FCC Weekly E-letter

September 7, 2018

 When I was a student pastor in Chicago, I worked at a university church. There was a special occasion for which the church prepared a big celebration. Part of the celebration was the world premiere of a piece of music that had been specifically commissioned for the occasion.

I don’t read music (I have a smattering left from piano lessons years ago), but it was a remarkable experience to sit with the choir director and organist as they thumbed through the piece. They looked at the notes and – to them – it was completely alive. At one point the organist looked at me and said, “my goodness, how grand! How unexpected!” To me, it was just a bunch of illegible notes. To them, it was a foreshadowing of an exceptional event. It was quite an experience to hear it live, some months later.

I think that worship is a lot like this for Christians. There are a whole bunch of symbols, Scriptures, traditions and languages that are completely foreign to those who haven’t been taught what they mean. There’s a whole world of experience that you have to come to understand in order to fully get it. It’s like looking at a piece of music on the page without being able to hear it in your head.

Worship is like the concert that follows the preparation, an experience of the soul-music that is the living God. And, it only happens when we are gathered together as the Body of Christ. Never forget, though, that it’s our job to teach each other, and particularly those who know nothing about church, what it means to wait beside the written score for the angelic music to be in our midst.

Pastor Alex