"To find the extraordinary hidden in the ordinary, we are called to participate in God's own imagination -- to see ourselves, our neighbours, and our world through God's eyes, full of possibility, full of promise, ready to be transformed." (1)
Worship is the immediate result of encountering God. It is biblically evident that genuine worship occurs outside of the typical Sunday morning service, as well as within, then elements of worship must be visible at any moment in a given day. Through the eyes of faith, divine experiences are known to those who unapologetically claim that they are created in God’s image and who seek every means by which to encounter God in the wonder of God’s world.
"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, ad a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." (2)
Elijah found himself in the presence of the LORD when he experienced, not the great earthquake or the raging fire, but the gentle whisper of the breeze. This goes to show that encounters with the Living God, no matter how small the incident may seem, are powerful reminders to the Church that the God of the universe is ever-present and always deserving of highest praise. This encounter with God is transformative. As believers draw nearer to the God who knows everything about everyone — when people sit and rise, their words and thoughts, even their conception and birth — they are gaining familiarity with the One who knows them so well, to experience personally God’s forgiveness, and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for faithful living. Worship is charged with divine activity; God acts, God gathers a people, God makes a covenant, God creates a community. As the Church gathers to give God thanks for deliverance, for their ongoing welfare, and to ask for God’s presence and protection for their future they realize that God lives not in a temple, or on a mountaintop, but in the midst of the people, with the people, in the assembly.
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (3). Wherever the faithful, who worship Him purely and in truth, are assembled together to engage in worship, God is graciously present and presides in the midst of them The church has always believed not only that God is everywhere but also that he is made intensely present to his church at worship. God is there in the gathering of the assembly, in song, in Scripture reading, in prayer, and especially at bread and wine. This realization of the holy God is what calls the Church to worship, and it is through all of the senses that we are able to worship God more fully. "God is here among us, and worthy of our praise." (4.)
1. Krahn, Karmen and Leslie James. 2008. Proclamation by Design: The Visual Arts in Worship. Waterloo, ON: Faith & Life Resources. (Quote by Barbara Brown Taylor in The Preaching Life) 15.
2. 1 Kings 19:11-12, KJV.
3. Matthew 18:20, KJV.
4. Krahn, Karmen and Leslie James. 2008. Proclamation by Design: The Visual Arts in Worship. Waterloo, ON: Faith & Life Resources. 15.
