Going Slack

When we worship together we come into the presence of God in a special way. God is omnipresent – there is no where we can be that He is not (Psalm 139.7-12). And yet, we experience a special nearness, an immediacy of presence when we are together (Matthew 18.20). This should not be surprising. In the Mosaic Age God’s presence was most acutely experienced in the Temple – particularly in the Holiest of Holies (Exodus 25.22). It was when Isaiah went to the Temple that he had and actual experience of God’s presence (Isaiah 6.1ff). Today God has no temple other than the Church – we are the dwelling-place of the Spirit (I Corinthians 3.16-17). And so, when we come together, as God’s family for the purpose of worshipping Him, we come into his presence in a special way – our being together for this purpose makes it so.

Scripture is clear – the proper posture is prostration when we come into God’s presence. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord (James 4.10). Humble yourselves, therefore, beneath the mighty hand of God (I Peter 5.6). The reverent tax-gatherer Jesus mentions in Luke 18.9-14 would not even lift his eyes to heaven. Even that greatest moment of ecstatic praise – the one that includes all creation - ends with the host of heaven prostrate before the throne of God (Revelation 5.14). I am reminded of this little poem by Christina Rossetti:

Give me the lowest place; or if for me

That lowest place to high, make one more low

Where I may sit and see

My God and love the so.

And these lines by James Weldon Johnson:

O Lord, we come this morning

Knee-bowed and body-bent

Before Thy throne of grace,

O Lord – this morning –

Bow our hearts beneath our knees,

And our knees in some lonesome valley.

But most of all I am reminded of that incomparable line from Psalm 46.10:

Be Still and know that I am God.

That line is startling because God’s own voice interrupts the Psalmist. The Psalmist has invited us to Come behold the works of the Lord (v.1), and then enumerates them. They are all acts of overwhelming power, many of them frightening. He goes on listing and describing them – talking about God as “He”, when God interrupts with “I Am”. As we read we all become Moses at the burning bush, or Jacob before Heaven’s ladder – surprised by the sudden nearness of God. God told Moses to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground (Exodus 3.5). What he tells us to do is “Be Still.”

The Hebrew word used in an unusual one – it is the root upon which the word “disheartened” is built (Proverbs 24.10). The basic meaning is “to go slack,” “to release tension,” to sink down into.”

Psalm 46 is addressed to “the chorus leader” – it is meant for public worship. God’s people are gathered together for worship. God is present to speak his I Am, but before he does he requires that we “be still.” I mention this because much that passes as worship in many congregations today seems to me to be striving not slackening - striving to hold our attention, striving to score theological points, striving to alter the course of the congregational ship, striving to keep the visitors coming back, striving to entertain the kiddos, striving to entertain the swelling throngs of ADHD adults. I am not saying that worship has to be dull and quiet – although it is often the latter it should never be the former. The volume level of the singing in Revelation 5 is clearly at 11. I am saying that worship is a time of reverence, of humility, of dependence, of “going slack.”

Do we really believe chanting cheers, watching the Jumbo-Tron, and doing the wave will make us know God is present, and declaring to us “I Am.”