From Participating in Worship: History, Theory, and Practice by Craig Douglas Erickson.
In a baptismal sermon written to early Christians undergoing fierce persecution, the author of First Peter gives this timeless description of the church:
"Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
"...you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10)
The church is a royal priesthood. In worship, its identity is most fully revealed. Because the church is a priestly body and a royal dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, its worship ought to be participatory. It is only natural that the church should demonstrate collectively its character in worship. A clergy-dominated performance of the liturgy before a passive congregation obscures the priestly character of the entire church.
Participatory worship was a lively issue for New Testament Christians. While still a Jewish sect, the church was forced to reinterpret such concepts as priesthood, sacrifice, and temple in a way that was consonant with the new covenant. To accomplish this, the Christian community drew upon the more progressive trends in Jewish thought.
The concept of priesthood was radically transformed. In the new Israel, when the church gathers for worship, it does so as a collective priesthood. Christians celebrate the mysteries together. As a body of priests, they offer sacrifices pleasing to God. What is the nature of these sacrifices? They are sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. Most vitally, they symbolize the fact that the holiness of the church is for the sake of the world. The lifestyle of Christians is to be sacrificial. As St. Paul writes:
"I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12:1)
"Spiritual worship" refers to the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is understood to reside in each Christian through the grace of baptism. The New Testament awards the concept of temple to the bodies of individual Christians, who are temples of God's Holy Spirit. The writer of First Peter also likens the baptized to living stones built into a spiritual house or temple (1 Peter 2:5).
The church is a priesthood. All Christians, as temples of the Holy Spirit, are to offer their lives as sacrifices. Reflecting this identity, Christian worship ought to be participatory worship. Such is the right and duty of the faithful, who through baptism join a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people." Because all of the members of the church constitute a priestly community, its worship deserves to be participatory.
Despite firm biblical evidence in favor of participatory worship, it is not a concept that is warmly embraced by all. Many are resistant to more active levels of participation for a variety of reasons.
The level of participation in worship may be affected by personal problems, e.g., marital difficulties, ill-health, guilt, low self-esteem, a crisis of or a lack of faith. This book cannot deal directly with the many personal barriers to full liturgical participation. Suffice it to note that it is unfortunate when Christians who most need the healing power of the liturgy are least able to participate in it. Although worship joins forces with other forms of ministry to bring about healing and strengthen faith, its beginning and ending purpose is the praise and glorification of God.
Another major barrier to participatory worship is fueled in part by a consumeristic orientation. Christians generally understand that they are both to give and to receive in worship. Yet, there exists a natural tendency to focus inwardly more upon the receiving than the giving. In this context Jesus' words are most apt: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
The personal motive for worship is crucial to the level of participation experienced therein. The starting point for authentic participation is the individual Christian's own heartfelt and genuine response of praise and thanksgiving before the presence of God:
My vows to thee I must perform, O God;
I will render thank offerings to thee.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death,
yea, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God in the light of life. (Psalm 56:12-13)
Participatory worship is founded upon pietas or piety - that personal trust in and reverence for God that inclines the heart to true worship and devotion. Piety is that quality of openness to God that is itself a gift of the Spirit of God. Without piety participatory forms of worship are of little avail. This is not to deny the evangelistic potential of the liturgy, which is considerable. Nor is it to suggest that liturgy is powerless to prompt and awaken the disposition that is proper to worship. Rather it is to emphasize the fact that major responsibility for participation in worship lies with the individual Christian. This responsibility involves much more than a momentary or nostalgic desire or the fulfillment of one's Lord's Day obligation. Authentic participation in worship arises out of the heart that is actively engaged in the Christian life with all of its normal and spiritual demands, including preparation for worship through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and fasting.
This duty on the part of each Christian in no way reduces the responsibility born by those entrusted with the design of corporate worship. They are called to provide for the faith community structures of worship that can accommodate multiple levels of participation so that the liturgy is collectively an authentic expression of faith.
Participation in worship may also be affected by church problems. Differences in preference for forms of active participation are to be found in every local congregation. These can be a source of either creative or hurtful conflict. Differences also exist between congregations, denominations, and communions. Similarly, these can be a source of either helpful or destructive conflict. Over the centuries Christians have often grouped themselves according to patterns of participation in worship. Denominations and, in some cases, religious orders within communions have institutionalized and hardened such differences. Granted, these actions may have been necessary to preserve the peace of the church. However, such divisions are costly. While they may be positive ways of declaring religious identity, they can also result in isolation, inhibiting a hardier strain of Christian faith by preventing cross-fertilization.
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From the Stafford County Sheriff's Office:
Charles Jackson
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