Our Spiritual Practice: Focus on Worship

​Every Sunday, Coastside Lutheran Church, along with many, many other churches throughout the world engage in something we call worship. Have you ever stopped to think about what “worship” is all about? What we are doing and what is the point of it? Take a look at the following three descriptions. Grab a pen or pencil and circle all the keywords and phrases that jump out at you, ideas that surprise you or ideas that resonate with you and note common themes. 
Our Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship sees worship in terms of the flow of our Lutheran worship: gathering, word, meal, sending. It describes it to be “a local and open assembly of people in need, gathered by the Holy Spirit to encounter God’s grace in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen one, given by God through word and sacraments, so that these people together might signify how much God loves the world, might themselves come again to faith in God, and might so turn in love and service to their neighbors.” (The Sunday Assembly, 8)
Marjorie Thompson, author of the book Soul Feast, begins her description with the term “liturgy” and the idea of service to explore what worship is all about. We often use the word liturgy to refer to what happens in a worship service: gathering, confession, the word, communion, etc. The word liturgy comes from a Greek word meaning “the work of the people.” Thompson says “worship is the work of all the faithful who gather to praise, honor, and glorify God,” but she also notes that in “worship we are served by God. God fills us with the joy of knowing we are loved, restores our courage through forgiveness, provides the Word for hungry hearts, and fills us with the bread and wine of new life in Christ, giving new purpose to our lives.” (Soul Feast, 57)
In the book, Inside Out: Worship in the Age of Mission the authors think about worship as the primary event where God at work redeeming and reconciling the world and forming a distinctive community to witness to that final reality in every dimension of its life. (Inside Out, 9) Worship is communal, symbolic, God-centered and the place where God’s future is pulled into and shapes the present.
As I read through these descriptions, I am drawn to the ideas of a grace-filled community knit together by the Spirit; a community living out together God’s dream of inclusion, mercy, justice and being sent to share that hope with the world. I’m drawn to the ideas of our full participation, engagement and presence with our God who is always present; of the mysteries of the sacraments. For me, these ideas raise questions such as how do our worship and fellowship practices foster community, hospitality, inclusivity both for those of us returning to the sanctuary as well as those who join us online? How do they provide opportunities and easy access for participation and engagement by everyone?
As we continue to plan our “post-pandemic re-opening,” we have the opportunity to reflect on our worship practices here at CLC and intentionally move forward, keeping what is working; updating what could be improved. I invite you to spend the next few weeks reflecting on worship and then to join me on Sunday, June 27 at 11:15am on Zoom to have a conversation focusing on worship here at CLC.  I would also like to form a worship committee to help plan and run worship activities at CLC. If you are interested in participating, please contact me!  Peace, Pastor Sue