[A repeat posting I feel needs to be reread—again and again]
A while back I read a rather intricate essay on getting to church on time—no wait, I mean it was on preparation for Sunday worship begins on Saturday. It was church mail. And believe it or not, the same ideas were repeated at church the very next Sunday as well. Almost like pastor-talking-points. Nonetheless, it stirred my thinking. First, although I agree that the church corporate, for the most part and throughout church history, has met on Sunday for worship, there is actually no biblical demand or command to do so. In fact, Paul in Romans scolds those who lift one day above another. (Friends, this is the New Testament era, not the Old—a rather important redemptive concept we keep forgetting.) Second, corporate worship, like the Old Testament day of rest (which is Saturday by the way), is cumulative, a climax, an ending, a final celebration marking the passing of time. I had always thought that preparation for the Sunday gathering of God’s people and corporate worship actually started on Monday. And this leads to my third thought: It is not about what I do or don’t do on Saturday, it is about who I am and who I belong to—all week. This last idea is what keeps the experience of corporate worship out of the realm of law and under grace. These are hardly definitive or exhaustive thoughts, but I am always amazed how much we constantly put ourselves “under law” in our Christian life rather than “under the Spirit” and grace. I am all for preparing for corporate worship together, but I’d like to see (hear) the discussion from a Biblical, rather than, pragmatic perspective. Again, this idea of preparing for Sunday on Saturday reminds me that our Christian and worship experience is built on my experience and participation in the American way of life, and not a reflection of the redemptive potential (my Pastor’s term) of who we are in Christ; built on the modern (and postmodern) American social and cultural values we have become accustomed to rather than expression of a biblical worldview we are being discipled in.
Posted by Chip Anderson at 05:18 AM. Filed under: In the Margins • Worship •
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