Leaves of Worship

This is another one of those times when several recent “encounters” have muddled my mind. One influential event (actually several) is meeting with pastors studying Church NeXt, especially our discussions around “seekers” and worship. The other event is our most recent staff meeting, where Mark 11:20-25 was the subject of our group Bible study.

While most of us acknowledge that attendance at Sunday worship is not the only measure of spiritual vitality in a church, we believe it provides an important clue. This tension sets up the battle between those “sold out” to have mere numbers and those hiding behind the façade of faithfulness. We have all heard (and perhaps participated in) the verbal darts these groups hurl at one another.

I think the real issue is how worship addresses and engages those who choose to be in our worship services.

There are at least four needs, and they are usually intertwined. Some choose to be there because they honestly have been awed by the presence of God in their lives and want to worship. Some choose to be there because they committed to be more deeply devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. These two groups constitute the dedicated core that faithful pastors pursue.

But there are at least two other needs are brought to worship. Some are there because they have a need for grace. They have experienced very little of it, and they dispense even less. But there is often a subconscious hunger for it.

Some choose to be there because they need healing—the deep, spiritual kind. They have been broken because of the choices they have made. They have been injured because of what others have done to them. The have experienced the “collateral damage” of events. They have damaged themselves in their mistreatment of others.

These last two groups constitute bona fide “seekers.” They do not attend worship because it is entertaining (those who do will quickly find something else!). They choose to attend worship because it is rumored that God can be found there. They come out of curiosity: “Will God show up today?” And, more importantly, if God does show up: “Will God have anything to say to me?”

These “seekers” have experienced first hand the grace-less, toxic society that envelopes us. They hunger for a grace-full, healing experience with the living God. Church is rumored to be a place where this can happen.

The Bible study from Mark is the well-known story about Jesus cursing the fig tree. And most of us learned that its context (preceded by the cleansing of the Temple, followed by questions on authority and the parable of the tenants) suggests an application to Temple worship. The metaphor is a tree that is full of leaves (and promise) but empty of fruit. What should have been a fruitful tree is, instead, an ornamental bush.

(Yes, I know it was not the season for figs, but there is that command to be prepared “in season and out of season.” Besides, if we go that route, it makes the cursing even more obscure—Jesus expected to find fruit.)

How often do persons choose to attend our worship, longing to encounter a fruitful tree, but finding only an ornamental bush?

It is not a question of the “leaves” of musical taste, homiletical style, or liturgical design. It is a question of offering authentic sustenance to those who choose to be there. This is complicated by the range of needs. Some, like Isaiah, yearn to experience and commune with the King of the Universe. Others, like Mary, desire to sit at the feet of the Living Word. Others, like Zaccheus, are eager to share table grace with the Accepter. Others, anonymous and unknown, long to grab the apron of the Healer that passes by.

Trees need to have leaves—without them they are dead sticks. But the objective of each leaf is to gather the energy of the sun and direct it toward the production of fruit.

As a worship-leader, Bible-teacher, fellow-traveler, how do the “leaves” that I help display produce the “fruit” so desperately needed by those who choose to attend worship. Is everyone invited to “taste the Lord, for He is good,” or does a curtain of shiny “leaves” conceal my barrenness?

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