Worship is formative

In many ways, how we worship God forms how we see and understand him and the life he has given us.

Now, I don't want to try to prove this conclusively. Rather, I want us to consider what sort of formal corporate worship we participate on a weekly basis (assuming, of course, that you do so).

If the songs are thin, trite, repetitive, etc., as many modern praise songs are, what does this communicate to us about God and life? Is it an accurate picture? Is it even remotely complete? Is there space for mourneful songs?

I grant that many people don't like old hymns, but it needs to be noted that many of the old hymns are much more theologically developed than many modern day worship choruses. Further, many of the older hymns deal with a wider range of human emotion and experience. They paint a more accurate picture of life on this earth because they paint more of it, more than the happy hearted feel of many modern choruses. 

Let's be honest, a happy heart is not what we have much of the time. Life is a struggle, belief is often a struggle, living in love is often a struggle. King David's experience as depicted in the Psalms ought to be proof enough.

If worship is formative, then I propose we at least look at what we're singing while in worship. Is the content true? Is it indicative of the human condition and plight on this earth? Does it remind us that our only hope is Christ, especially in the dark night of our souls? In a word, do we sing of more than one or two emotions or experiences?

Take a look at this hymn by Anne Steele. It's weighty and expresses the struggling cry of a saint. Many of my friends are currently experiencing some of the things she's articulating here. In worship, they might need to sing like this, that they might be reminded in their mind and emotion that God "alone canst heal" and to him we should "cleave."

Click the song title to see a lyric video of Sandra McCracken singing the song, or just read the lyrics below. May your heart be reminded that God cares about the vast experience of mankind. May you be formed. 

"Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul"

1. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,
For every pain I feel

2. But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline
Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust

3. Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner's prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there

4. Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet,
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet

©1998, Kevin Twit Music.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Literature is a mode of knowing

There are many ways of knowing--of coming into knowing or knowledge--and reading literature is one of them. Many of us often neglect this sort of knowledge or the pursuit of it, because it's less facts-based, apparently less useful for the here and now, less pragmatic. Rather--or so the common line of thinking goes--literature is just stories or poems and not much good for day to day living.

I say otherwise. If anything, literature is exactly about day to day living. Students often ask, "When are we going to use this in real life?" With literature, the answer is simply, "This is real life." At least, literature deals with the particulars of life, giving them form for us to grasp and understand and, well, something from which to gain knowledge.

Emotion, Imagination, and Experience

Knowledge is communicated through literature differently than it is through other sorts of writing. The primary difference is that story and poetry show human experience, while the other types primarily tell about it. We don’t generally read a story to get information, as we would a newspaper article. Rather, a story or poem is a sort of portal or window on or into the world (an idea I got from Leland Ryken of Weaton College). We look through this window, and yes, we see a world depicted which may be a world of elves and dwarves, heroes and villains, princesses and knights, or common men and women with common lives in a world just like our own. But more than that, we also see our own world in a new light as a result. In many ways, literature helps us to better contemplate and understand our own reality and experience, even if the stories are far-fetched fantasy adventures of orcs and talking trees. Literature does so by showing us life.

Also, stories and poems usually deal with what is concrete. It takes human experience and doesn’t simply define or explore the philosophical nature of such things as love, conflict, suffering, family, etc. Literature puts ideas and emotions, which are abstract, into a determinate shape in the imagination. It shows us these things—and more—played out through the lives and experiences of characters or poetic speakers. An author will have characters going through actions, living life in a setting of some kind. He will use sensory details—words and descriptions that appeal to the five senses—to bring the characters, the action, the setting to life. And this “bringing to life” occurs in our imagination as we read or hear a story. With such in our imagination, we can somehow “hold” onto it, understand it, almost “touch” it, as if it had more substance than an idea or emotion.

To be sure, as we read stories we are moved in our intellect, just as we are when we read other types of written language for facts. But in addition to our intellect, our imagination and our emotions are also moved. In this way, a story or poem expresses the whole of reality, the whole of life. A story may not express exactly what we personally think about reality and life, but it certainly does express a sense of life. We experience a sense of the way things truly are.

Again, like most (maybe all) types of writing, literature communicates to our intellect, but more than that, it communicates to our emotions, our imaginations, and our experience. This is how literature is a mode of knowledge, and such knowledge is what we desperately as human beings trying to live in community in our schools, churches, towns, cities, states, countries.