Well Woman and Worship - PT. 1

Where do you worship?

I was recently at a Worship Night with some people, and I was sitting on the couch struggling to focus. It was more of a seated meditation and spiritual experience type of setting. I was trying to quiet my body through breathing, but my mind was picking up on different thoughts and concerns from within myself and around the room. I organized these thoughts mentally into a list, and thought about each separately - but had no desire to expand any of them further.

In college, I remembered learning about St. Ignatius style of prayer, where you visualize a Bible story and then picture yourself within the story. I know enough scripture and stories involving people talking with Jesus, so I thought - I can easily go to those places. Using your imagination in this way can be difficult for a variety of reasons, but it is a muscle worth building!

One of my favorite stories to step into is where Jesus is with the woman at the well. John 4 is a beautiful parable. I picture a square hold in the ground with a stone wall only 3-5 layers high. A woman in dark clothing is filling her bucket with water on a hot day, while a man sits reclined against the well. I can recite the dialogue in my mind.

"You have nothing to draw water with," says the woman. Jesus glances at her lovingly. He says, "You have had 5 husbands and the man you are now with is not your husband."

I picture myself standing by the well under the hot sun watching them interact. Suddenly the woman asks the seemingly deep spiritual and politically-charged question, "The Jews say we should worship in Jerusalem, but we worship on this mountain. Where do you say we should worship?" Jesus, ever-wise and truth-focused, replies, "The true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in Truth."

I then started swirling back to a conversation with my mentors from earlier in the day where we were discussing the delicate church cultural tension between house churches and traditional Western church. Where should we worship - in the largest groups possible in attractive buildings, or in living rooms? Do we need a Worship Leader, or can someone play guitar in a circle? Which songs are theologically "okay"? Is singing in tongues out loud necessary, or demonic? I realized then - wow. We are still asking performance-based questions to prove our spirituality as a cover to our sinful lives. Instead of doing the actual practices we are fighting about. Well, the reality is that talking about something is not the same as actually doing it.

This woman was trying to ask what she thought was a relevant question that would please this spiritual man - but truly she was wrong in her thoughts on worship and assumptions of His priorities.

What does it look like for you to actually worship genuinely, in, inside of, from a place of, and as "spirit" and "truth"? Read that question again slowly in its parts out loud to fully grasp the gravity.

Next time you find yourself criticizing a song or form of worship - instead, immediately turn on a song where you have connected with God, and spend the next 3-4 minutes worshipping.

We need to fight past performance culture in church, and worship to the actual doing of church and worship.