Last week I wrote about the threshold places in our lives. Something called “liminal space” where we are in between what was and what is yet to come. I was encouraged at how many people touched base with me through Facebook, Twitter, and my email to tell me that this is exactly where they believe that they have found themselves to be and have viewed that season very negatively up to now.
After doing a little more reading this week I have been encouraged to consider creating liminal spaces in my life. Instead of fearing, dreading or avoiding those in between places where everything feels like it is standing still I’m encouraged to actually seek them out. It is in those spaces that we learn to truly desire the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not just accommodate it if it should materialize. It is also in those liminal spaces that we learn who we truly are.
I believe this is the space where the most sincere forms of worship take place. These are the places where we are basically saying to God, “Unless you show up here in this, I am done for!” It is a place of very simple prayers, honest confessions, and humble praise. Thresholds teach us that anything beautiful that has happened is a gift, any comfort is truly from his Spirit, and that whatever we experience in this interim is intentional preparation.
The thresholds teach us the difference between what we really believe and what we only wish we believe.
I’m beginning to see that those whom I call the People of the Thresholds are not always the most comfortable to be around. We have so many questions, we probe beyond the stock answers, and nudge until we feel like we are a little closer to the whole truth. For those who are not in that space it can be off-putting and even seem a bit caustic.
This is where I see some of us experiencing what I call “the steeple in the road” by the church.
The obstacles of pat answers, the need to tie a bow around our pain, to “fix” us, or to speak in a dialect of Christian-ese that we don’t even understand is the church dragging the steeple into the road. For many the steeple in the road is any time that the church has ignored, misunderstood, or mislabeled them.
I believe it is the People of the Thresholds who can actually move the steeple out of the road for so many who question whether they even belong in Christian community or not. Maybe the most sincere form of Christian community is one that worships in the thresholds.
This weekend we will explore the subject of worship as part of our Worship, Care, Serve series.
The Call to Worship God
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Our worship in song set will include the traditional hymn, O Worship the King combined with a chorus by the David Crowder band, O Praise Him. We will segue into the worship tune, We’re Here to Worship, and then into Indescribable by Laura Story. These are not only songs based around the theme of worship, but they are songs that call for us to engage in it - songs that speak directly to God in a vertical experience.
Our feature song and offertory is a Becki Ryan tune we’ve used before entitled, Wonders. It is a song sung directly to Jesus about the wonders of his attributes and a great song of worship.
After Scotty’s message we will be enjoying a season of extended worship in song. We will revisit the new song we introduced last week by Vicki Beeching entitled, Glory To God Forever. We will segue to Holy Is the Lord by Chris Tomlin and end the service with the CCC standard, We Will Worship You by Scott Wesley Brown.