When "out in the world" and "in worship" are the same place

A few weeks ago, I read a devotional that irked me.  It was by a pastor whom I know personally and respect greatly.  However, it left me indignant and angry.  Deeply engaged in urban ministry, he implied that Sunday morning worship is something apart from our time out ministering in a needy world, and he directly wrote of an "out there" (life) and "in here" (sanctuary) dichotomy.

Don't get me wrong: I certainly understand the desire for such a separation.  There are plenty of days when I daydream about a place to worship without human smells or interruptions or assumptions about what I can do to help somebody else.  But isn't that what the Pharisees of Jesus' day had done?  They had made worship and holy practice a means of cutting out the world.  Yet what did Jesus do in response?  He healed people on the day he was just supposed to be contemplating God.  He smashed worship into the life of the real world.  (Or was it vice versa?)  Jesus drew near to God in all times and places, not just in a set-aside place and appointed time.

God's powerful presence is intended for everywhere.  It is for the sanctuary and the prayer meeting.  It is also for the pick-up line and the grocery aisle and the rows of corn.  It is for schools, streets, and sidewalks.  Worship is not just a nice place to kick back and enjoy something pleasantly set apart from our daily lives.  In fact, the prophets warn of God's strong aversion to such a dichotomy:

I, the Lord, hate and despise

your religious celebrations

    and your times of worship.

Amos 5:21

(The context is that Israel is not living in the way of the Lord, blatantly perpetuating injustice right and left, yet they expect their worship and offerings to still please God.  The radical, unique thing about the God of Israel is that he looks at the whole lives of his people, not just one aspect of their behavior.)

So I don't think God is interested in things (or people) being all nice and tidy for a weekly time of worship.  And I don't think that God intends for us to use that time to "armor up" and then go out into the world.  I believe that God invites us to live lives of worship - honoring God with awe, respect, and great humility in all that we do.  I believe that the world needs people who serve "the least of these" in a spirit of worship, knowing that God loves far longer, better, and deeper than we can.  I believe that we need to bring our whole selves and whole lives into the sanctuary with us.  When we check those at the door, we pretend that God doesn't need, accept, or use certain parts of us.

That's my rant.  Real worship is not neat or tidy, no more than any aspect of life, service, or our relationships with God and with others can be tidied up.  Worship was not designed to make you feel nice and peaceful.  (Okay, at a lot of churches it is designed for exactly that purpose.  But that was not God's design!)  Finally, worship is not something "safe!"  It's the almighty God we're talking about!  Things happen when God shows up-- we are changed, challenged, renewed, restored, healed, and so much more.  Worship is a great and wonderful thing, but part of what makes it wonderful is that meeting of God's reality and our reality.  Until Jesus comes back, we're part of BOTH, not one or the other.