I recently had an unexpected experience at a memorial service. Catherine, the mother of a local colleague, had died tragically and unexpectedly. The community handbell group I conduct was asked to play for Catherine’s service. While I knew both Catherine and her daughter tangentially, neither of them were close acquaintances. Our bell group prepared our parts for the service and played well. What I wasn’t prepared for was how moving and worshipful this time would be for me personally. As I left the service, I was struck by the sense of connection I had with everyone present. I felt like I had become an adopted member of their family and knew them like my own. In the midst of this short service, I was sure I had drawn closer to God. Many members of our bell choir, none of whom knew Catherine or her family, looked at each other at the conclusion of the service with wide eyes and expressions demonstrating the sense of loss they felt in having not known Catherine. What a testament to a Christian life well-lived!
In my years as an ordained minister and church musician, I have played piano and trumpet at countless funerals. I have conducted vocal and handbell choirs, read scripture, and shared family remembrances and eulogies at more memorial services than I can remember. I can count on one hand the times those services have brought me closer to God. I recognize and own that a piece of that is on me and how I’m wired. When I’m leading services, I’m often more prone to be focused on the experience for those gathered than on listening for the moving of God’s Spirit in my own life. Setting that aside, why was this time different?
It’s hard for me to put my finger on it exactly. I have a suspicion that it reaches into the depths of the connections Catherine had into the eternal. As recently retired clergy, she was an incredibly gifted person; her spirituality radiated through her interactions with others, her public life, and her poetry. But here was what was unique: Catherine’s spirituality wasn’t a pious, strange, esoteric kind of thing. It wasn’t off-putting or odd. It was deeply personal, and because of that authenticity, her spirituality oozed out of her in ways that connected those around her with the Divine.
What does all this talk of memorial services and a dear departed soul’s spirituality have to do with worship? Well, everything! Worship reminds us of God’s love and pursuit. In worship we find comfort in knowing God’s love seeks us out and offers peace the world can’t provide. God desires to redeem us with forgiveness, restoration, and a renewed sense of purpose. Catherine’s service brought light, hope, and comfort to my heart in places and ways I didn’t know I needed. Now I know! Through worship we gain a new perspective, helping us live with greater faith and purpose.
Worship bridges the gap between this world and Christ’s kingdom. Sometimes our worship does this well, and sometimes we completely miss the mark. This reminds me of a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The pirate duo, Pintel and Ragetti, are in a rowboat after escaping from jail. Ragetti, who famously has a wooden eye and is illiterate, is holding a Bible upside down and pretending to read it to save his soul. Pintel notices and points out that Ragetti cannot read. Ragetti then delivers his defense: “It’s the Bible, you get credit just for tryin’.” This is how it is for us in worship. Worship is a vital anchor in our lives, reorienting our hearts to the wideness of God’s love and grace. We bring all of our best and trust in God’s Grace to reach us no matter where we are in our faith journey. As we attempt to know the unknowable, fathom the unfathomable, and mine the depths of God’s love, our Creator gives us credit just for trying.
Much like Catherine’s memorial service, worship reminds us we are children of the One who wants to be in relationship with us. God’s desire is for us to feel unconditional love and a true sense of belonging in God’s family. Whether we miss the mark badly or gain glimpses of glory at every turn, when we approach God’s throne with an open, contrite heart and a willing spirit, we don’t have to do all the work. God has already done that through Jesus. If our Bible is upside down, we can’t read the notes in the hymnal, or wear the wrong clothes, we get credit just for trying!
