Becoming Fully Human Again

I have recently had the privilege to read through the book Created to Worship: God's invitation to become fully human by Brent Peterson for one of my classes this semester and it is very insightful on what worship truly is. For one of our first assignments we were prompted to post a forum discussion using the first 5 chapters to answer the question Why do we Worship and how do we worship as Christians. What follows below is my response to that question which I think is important for all of us to wrestle with since it is our calling as humans to worship God. 

It is important to talk about why we worship because so often worship becomes the central reason why people leave churches. Oftentimes when people leave you can hear responses such as “I thought it was too traditional.” Or “I didn’t feel emotionally moved by the worship set.” Whatever it is people tend to want to worship according to their preferences of music and how things are done. This should be addressed because worship is so much more than that. As Peterson say, “while a worship service must be familiar to each local context, there is a profound idolatry at work when I can only worship when the church’s worship is what I want, what I am comfortable with, or what I am used to” (21). I could not agree more and I believe it is easy to fall into this idolatry because we live in such an individualistic, instant-gratification world where we are told that we should have all of our needs met. That is so detrimental to the plan that God had for us.

God created us, humans, in his image to worship him. God is a triune God and so he is relational, which means as his image bearers we ought to be relational. This individualistic society and even preferences in worship are not a part of his plan; for how are we being image bearers of a 3-in-1 God when we are so focused on ourselves in an act that God desires us to do? When we tear away from this individualistic approach and view worship as a communal act we are living the way God intended, for as Peterson says “To glorify God literally imagines God’s love shining between human faces and finally back to God” (24).  When we are in community, loving God and each other, and inviting people into God’s grand story we are partaking in Christian worship.

Along with our call to communal love, Peterson tells us that “God’s Breath is the very thing that sustains all living creatures” (42). This is shown evident in Genesis 1 when God breathes into the dust to create man; because of God’s breathe we should worship him for without him we would be nothing. It is also God’s Breath through the Spirit that gathers us together to be the church and then breathes us out to go and spread the hope and joy of God’s mission in the world. When we gather together communally and then go out to spread the message we are worshipping God by being who we were intended to be. So to worship effectively as Christians we need to be willing to leave the boundaries of our church building and be the church which is “called to participate in God’s further healing in all the places the Spirit blows the church” (44). 

Junior Year: Intentional Community

Two years have passed and yet another has just begun at this great campus that I have grown to call home. It is only the second week and already I have been filled with ideas, passions, and great memories that will only continue to build as the year progresses. From the first week, training to be a small group leader, I felt a call to minister to the local community here this year. How often do college students go through college staying in their little "bubble" of campus and neglecting the neighborhood that surrounds them? Or how often do we take the opposite approach and focus our entire thoughts and actions on leaving the country and getting away from here? Why is it that college students seem to have a problem with being content with where they are? Now I know this is a general statement, but overall when people are in college it's always for something else: to get that much needed degree, to climb the ladder of success, to get that dream job, the fill up their resume, to prepare themselves to leave. Whatever their reason for being in college is, it is likely not to help the community flourish. Why is that? How much better could we make the world if we focused on the community we were living in for the 4-5 years that we are there? I feel called to get to know the neighborhood, visit the farmers market, help support the local economy, and do what I can to minister here. If we, as college students, are going to be living in an area for a select number of years the least we can do is help usher in Gods kingdom to that community through our acts of love, simplicity, and sustainability.

It could be easy to read the above calling and assume I am going to invest all my time in the community and neglect campus life to fulfill that passion; however that is simply not the case. Like everything in life there has to be a fine balance and order to how you do things even if your personality is one that dislikes routine. As important as it is to invest and support your local community it is also important to support the campus you attend which is what I will be doing. When I go into work in the mornings I go in with a positive attitude hoping to show love to those that I come in contact with. When I hang out with friends I am intentional about what we do and talk about. When I ask professors how they are doing I genuinely want to know more than the typical "great" answer. There are so many ways that one can invest in their community and really get to know the people you are living with; but it all has to do with being intentional. Once a week my apartment has decided to have "Bro Time" at a set time and place; not because we all love routine--because we don't--but because we want to be intentional about growing together as we live communally.

I share these thoughts not to show off my calling or all the "great" things that I have done, but to show examples of how I think the college years can effectively be done. I know, as I am prone to mistakes, that there are many other ways to fully embrace your communities while you are in college. I also believe there are some ways that may work better for some people over others. When we are living our lives whether it is in college or not, we need to ask ourselves if we want to live lives of love that promote simplicity, community, and sustainability or apathetic lives that promote consumerism and individualism. As I journey on in my college life I hope to reflect this life of love, simplicity, and sustainability with each relationship I develop.