Worship In An Emergency

Transcending the situation

I like the word “emergency”. We don’t think about it, but it comes from the word “emergence”. And I’ve always liked emergences. Perhaps that’s because I’ve always liked to place mental wagers on what will happen next. To me, learning from the past is the greatest advantage we have as humans, in our own lives, or collectively. With the Internet we have the biggest, widest, richest window into the past that has ever existed, connected to hundreds of millions of other people who are sharing their experiences and observations, and we all have quality works of history at our fingertips. We can have it shipped to our doorstep, listen to university lectures by professors on YouTube, or download audiobooks without leaving our home. And of course we still have the Bible, which shines brighter as the days get darker.

Emergence

An emergency is simply a failure to foresee what would happen next.

If we knew what was going to happen, we would prepare.

If we were prepared, the situation would not be an emergency, but part of our plan.

As a Christian, we should know how the world really works. What will surprise us?

There’s a book called Meditations in an Emergency, by Frank O’Hara, published in 1957. I’ve never read it myself, but it’s a book of poems about the modern identity crisis, where the individual was emerging as the focus of corporate marketing, rather than the family. To even talk about “meditation” in 1950’s America would feel unorthodox and exotic if it were meant in the Eastern spiritual sense of sitting cross-legged and humming a mantra. The New Age practice wouldn’t take root until the 1970s. But here again, like the word “emergency”, we don’t think about the real meaning of the word “meditate”. It’s just thinking deeply. The book’s title has a double-meaning, therefore: “Thinking deeply while emerging from our own subconscious” is just as valid an interpretation as “Practicing spiritual self-mastery during a crisis”.

When we read the Bible, we should always be meditating on the words. To do so is not mystical or magical, but it is profound and interesting. When we do, we absorb the meaning of the words through the Holy Spirit, to the point where we are transformed. Transformation is a type of emergence.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. And if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

(1 Thessalonians 4:13)

It is considered “ignorant” to mourn death, if we have a hopeless attitude. Ignorant simply means lacking knowledge. Once we know how reality works, it should change our attitude about life, death, joy, and suffering, shouldn’t it? And if we know that the soul experiences “sleep”, and that we will some day be revived by the Lord to receive our reward, how can we mourn like those who don’t know that? It wouldn’t make sense, logically. We should plan for the reality of suffering and death, and think of it as going to sleep. We don’t cry and wail when people go to sleep, so why would we do so when a believer dies?

O ye of little faith

The threat of pain, loss, and death is considered the ultimate emergency. Especially if it’s violent, unexpected, and unfair. We can imagine senseless beatings and murder by a stranger. We may have watched TV shows or movies, where criminal threats, sexual assault, or other hostilities are displayed as truly random occurrences. But is that how reality works? What did Jesus say?

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

(Luke 12:6-7)

How is it that God can care for the lives of every single meager sparrow across the planet, and yet we believe everything that happens to us is meaningless and random, without God’s knowledge? Are we being ignorant when we fear? Of course we are. Jesus directly tells us not to be afraid, because we are worth more to God. But when we forget this, we panic and make a fool out of ourselves.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

(Matthew 6:25-33)

Again and again, Christ teaches us not to worry, but to trust God and appreciate how futile it is to try to control the events of our lives. No matter how much you struggle, arm yourself, or prepare yourself to control a situation, you will not add one hour to your own life—because we have all been appointed to die (Hebrews 9:27). We are not even supposed to wonder how we will eat or drink! God personally “clothes the grass of the field” and feeds the little birds. Jesus is showing us how to meditate on nature, to observe the pattern of the world and recognize God’s generosity towards everything. And he, as the Savior and the Word of God, is telling us that we have a special place in His plans. How absurd for us to worry!

Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;

(Matthew 5:36-39)

Why are we told not to resist an evil person? It is connected with our powerlessness—our inability to change a single hair white or black. It is inappropriate for us, as mere humans, to make vows or swear on things, because in reality we have so little control that we should simply accept what is happening and trust God. It is evil to speak as if we are powerful. We may add what James tells us:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

(James 4:13-16)

But Jesus continues his message by connecting this realization about being powerless with the command to seek rewards by being exceptional:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?

(Matthew 5:43-48)

Loving our enemies is exceptional. Accepting that good and bad will happen to us—while still not being random—is part of trusting God. In direct contrast to those basic instincts to take matters into our own hands and fight against evil, we are supposed to be exceptionally aware of how reality works, and adjust our attitude accordingly.

What is worship?

I have a working definition of “worship” that I have never heard before, but I believe it is useful for those who are stuck using buzzwords that they don’t grasp:

To worship is subject one’s mentality to something else, with deep seriousness or weight; to treat something with gravity and sincerity.

If you think of it this way, we can easily begin to worship things that don’t deserve it if we’re not careful. To worship God is not to say that we believe in Him, or even to recite the prayers and follow the traditions related to honoring Him, but to actually subject our minds to the reality of Him. To allow our thoughts to be molded by the awareness of Him and His Word.

Let’s take this to it’s logical conclusion.