Learning to be a Community of Worship
I. Required readings
Christian Biography for the Day: Charles De Foucauld
J. David Hoke, “Thinking Biblically about Idolatry”
"The Magnificent Obsession," Anita Kelly Couch
(PDF in
Canvas under Files/Copyrighted Material)
“The Gospel of Consumption vs. the Gospel of the Kingdom”
View the 61-minute film
The Success and Price of Capitalism
and submit film reflection via
Canvas before class. (Link to film via Film Reflection Assignment on
Canvas.)
II. Quotations for the
day
“Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will.
Whatever You do I thank You. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only Your
will be done in me, as in all Your creatures, I ask no more than this, my Lord.
Into Your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to You, O Lord, with all the love
of my heart, for I love You, my God, and so need to give myself - to surrender
myself into Your hands, without reserve and with total confidence, for You are
my Father.”
--Charles
De Foucauld
III. Journal prompts
1. The word "worship" comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word “worth-ship,” which means to ascribe worth to something. As human beings, we are “worshiping” creatures—we can’t help but ascribe worth to all kinds of things. The danger, of course, is that we will ascribe too much worth to the wrong things, which is what scripture calls “idolatry.” The familiar passage from Exodus listed above reminds us of the ever-present danger of idolatry. Similarly, the passage from Isaiah reminds us that we are not the first people to worship the work of our hands. As you look around at the society of which we all are a part, what do you think are the primary candidates for “idols”? In other words, to what (or whom) do you think we have a temptation to ascribe too much worth? To what (or whom) do we give too little worth?
2. It's easy to assure ourselves that we're don't engage in idolatry because we don't regularly bow down to golden statues. But if we're honest, it's always probably easier to see someone else's idolatry than it is to see our own. In addition to the helpful questions asked in the Couch and Snyder articlea above, here are a few more questions to ask yourself that might help uncover some of those things in your life that might be potential idols:
If an outsider were to look at my life, what would he or she say is the center of it, that around which everything else is ordered?
For what in my life do I make regular sacrifices? (Sacrifices of time, money, energy, etc.)
What or who in my life can I not imagine living without?
What or whom am I willing to die for? To kill for?
3. In what ways might the church’s gathered times of worship shape us to live differently in our everyday lives when it comes to such fundamental issues as what we give worth to? In short, what is the relationship between the "worth-ship" that happens in our churches on Sunday mornings and the "worth-ship" that is embodied in our lives the rest of the week?
IV. Links of possible interest
Ed Stetzer,
“Patriotism
and the Church: Answering the Call to Worship God First.” An
article that encourages us to explore the subtle forms of idolatry that might
arise with our competing loyalities to God and country. The author notes a
recent poll in which over half of Protestant pastors disturbingly acknowledged
that their congregations sometimes seem to love America more than God.
"We
Worship the God of Security." A recent opinion piece in USA Today
dares to use the language of idolatry and reminds us that we, like the ancient
Israelites, are no less prone to it.