Sustaining Force
I have trouble being brief. I am going to try to get to the point and then invite your comments to complete the conversation…
In his recent book, Reimagining Church, Frank Viola speaks to the question of what the “sustaining force” is of this gathering we’ve come to call a worship service.
This Viola quote speaks directly to a really troubling reality:
In the typical institutional church, the religious machinery of the church program is the force that fuels and propels the church service. Consequently, if the Spirit of God were ever to leave a typical institutional church, His absence would go unnoticed.
The “business-as-usual” program would forge ahead. The worship program would be unaffected. The liturgy would march on uninterrupted. The sermon would be preached, and the doxology would be sung. Like Samson of old, the congregation would go right along with the religious program, not knowing ‘that the Lord had departed’ (Judg. 16-20)
By contrast, the only sustaining force of the early church gathering was the life of the Holy Spirit. The early Christians were clergyless, liturgyless, programless, and ritualless. They relied entirely on the spiritual life of the individual members to maintain the church’s existence and quaility of their gatherings.
Thus, if the spiritual life of the church was at a low ebb, everyone would notice it in the gathering. They couldn’t overlook the cold chill of silence. What is more, if the Spirit of God left the meetings for good, the church would collapse altogether.
Questions, questions, questions…
- How much of the sustaining force of our church gatherings is actually our own efforts and programming?
- What is the defining mark of the Holy Spirit on our gatherings? How do we know if He is really the sustaining force?
- Is anything happening at our gatherings that couldn’t happen without the Spirit of God?
- Would we ever be willing to encounter the “cold chill of silence” in order to recognize the need for the life of the Holy Spirit in our gatherings?
I’d love join you in a lively dialog around these questions. Please click “comment” below and weigh-in.
Tony Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am
I would hope very little of what we do in our church gatherings are solely under our own efforts and programming. I think that leadership and elders of the church should constantly be evaluating what you do and why you do it to continually stay in what the Holy Spirit wants to do. Not saying every week has to be completely different, but to hold all that we do with an open hand - allowing it to stay as long as it is needed, but allowing it to go when the Spirit moves.
Doug Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Two thoughts…
One:
Sometimes those of us who are leaders in the church are the very people who want to keep control of our gatherings. Jesus didn’t rail against the alter boys, his bone-to-pick was with the High Priest and the dignitaries of the institutional religion of the time. It was they who were throttling the life of the Spirit. Sometimes our need for control, or our fear of letting control go, becomes stronger than our desire to allow the life of the Spirit to orchestrate our gatherings.
Two:
Debbie and I used to have good friends who were Orthodox Mormons. They invited us to their Sunday Meeting to sing one Sunday. They had all the same components that we have…singing, sermon, scripture, prayer. Accept for some scripture references from books we don’t embrace, there was no discernible difference between their gathering and our typical gathering. The message was inspirational and practical, the music was moving and poignant. I wonder what it is that sets us apart from that. What is distinct in our gathering that would make someone think that the Holy Spirit is present in ours but not theirs?
Kevin Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
What if the Holy Spirit was moving in the programing and rituals we hold onto, despite our every unintentional neglect to recognize Him? What if the Holy Spirit was right in the middle of our own efforts, driving us to “programming”? What if it was Christ who is in the center of the mundane business-as-usual?
I’m sure there are plenty of you right now thinking “He just doesn’t get it, does he?” But think about it for a moment, from that perspective. Couldn’t it be that amongst the talk of what is wrong with the church today we’re completely missing what is right with the church, even missing Christ in it? Perhaps we have become so engulfed in pointing out where the Spirit is lacking that He has moved right in front of us to a blind eye.
I’m not saying that the Holy Spirit’s presence isn’t important. Nor am I saying that we always do a fabulous job to recognize where we are neglecting the Holy Spirit’s presence. I just get a sense that we say “OH, the spirit isn’t present” because we missed Him, even in the center of the liturgy, ritual, sermon and doxology. Even if there wasn’t a ‘defining mark.’ I’m not sure anyone would say, “We’re saying that the Holy Spirit isn’t in those things.” so please do not take that from my ramblings either.
So, if you stuck with me this far, and made sense of any of that, I leave you with this question: How much is the Holy Spirit using our efforts and programming to be a sustaining force?
Doug Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I’m not suggesting that the Holy Spirit isn’t present. I think He is. He HAS to be. But I am saying that we relegate Him to the corner of the room. We so strictly adhere to our plans and agenda that we leave little room for Him to take control. We ask Him to move, and then we we demand that He cut through all of our distraction, baggage and self-absorption within a one-hour time limit. We eliminate any white space within which He might make significant changes.
Here’s the question…is what we’re doing now the best we can offer? If not, why don’t we change? Are our reasons for clinging to time-limits and liturgies solidly God-breathed or are we clinging to something that is safe, predictable and within our control. I don’t believe that God is any of those things, and yet we want to experience Him under those terms.
I feel the tug of those constraints as much as anyone. They pull me back most of the time because I find comfort in them. But I am willing to say that that is my weakness, not God’s preference.
R. Timothy Gilmer Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
It seems to me that God can work through any format or liturgy or time frame as long as the hearts of the people are genuinely seeking God and desiring to be more like him. Doug, I agree with what you are saying about relegating God to the corner of the room, but I think we do that more with the condition of our hearts than with the timeframe or liturgy of our services.
I have been in services like the 11:00 tradish where it is very programmed, planned, and yet, I believe that people come there genuinely seeking God and that God will work through the liturgy we use.
I have also been in services like the Well or Crossing where there may be less planning and more of a flexibility to go in different directions. I don’t think that either structure is inherently better than the other. When God can’t (or won’t) work in peoples hearts is when they are checking watches, fidgeting, wishing they were watching the Browns get killed or something. You can have a heart condition like that in either setup, whether its the down to the second programming or the more flexible.
As a congregation member, I just appreciate knowing what to expect. Rightly or wrongly, I don’t like expecting to be done at noon, and planning my day accordingly, and then having something last until 1:00. Also, it’s not always a bad thing to say, anyone is free to leave if they want, but we are going to stay and worship a little while longer. The watch checkers or people who have to go can leave and the people who want to stay can stay.
Either way, I think that in Scripture, God departs or leaves when his people become unresponsive to his Spirit and fall more in love with their spirituality or liturgy than with God. And, that could be Pentecostals bopping each other on the head or it could be hymn singers.
Doug Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Yeah…no disagreement here.
Probably the most haunting phrase of Viola’s quote is this:
“…Thus, if the spiritual life of the church was at a low ebb, everyone would notice it in the gathering. They couldn’t overlook the cold chill of silence. What is more, if the Spirit of God left the meetings for good, the church would collapse altogether.”
The crux of this whole line of questioning is: what if we are just masking the chill of silence that is meant to tell us we’re sick and on the brink of spiritual collapse? What if we are collapsing and we fail to recognize it because the methods and approach to worship just keep marching on.
I believe that this is where the American Church is. As Keith Green said, we are “Asleep in the Light.” The liturgy, programming, etc. are not the sleep, they are just the poppies that deaden us to the fact that we are asleep. It takes something chilling and new, like a cold snowfall, to wake us and allow us to see that we need to walk toward the Kingdom together.
dan Says:
December 9th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name there will I be also
I believe its up to us to attract the people, to invite the spirit in our midst and let the spirit do his job of pricking their hearts. the crossing in my opinion has lost focus and is worried about whether or not the spirit is working. he will work when and where he wants Sunday services are only a small part of our lives the holy spirit works 24/7 just like we must be a witness 24/7
Doug Says:
December 9th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I’m hoping that finding our Focus is our focus. Sometimes we have to step back and refocus in order to give the Holy Spirit the “white space” to do what He wants instead of what we want. My feeling is that, in the past, we’ve said “Holy Spirit, here’s what we want you to do!” instead of “Holy Spirit, have your way.” The process of surrendering in that way can feel very awkward because we are placing Jesus in the center of what we do instead of insisting that we remain central. That process of losing control leads to discomfort. We are more concerned with leading our people into a living experience with God, with Jesus as the Focus, than having a Sunday morning experience that fits nicely into the lives we choose for ourselves. I know that our leadership toward that isn’t nearly perfect, and will not be considered conventional, but I do believe it is an honest and worthy pursuit. I would imagine that not everyone will agree.
Jason Says:
December 9th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Dan:
I think your comment has some validity but I would argue that some churches get so focused on sermons, music and themselves that they fail to ask where is Jesus in all of this.
I totally agree that the Christian life is about way more than Sunday mornings. But, the verse you quoted reads, where two or more are gathered in “my name”. That piece, “my name”, of the puzzle is the most essential.
Are we, as a people, gathered in His name? I do not find these questions as threatening or a sign of lost focus. Instead, we must continually ask ourselves where Jesus is in everything we do; at work, in school, at church? To not do so would be a loss of focus.
If Jesus was at the center of all we do, things could be a tad bit awkward for us. The Crossing needs to ask precisely the questions this post is raising. Are we sermon focused, song-driven or Jesus centered? Teaching and songs should flow out of the Spirit’s activity, not the other way around. So, asking where Jesus is in the mix of things is THE question that needs to be asked.
Thanks for your obvious passion and heart for the Lord. I’m glad that we’re on the same page about the need for the Holy Spirit and the Christian life being a journey of the 24/7 nature.
Also, my comments are not meant to jab back. I just don’t think the Crossing is losing focus. So, I disagree with you on that BUT agree with you on everything else. Talking via posts and emails can sometimes be a tricky ordeal.
Wende Says:
December 9th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Transition is always hard, and the Crossing has been in transition for one reason or another for the past few years, it seems. Lately, I feel like the Crossing has refocused, or maybe found its focus for the first time. My family (husband + 3 teens) and I have left there the past two or three weeks feeling very much like the Holy Spirit moved, feeling like we’re once again part of the Body of Christ. I appreciate honest pursuit of putting Jesus at the center and the way the Crossing is encouraging each of us to do that in our own lives as well. Worship is an overflow of how we’re living our lives, and I think we put too much pressure on the worship team, worship leaders, band, etc. to make worship happen for us.