My Inbox of Daily Inspirations: Daily Heartlight -- April 6, 2008

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April 6, 2008

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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================

Worship in the Microsoft Age, by Patrick D. Odum

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth, ... God is spirit, and
his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24
NIV).

I wouldn't go to a theologian for advice on, say, managing a computer
network. For the same reasons, I don't necessarily take at face value
anything a computer guru would say about religion. I wouldn't
necessarily dismiss it, though, and that's why I've been thinking for
the last couple of days about a quote attributed to Bill Gates, one of
the founders of Microsoft and the "information age." I'm not sure of
the context, or why he was commenting on religion in the first place,
but he said something pretty interesting: "Just in terms of allocation
of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I
could be doing on a Sunday morning."

Hmmm.

I have no idea whether or not Bill Gates goes to church. For all I
know, right after he said that, he said something along the lines of,
"But I go anyway because I think it's important for other reasons."
But, that short quotation actually started me thinking in a couple of
different directions, and, if you'll indulge me, maybe I'll think it
through here.

Actually, my first thought was, "Well, I don't think your software is
very efficient either, so I guess we're even." But I guess that's for
another kind of article. So let's go with my second thought.

I had to agree with him.

To an extent, anyway. Religion, as it is defined as going to church on
Sunday mornings, isn't very efficient. There are a lot of other things
that could be accomplished on a Sunday morning, and if you tell me
you've never even thought of a few, then you'll fib about other things,
too. You could read the paper and have a nice, quiet morning with your
spouse and kids. Go to the zoo. Finish up that yard work that's been on
your to-do list since last spring. You could catch up on some reading,
finish your homework, or go into the office for a couple of hours.

You could serve breakfast to the homeless. You could volunteer at a
hospital. Help your neighbor out with that project he's been working
on. While we're at it, let's dream big. You could start up your
presidential campaign. You could discover a cure for cancer. You could
solve the problems of world hunger and poverty. (You might need two
Sunday mornings for that ....)

So yes, I have to agree: multiply all the people who attend church on
Sundays with all that they could be doing instead, and there's a lot
that's potentially not getting done while people sit in pews. Instead,
they're putting their lives on hold for an hour or two in order to sing
songs, read an old book, listen(?) to a (boring) sermon, and have a bit
of cracker and a sip of wine or grape juice.

But maybe that's the point of what we refer to as "going to church."
It's inefficient, in terms of allocation of time resources. There are a
lot of other things we could be doing, even need to be doing. And yet
we carve out a chunk of time we don't have to do things that seem
irrelevant to the things that the world considers really important and
valuable.

Marva Dawn, in one of her books, calls worship "A Royal Waste of Time."
She says that's why we do it: "it takes us out of time and into the
eternal purposes of God's kingdom." I think I agree, at least to the
extent that I understand what she's saying. Worship with the church is
important precisely because it requires us to push everything we're
striving to accomplish into the background of our lives and invite what
God wants of us into the foreground. Sure, we can worship alone,
anytime, anywhere -- but do we? And when we do, isn't it usually kind
of hurried and rushed and squeezed in between appointments, or while
we're on the way to do something else, or just before we crash into
bed, exhausted by the day's efforts?

So maybe it's not our job to set people straight.

Worship with the church also forces us to remember that we're not alone
in our faith. Sometimes it's easier to believe that we are, because
recognizing that we have companions and compatriots in our walk with
Jesus entangles us in their lives. It pushes us to take responsibility
for each other, pray for each other, care for each other, challenge
each other -- love each other. That can be daunting and frightening,
and I suspect that's what a lot of people who don't care for church
really object to. They rightly recognize that church calls them to
intimacy, commitment, and responsibility.

So while "religion" may not be efficient from the world's perspective,
I think that's its valuable. It removes myself and my own agenda from
center stage and forces me to give God's agenda -- that I love him with
all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that I love my neighbor as
myself -- the central place in my life that it deserves. If meeting
with the church for worship wasn't a regular part of my life, I don't
know where the impulse for living out God's purposes in my life would
come from. I don't know where my heart's compass would be calibrated so
that it points reliably toward home. If I didn't meet with the church
for worship, I'm not sure I would ever be able to remember that human
ingenuity, effort, and accomplishment make rather poor gods.

Gate's words also cause me to wonder how "religion" has become
synonymous with "Sunday morning" for so many people. While a lot
happens, at least in the Christian "religion," on Sunday morning, what
happens then is supposed to have to do with Monday through Saturday,
too. Maybe part of the reason that people outside the church -- often
good people -- tend to think of religion as irrelevant or a waste of
time is that they think it's only about what we do for an hour or two
on a Sunday morning. Maybe they think it's disconnected from what they
term "real life." I wonder where they might have gotten that idea?

Oh, right. From church people, most likely.

So maybe it's not our job as Christians to set people like Bill Gates
straight about how important it is to express our faith through worship
in church. Maybe it's more our job to set ourselves straight -- to
bring our lives as seen on Monday through Saturday in line with what we
say we believe on Sunday. Maybe, as the people around us see evidence
of our transformed hearts in our words, actions, priorities, and
values, they'll be less quick to dismiss the church and organized
"religion" as irrelevant. But, if what we confess on Sundays has little
to do with the rest of our lives, can anyone be blamed for thinking
that there are more important things to do with a Sunday morning?

The time has come, Jesus told us, when worship has less to do with holy
places outside of ourselves and more to do with the holy places we make
for God in our hearts and minds -- in our "spirits." Then God, who is
Spirit himself, can take up residence in the only tabernacle he ever
really cared much about: us. Make room for him this morning as you
worship. And be sure to leave him that room for him in your life when
you leave.

You never know who might be paying attention.

---------
(c) 2008 Patrick D. Odum <p.d.odum@gmail.com>.

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Daily Heartlight -- April 6, 2008