Unifying Worship
By Nicholas Zork
Those who follow the National Football League will know that on Sunday, January 28, 2024, the San Francisco 49ers overcame one of the largest point deficits in conference championship history. I was reminded of a game I attended long ago in 2007, when an even larger point deficit was overcome by the Indianapolis Colts. I think about that game often, but not even in the context of a football conversation. Rather, I remember what it was like to be in that crowd, surrounded by strangers yet united by a passion for something that—at the time—seemed quite important. I’m not sure that, besides my wife and children, I have ever hugged anyone more enthusiastically than the person sitting next to me during the Colt's comeback. I say he was “sitting” next to me, but the second half of the game was really more jumping (and hugging). I hope to meet this person one day in heaven because they will likely retain a bronze medal on the podium of my life’s longest hugs, and I have no idea who they are. If sports can unite strangers, why does something of infinitely more importance—worshiping God—so often divide us?
I suggest that there are three dimensions of gathering that we are wise to bear in mind when we plan and lead worship if it’s to be a uniting practice—dimensions that the sports industry recognizes and that are of much greater consequence in worship.
Attention. Unity is not cultivated by attending simply to one another but to that which we both value. In corporate worship, it is, of course, essential to see, hear, and value one another. But what ultimately binds us together is our common worship of God. As we focus on God and God’s action, responding to God’s invitation and drawing close to God, we are naturally brought closer to one another. Unifying worship prioritizes attention to God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Participation. It is commonly said that worship is not a spectator sport, which is true. But even spectator sports often involve more participation than Christian worship. Passive observation will never cultivate community. Prioritizing participation in worship is the only way to truly embody and experience our connection with God and one another as our songs and voices, while directed toward God, resonate in one another’s bodies. Singing together, for example, is a powerful embodied symbol of our spiritual connection in Christ, as communion with God and community with one another become redemptively interwoven.
Affirmation. While worship emphasizes God’s nature and actions that invite our response, this affirmation of who God is has profound implications for who we are. In affirming God’s identity, we are also affirmed as beloved children of God made in God’s image. It is impossible to truly recognize a God of infinite worth and love and fail to also acknowledge the infinite worth of all people. There is no greater basis for unity than the fact that we are all siblings in one family, wonderfully made and graciously redeemed through Christ. Worship is an opportunity to not only remember what we all have in common but to rehearse our essential unity so that it becomes a lived reality.