Summer is finally here! I hope you’re able to plan time to relax and refresh before the reality of next season’s worship and music schedule kicks in. Summertime can give space to breathe and the opportunity to evaluate the past year. Summer can also be a time to experience worship in different styles and settings—not all of them confined to a building!
Worshipping God wherever you are is certainly not a new thought. Scripture is replete with references to God encounters that took place at many times and in many different ways. While we might naturally think of worship as an organized activity carried out in the confines of a “worship space,” in fact, we live every moment of our lives in God’s cosmic worship space! If the heavens can declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), who are we to question it?
So, how might we experience worship wherever we are? A nineteenth-century Presbyterian, Maltbie Babcock, might be able to help. The Reverend Mr. Babcock was serving his first congregation in the beauty of upstate New York when he began to take early morning walks to “see my Father’s world.” The experiences he had on these walks led him to compose a 16-stanza poem, a portion of which we know today as a three-stanza hymn:
This is my Father’s world: and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; his hand the wonders wrought.
We can worship God everywhere we are because this is God’s world—we are simply invited to enjoy it for a time. That reality gives a different perspective. Look around. If the birds in the neighborhood, or the rock formations along the highway, or the gorges and canyons in the mountains, or the expanse of the Great Lakes, or the oceans don’t inspire worship, maybe images of the cosmos from the Rubin Observatory will. The One responsible for all this amazing creating is the One we get to call “our Father.” We can worship him everywhere we are.
This is my Father’s world: the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: he shines in all that’s fair.
In the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.
We create worship music—isn’t it amazing that the music we create blends into the far more extensive music of the spheres? The songs of different birds, the lapping of waves on the shore, the wind that you hear ruffling the trees even before you feel it—all of these are part of the worship music of creation. This summer, notice the rich textures of flowers in bloom, or follow the path of a butterfly, or marvel at the complexities of clouds. Each of these can inspire worship. As G.K. Chesterton once said, “The world will never starve for want of wonders, only for want of wonder.”
This is my Father’s world: oh, let me not forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world; why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King, let the heavens ring! God reigns; let earth be glad!
The final stanza moves this hymn beyond what some might see as romanticism to proclaim a theological truth with massive contemporary implications: no matter what is happening in the world, God is the Ruler. Notice that he has to remind himself of this. No matter what decade, it’s easy to become alarmed, depressed, impatient, or worse during any given news cycle—evil, corruption, injustice, conflict, uncertainty. But this is when the reality of our faith and the worship it inspires becomes vitally important.
The Lord is King! That’s biblical hope, not idealistic optimism. We learn this truth in Scripture, see it in the Resurrection, and profess it in the language of worship. Any “Yes but…” resulting from the current moment’s crises cannot compete. God reigns. This is our unshakable hope. Every moment is God’s “now,” a space in time between God’s past and God’s future. We live in God’s world, surrounded by beauties and mysteries and wonders, all pointing to their Creator. How can we not want to worship?
So, this summer, why not make worship an integral part of relaxing and refreshing, wherever you are? Look in unusual places for evidence of God’s love and provision. Make the worship of God part of any experience—with family or friends, on vacation or on a mission trip, at a conference, with a small group or Bible study. You may be amazed at how your heart, like the earth around it, will be glad!
