Worship Good And Bad

Well, I decided to take up my own challenge and spend a year with Jesus. A chapter a day out of a Gospel will take me through all four Gospels four times in 356 days. I’ve printed the text out with a wide margin for notes and thoughts and a chronicle of my journey. I don’t intent to blog it here, but there will probably be times when something strikes me.

Like today.

Matthew chapter two is a chapter on worship good and bad. It is a familiar passage, one we hear during the Christmas season, our embellished story of three Wise Men from the Far East bringing their costly and symbolic gifts to the baby Jesus. You’ve heard the sermons – I won’t preach one here.

No, what caught my attention was the frequent reference to worship. The Magi come before Herod in their search and indicate they have come to worship this one who has been born King of the Jews. Herod is disturbed, but he uses worship language as well – “As soon as you find him, report to me, so I too may go and worship him.” Sure Herod – we know worship is the farthest thing from your mind!

When the Magi finally reach their destination, they worship. They do things like bowing down, opening their treasures, and presenting their gifts. And when they don’t return to tell Herod where the newborn King is, Herod responds with his own brand of self-worship, seeking to eliminate the opposition with the murder of the innocents.

Is the worship over at this point? No, I don’t think so. Joseph has taken his family out of the country to keep them safe, and in the dead of the night he has a dream. Joseph always dreams – I wonder if he ever felt cheated that he didn’t get any angelic visitations in broad daylight but only dreams in the dark of the night. Or maybe he was relieved. Anyway, he has a dream, and he responds by taking his family back to Israel. He has another dream, and he responds again, finally taking Jesus to Nazareth.

I wonder a lot about worship – are even these thoughts prayerfully offered to whoever will read them an act of worship? What does worship mean to you or me on a personal level, and what about a collective level when we gather with brothers and sisters in Christ? Matthew tells us that the Magi bowed down and worshiped Jesus – does that mean they sang songs? Prayed prayers? Read Scripture? Actions are recorded – they opened their treasures – they presented gifts. So what is it that I treasure, good or bad, that I need to “open” for the Lord? What gifts do I need to give? And is there any Herod in you or me – he was lying about his desire to worship, he had a secret agenda. Do we ever have a secret agenda? Are we after something in our worship? Is that why we complain sometimes that we have not worshiped, because we have not gotten what we are after? A lot of questions, I know.

We uses phrases like “worship service” – in this chapter the two come together, both worship and service. Worship involves things we need like singing and praying and giving and telling God what is on our mind and in our hearts – but worship also puts us at the service of God, like the Magi and Joseph traveling and bowing and protecting and acting in response to God.

Maybe that is the test of worship for us – not what it does for us, but what we do in response.