Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Feb/96

Contributor - Dave Alexander

Title - Have a Nice Trip

Topic - Worship

Last month while driving out to the airport to pick someone up, I noticed a tour bus heading in the opposite direction with an English name on its side. Since more than 90 per cent of all the signs in Taiwan are in Chinese characters, the English ones really stand out. Sometimes they are amusingly misspelled or totally ridiculous. So it was that my eye was caught by "TRIP NICE A HAVE" all in capital letters on that bus. It was all there, just out of order. Had it been missing a word, it may have become nonsense or total gibberish. Imagine "Trip a Nice,' 'Nice a Have,""Trip a," or "Nice Have' and you'll get the idea.

Sometimes as a Christian within the Reformed tradition going to church can feel a bit like "Trip a Nice Have." I've grown up accustomed to a certain order of worship: Approach God, Hear God's Word, Respond to the Hearing of the Word. When things are set out in this order, I feel comfortable, and that within me which seeks to worship God is more easily drawn forth. But at times in various worship situations (more pointedly, but not always restricted to contemporary' ones), either the order is switched or something essential is dropped out.

I've learned to ask myself in such instances what it is that bothers me and whether all that I wanted included has been present or not. Beyond that, I've even learned different sets of "completeness" for worship beyond "Approach, Hear, Respond.' This makes "Trip Nice a Have," "Nice a Have Trip,' or even "A Nice Have Trip" less of a problem. It's the 'once over lightly" services that are more like 'Nice Trip" or "Nice Have' that rankle with me.

Worship leaders, let us intentionally and carefully set out what we plan to ask a congregation to offer to God in worship-leaving space, of course, for the spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit, but leaving no vital aspect of Christian worship unaddressed.

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