Acting Worship (Last Part)

What Do We Do Now?

Good worshiping is like good acting, only more important. And good acting takes a lot of work and practice. So, as worshipers, there is work we’ve got to do and practice to get to.

What does that work look like?

In acting, one must live a paradox, in which the words and actions are given and known in advance, but they need to be performed as if they are happening for the first time. Somehow one has to be spontaneous and authentic with words and actions that are as familiar as breathing. Well, that sounds just like the conflict between the Traditional and the Contemporary, doesn’t it?

So, first, we must become familiar with our “given circumstance.” This means reading our Bibles so that we know our shared story. This means exploring forms of worship we might not seek out otherwise. This means getting to know our history as a Church, both universal and denominational. It means acknowledging our “scripts,” which are just our own cultural expectations.

Also, we must practice “living honestly.” This means listening to the Holy Spirit, which means seeking out silence. This means we have to learn to be present for the performance, without distraction or self-consciousness. This means we have to be respectful of our fellow performers, by listening to them and being open to their innovations. Open to their honesty.

As much as we’ve all experienced bad performances in the theater or in a movie, we’ve also experienced bad performances in worship. We’ve been in services so rigid in ritual that we can’t seem to engage it with conviction. We’ve also been in services where it was so spontaneous (or messy) that we couldn’t keep up (or relax).

But when we bring these together, the “living honestly”(or the Contemporary) and the “given circumstance”(or the Traditional), we provide a grand performance for God. It doesn’t really matter which “script” or ritual we are packaging the Truth of our worship in. Whether my prayer is liturgical or improvised, I can be just as honest before God, if I am prepared and present. Whether the music is tried-and-true or experimental, I can approach the beauty of God through it if I am listening.

But all of this takes preparation and practice. And patience, for one another. And faith, that God will be present. And hope, that the story we’re acting will come to its full reality. And love, most of all for God and also for each other.

Indeed, our services on Sunday mornings should be a kind of rehearsal for our eternal task before the throne of God; Worship.