worship and calling of the church entail?
With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that Wright begins his book by defining these terms.
What is worship?
The most clear definition of worship is “giving glory to God”. It is the expressed adoration of who God is. It is also synonymous with love. To love God is to worship him; to worship is to love God. Already, we can see how this very basic definition runs contrary to some common usage of the word. Worship is reserved for God alone; not the gods of our own making, but the One God who created everything. Any attempt to worship another is feeble and futile, because true worship belongs only to the Lord.
But what does true worship actually express about who God is. Wright directs his reader down a somewhat unexpected path in getting to the heart of the matter. He writes “If we are to worship God truely, it is not enough to think of God’s greatness and majesty, his power and sovereignty, his holiness and absolute otherness.” These are all true and incredibly important, but there is another characteristic of God, which evokes a worship response and to which the church is called as a witness: God’s beauty.
Wright clarifies that speaking of worship necessarily means speaking of God, and about God’s beauty. And he suggests that every instance of the beautiful that we obeserve in creation is a reflection of God’s beauty in the world, which should direct our gaze toward the creator. Christians have always created beautiful things such as cathedrals, artwork, and music as part of our witness to God’s glory. This is a natural outward expression of our adoration for God. And yet the word “beauty” is not often used to describe God’s majesty. Wright argues, and I agree, this is something we should change.
Worship is a serious business, and how we worsip is driven by our view of God. If we worship with an incomplete piture of who God is we run the risk of our worship becomming lackluster and void of the life-giving and joy-filled meaning and fulfillment it should contain. And this is really important for two reasons, according to Wright. The first is that “there are some central passaghes in scripture which speak of our citizenship in heaven, and which speak of it not least as a constant and delighted experience of worsip.” If this doesn’t excite us, then our view of God and worship is, in Wright’s words, “impoverished”. While it pains me to say it, this accurately describes the experience of worship for many Christians and local churches around the world, though certainly not all, nor even the majority.
If our view of worship is impoverished, then we must do everything within our delegated power and authority to correct this error. For, as Wright points out, the second reason worship is such a serious thing is because it also forms the central task, or work, of the church. It is our most important witness to the God who loves us and has given himself for us through Jesus Christ.
What is the work of the Church?
Wright then turns his discussion toward work with an insightful observation: “It is all to easy to suppose that, when we turn from worship to work, we turn from thinking about God to thinking about ourselves.” And this seems to be the case for many, if not most, of us. When asked about work, we instinctively begin talking about the tasks that we exchange for income, or perhaps the hobbies we enjoy that require specific effort. However we define work, we tend to do so with a focus upon our own efforts and what they produce. Unfortunately, this definition has also made its way into our understanding of the work of the church. But this definition of work could not be farther from the reality of things. According to the Apostle Paul, everything the church does, all of its efforts, are really God’s work (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).
This distinction has some very real and powerful implications, not only for the ways in which Christians go about God’s work, but also for how we view the church, which is the primary agent for the outworking of God’s kingdom purposes in the world. If it is all God’s work, then we must be cautious about our evaluation of both the church and the work of the church. It is all too common–and I’m embarrassed to say this is particularly manifest among the clergy and in seminaries–to take a critical view of every aspect of the church. We criticize the way the church is organized, how it is led, how it has failed in this or that over the centuries, how it has sometimes acted out of self-interest or had its own corruption exposed. And this leads to a skeptical outlook on the church as a whole, even among those who are most committed to its success.
Wright answers this tendency with his his characteristic winsome clarity:
“And what if the seams are still visible?” What if we carry about with us the pain of being half put back together and half still in pieces? What id we hacve identity crises, if we live with ambiguities and face problems we can’t solve overnight? Is that not what being a Christian is all about? As Paul continues [in 2 Cor.], we are taken for imposters, and ye are genuine; dying, and behold we live; in pain, yet always full of joy; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing everything. Paul is not describing an occasional unfortunate lapse from the norm. This is the normal Christian experience. It is because of this that much nonesnse is spoken and written today.”
The church is called by God to embody the gospel of Jesus to a hurting world. We do this with our worship and our work, which again is all God’s work. The church is not called to perfect performance anymore than individual Christians are expected to perfectly fulfill God’s moral law apart from Christ’s atonement, God’s Spirit, and God’s grace at work in our lives. The work that God calls the church to is witnessing to the cross, which, as Wright states it, “speaks of the God who didn’t send someone else to do the dirty work but came and did it himself; of the God who lived in our midst and dies our death; of the God who now entrusts us with that same vocation.”
When we begin to see the church, warts and all, through the lens of the cross, suddenly all the blemishes, all the wrinkles, all the wounds, whether self-inflected or otherwise, merge together with the worship and work of ordinary people, who are called by God and empowered by his Spirit, to create a beautiful reflection of the coming Kingdom of heaven. We are imperfect now, yet we will experience perfection in the coming kingdom. We expeience the symptoms of death now, but we have inherited eternal life in the world to come.
The Church, in all of its impefections, is yet a mirror that reflects the image of God to a broken world that he loves. It is beautiful, as God is beautiful! The Church is the bride of Christ, and he loves her! How then can we who live in and through the resurrection power of Christ see the church in any other way?
Conclusion
I have personally struggled, at times, to see the Church as beautiful and to love the Church as God does. I have used the normal excuses: churches are shrinking, people don’t want to “get to work”, I’ve been wounded by other Christians. But the real reason I have not always loved the Church as I should is because I have not (and sometimes still do not) really see and know God for who he is.
If I really know God in his fullness, which I can only do through Christ and the Spirit, then I also know his beauty and majesty. This cannot end in anything other than genuine, unbridled love for God, expressed through continual and delighted worship of God. Likewise, it cannot end in anything other than a deep and devoted love for, and service to, His Church.