A New Perspective
Recently my youngest daughter found herself stuck at home with me all weekend while her mom and older sister were off on a retreat with other high school students from our church. I had a brief pastoral obligation on Friday evening, and then a function at the church on Saturday which kept me occupied until lunchtime, so she had to spend long stretches of time just hanging out by herself. When I got home on Saturday, I was determined to do something with her to get her out of the house, so I did what every 7th grade girl longs for her father to do. I took her hiking! (I know, I know. I should have taken her for a manicure, but that would have been too predictable. Besides, the idea never occurred to me.) With only minor protest, she agreed to my brilliant idea.
We decided to tackle McAfee’s Knob. It’s not the hardest hike in the world, but it’s not exactly a leisurely stroll in the park either. It takes two hours of stepping up and over rocks and roots to get to the top. I didn’t mind the climb, but the uneven terrain was challenging. Apparently, I have spaghetti noodles for tendons, so it takes almost nothing for me to twist an ankle. I have been known to go down with a sprain just walking across the kitchen floor. A hiking trail presents all sorts of opportunities to roll my ankle, so I had to pay very close attention to where I stepped. For two straight hours I kept my eyes focused directly on the ground right in front of me, seeking out a safe landing space for almost every footfall. As a result, I wasn’t able to take in much of the scenery around me. I was more concerned about not having my daughter haul me out on her back!
That all changed when we got to the top. The view from McAfee’s Knob is stunning. I read somewhere it is the most photographed spot on the Appalachian Trail. If so, it’s not hard to understand why. You can see the Catawba Valley stretching all the way to downtown Roanoke. All of a sudden, I realized I wasn’t looking at the ground right in front of me. Instead, my gaze was lifted higher so I could take in the stunning beauty surrounding me. The view changed my entire perspective. My aching feet didn’t even bother me anymore. At least, not until we began our trip back down the mountain.
My experience on that day is perhaps a useful analogy for how worship functions in the life of the believer. Much of our daily experience is like me on that hiking trail. We’ve got our eyes fixed firmly on the ground right in front of us, trying to find a way to step up and over the next and most immediate challenge. There is a bill to pay, a job to do, a child to raise, a sick loved one to care for, an obligation to meet, a problem to solve, or a worry to fret over. It is hard to take in much of the surrounding scenery, because we are too busy just trying to get through whatever is demanding our attention at any given moment.
Then we come into God’s presence through the experience of worship, and our perspective changes. As we come together with other Christians in worship to rehearse the story of God’s salvation, our gaze is lifted a little higher and we are given a glimpse of the larger work God is doing in this world. We are reminded of the way God is redeeming this broken world back to himself, and we see beauty again. The immediate issues of our lives don’t go away, but against the backdrop of his grace and truth we see them differently.
The first step of our strategic vision as a church is to know God. This is the most important step of our human journey, because we were not only created by God, we were created for God. Apart from Him, we will not see the rest of life in its truest and best perspective. Worshipping together with other believers is a vital and indispensable part of this divine relationship. It lifts us out of ourselves and enables us to see the world in broader and more grace-filled ways. Coming to worship, then, is not about fulfilling some religious obligation. It is about lifting our eyes to see the world differently.