We Americans, since first bumping against Plymouth Rock, have prided ourselves on our practicality. Leaving behind the monarchies and hierarchies of the Old World, we set out to make a society where men and women were valued not on who their ancestors were, but on what each of us did with ourselves. We like to think of ourselves as heirs of that tradition. When a Britisher looks down his nose at American culture as “utilitarian,” we rightly feel a certain excusable pride.
Our “practicality” invented the light-bulb, cracked the atom and put men on the moon (okay, that was with the help of smuggled-in Nazi rocket scientists). When we look at a question, Americans don’t ask “is it true” but “will it work?” We’re the sort of people who get things done, but sometimes we don’t stop to ask if we should do something just because we can do it.
This “practical” approach touches everything we do, even the worship of Almighty God. When we talk about worship, (“weorth-schyppe”), we do so in utilitarian terms. Worship is worth-while if we “get” something out of it: if it entertains us, makes us feel good about ourselves, if it helps us “grow” spiritually, gives us a break “from the madding crowd.” In other words, we worship because it does something for us—benefits us some way or other. If we "get" something from it (you choose what), that makes it worth-while; it justifies the time we spend doing it.
If that’s so, then we’re not worshipping God, even if we tell ourselves we are. If, as we talked about in last week’s post, “woerth-schyppe” is focused on (W)who we value, and we worship because it benefits us, then who, beloved, are we woerth-schypping?
We don’t worship because it’s good for us, makes us feel good about ourselves, lets us lay down our burdens, because the priest is handsome or the choir is splendid or the communion-wine is really good; we worship because God is God—He Who Is——and we have, from time to time have, if not caught a glimpse of Him, at least seen traces of His presence. We worship Him—not for our sakes—but for His.
Worship isn’t practical, it’s un-utilitarian. God doesn’t need it. He doesn’t feel better about Himself if we say nice things to Him. We justify it as entertaining or educational or emotionally satisfying (and it can be those things, but they’re incidental). In the best sense of the word, worship is “useless.” It doesn’t benefit us in ways that we can see. But at its most basic level, worship makes us truly human. It raises us to what we were made for—communion with our Creator. To be, as St Thomas said, “friends of God.”
Worship is not about us, but God. It is utterly useless to us—and it’s the thing—more than any other thing, which raises us to be who we were made to be. –Fr Gregory Wilcox
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