The St John's Marthoma Church,London,UK |
Dear beloved in Christ,
Greetings to all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Theme: Worship and Liturgy
Introduction: We live in a time of chaotic changes, which is both exciting and dangerous, and churches face a severe crisis — a crisis of loosing biblical truth and pastoral ministry by following the influence of modern eye catching trends. But the gospel of Jesus Christ constantly reminds us to live in these times as ‘kingdom-people,’ reflecting God’s image of love into this world of ours. The way to that goal is worship. More often many of us take liturgical worship for granted. People often ask, what is the need of liturgical worship? What do we get from liturgy and worship? Some people comment that it is boring, and monotonous. Discussing these questions will be meaningful and effective in our spiritual life. We are not looking for material benefits through worship, but we are showing our helplessness in utter humility before the sovereign God to equip us for facing the challenges of this world and live as ‘God’s people’.
What is Worship? Worship means ‘act of revering’ or ‘adoring God’. Worship comes from reverence. The word worship derived from worth ship, that which is ‘worth’ or which has ‘value’. Christian worship and prayers are always a response to God’s amazing grace and mercy, but this response is pleasing to God because of its beauty, holiness, and our total humility. Paul says repeatedly in Romans and in other letters - our obedience, our love, our holiness and above all the beauty of our worship is pleasing to God. For worship we need liturgy, which is the structure and style of service. Every religion has its own liturgy, to reflect their identity. We have a ‘Mar Thoma Identity’ based on our eastern traditions and rooted in our reformation principles. In our church we use St. James Liturgy for our worship. Liturgy binds and unites each member of that religion. Liturgy is the combination of theological, spiritual, ethical and social aspects. God delights in the praise of His people. Our liturgy is itself an act of humility, of response to God’s initiatives, and of obedience. The act of using a liturgy, which is handed down, in which God’s initiative is its very structure, in which we share the wisdom, devotion, prayers of founding fathers, and previous generations, is in itself a sign of utter humility; it is a sign that we are responding to God’s grace. Our liturgy loudly says that we are his creation, sinners, needing forgiveness and redemption through the atoning sacrifice of our redeemer. Origin of worship: We don’t know exactly how worship is started. In olden days people worshipped many things, which included light, thunder, hill, trees, sun, moon, etc. So worship started from fear of an external and powerful force, which they could not comprehend, we think of it as reverence. In Genesis we read: (4: 25-26), “Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, say ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him’ Seth also had a son and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call or worship the name of the Lord”. Bishop Fenwick during our Parish retreat traced the origins of Christian worship from its Jewish and historical roots and showed how various elements of worship is linked (see Messenger report). Our worship integrates the whole person, the community and the whole creation. Why we worship? It is the commandment of God; so it is obeyed and that every creation should worship the creator. ‘I am your God and he created everything.’ In psalm 148, Psalmist says every creation including living and non-living are worshipping the creator; In Psalm (148:7-13) we read, “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depth, lightning and hail, snow and cloud, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth, and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maiden, old men and children. Let them Praise the mane of the Lord for His name alone is exalted His splendour is above the earth and the Heavens” Whom to worship? Obviously, we could say we worship the living God. If we go deeper we could say we worship the Triune God, The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the God the Creator, the God the Redeemer, and the God of Perfection. In Exodus (20:2-5) we read, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, you shall have no other god’s before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I the Lord your God, I am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.”
When to worship? Normally true worship has not confined to any specified time. It should be the part of our life. It is not for some selected occasions; such as when we are happy, or in sorrow or in sickness, etc. God commanded (Exodus 20: 8), “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” By giving this law God gave importance of time for worship and it is good to have some discipline in our lives for worship. Genesis 2:2 “By the seventh day God has finished the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he rested, from all his work.” However, our whole life should be a prayer and worship to our Lord and Master under whose loving care we live and have our beings.
Where to worship? God is not confined to any place or space. Jesus said (John 4:21), “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” But we could see in Bible the importance of places of worship such as high places, and temples and such. The Samaritan woman raises with Jesus the question of the location of true worship: Samaria or Jerusalem? Jesus, while insisting that the Jews have the inside track on worship, because they remain the bearers of God’s promises of salvation, insists also that the question is wrongly posed on the notion of sacred space, because he has inaugurated a new understanding of worship around himself. The hour has come when the true worshippers will worship God in Spirit and in truth. Before this, the ark of the Lord is considered as the imminent presence of God. So these places are considered as sacred and holy. So we set apart and dedicate places for worship. Usually we call it a church. I Kings 9:2-3, “The Lord appeared to him a second time as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him ‘I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me, I have consecrated this temple which you have built, by putting my Name there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.’ Now in the gospel we see how Jesus replacing the Temple with his own (dying and rising) body, this will mean the fresh location of worship itself, not in one geographical spot but wherever people hear Jesus’ words, believe in him, and so come to worship the Father. Those who belong to Jesus, who believe in him and follow him, are constituted as the new or renewed humanity, worshipping the creator God through Jesus in and through the Spirit. Paul has grounded his theology of Spirit-led worship in the two strong Temple-passages in chapters 3 and 6 of his first letter to Corinthians: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s Temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s Temple is holy, and that Temple is what you are.” The extraordinary claim Paul makes here, especially considering the muddled and fractious state of the Corinthians, is that what one might say about the single, holy Temple in Jerusalem, that it was the unique dwelling place of the one true God, is now to be said of the assemblies of those who meet to worship this God through Jesus and in the power of the Spirit. God has chosen to come now to dwell, not in a single house of stone and timber but in the living bodies of human beings. The emphasis of worship has now changed; worship now consists of bringing glory to God in our God-given body, not using the body for purposes which dishonor it. Those who by baptism and faith are constituted members of the renewed people of God are called to a life of constant worship, constant sacrificial devotion to the God who is present to them and within them
How to worship? Psalm 100:4 - Enter his gates with thanks giving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. In john 4:23 “Yet the time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit, God is truth, so true worship comes from personal relationship with this God” God wants us to praise Him. He is worthy of all praise and glory. So it is good to worship him from all our inmost being and with our entire musical instrument. In Revelation 4:10-11 “The twenty-four elders fall down before him, who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say ‘You are worthy our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’ ”
Conclusion These are the basics that I draw from the bible and our liturgical traditions, and we must be obedient to the scripture and should not aimlessly drift with every prevailing wind to please ourselves. Let it be understood that there is nothing in set forms of traditional liturgical worship which of itself is against gospel, that abolishing liturgy or tradition has nothing to do with getting back to the New Testament worship. Those who insist on chopping worship services, adding colourful bits and subtracting other bits here and there do so to do their own things to attract attention, and they do block the continuity from the past- through the present- to the future. Good liturgy protects us from personality cults and demagogues. It is very important to remember that our liturgical worship unites us with worshippers across space and time. We do carry with us a very precious diamond and please appreciate and thank God for it all times.
My immense gratitude to all who visit this website, for sparing your valuable time and the interest you have in St. Johns Mar Thoma Church, UK. We invite your precious suggestions to make this site more attractive and useful.
May God bless all of us,
vicar@marthoma.org.uk
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From the Vicar’s Desk |
