Worship and worship, Corporate and Personal

Jay: We seem still not to have resolved issues concerning “corporate” vs. personal worship and ritualized, doctrinaire “small-w worship” vs. non-time-bound and non-culture-bound “Big-W Worship.” Is big W Worship possible in a corporate setting? If so, could churches facilitate it?

We ended last week with a mention of God’s “peculiar people”—something which is part of Adventist culture (and probably of other denominations, too). The term is used in the KJV, but not in other translations:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;… [But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;… (NASB)] (1 Peter 2:9)

For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. (KJV)
[For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (NASB)] (Deuteronomy 14:2)

And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;… [The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments (NASB)] (Deuteronomy 26:18)

It must be noted that the word “peculiar” has a different meaning today than it did when the KJV was produced. Here is one explanation (from https://www.gotquestions.org/peculiar-people.html):

Question: “What does 1 Peter 2:9 mean when it refers to believers as peculiar people?”

Answer: The phrase peculiar people in 1 Peter 2:9 comes from the King James Version and is not seen in the more modern English translations. This is because at the time the King James Version was translated, the word peculiar was often used to refer to something belonging to someone, as in someone’s property. If we look up the word peculiar in a dictionary today we would still see that is one of several meanings this word can have.

Probably the most common usage of the word peculiar today is referring to someone or something that is strange, odd, or uncommon. Yet alternative meanings in the dictionary still tell us that this word can be used to describe something or someone that “belongs exclusively to some person, group, or thing” or to refer to “a property or privilege belonging exclusively or characteristically to a person.” The original meaning of the Greek words translated “peculiar” in 1 Peter 2:9 is indeed what is meant in this passage.

In this verse, Peter is not saying that Christians are odd or unusual people, even though the world often looks at us that way. What this passage is communicating is that Christians or believers are people who belong to God, they are His own possession. Another way of saying it is that believers are “God’s own special people.”

As we compare the different English translations of this verse and consider the alternative meaning of the word peculiar, it becomes clear that peculiar in this verse is referring to fact that believers are a “special people” because they were chosen from before the foundation of the earth to be “God’s own possession.” Those who are born again are different from the world around them because they are being transformed by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Also they are different because, having been born again by the Spirit of God and believing in Christ for salvation, they have received “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). While it is true that believers are different, it is the believers’ standing as the adopted children of God, joint heirs with Christ Jesus, and God’s own special people that make us “peculiar.”

Taking these translation issues into account, and given that being “peculiar people” is a part of our corporate identity, as it were, is it the goal of worship to end up as “God’s peculiar people”?

Donald: Culture imposes expectations. We expect fellow Adventists to share our identity. We only have to watch the news to know that the world as a whole does not share that identity and those expectations. But the world as a whole does share a common understanding of goodness.

Jay: Goodness, love, and other core attributes of humanity seem to have unifying potential. Does, and can, worship help or hinder that unification?

David: To me, big W Worship means to live life as much as possible as Jesus lived his. Jesus was, and presented himself to the world, as an individual, not as the leader of a group. The big W Worship inherent to a group of Jesus-like or “Christ-minded” individuals would surely help unification, but organized small w worship would hinder it, in my opinion.

A young man was murdered in Pakistan the other day by a mob of small-w worshipers for the sin of expressing Big W Worshipful feelings. He was described as a humanist interested in promoting women’s rights and opposing racism. I believe that any individual in that mob might well have behaved differently (not a sure thing, but on balance) if separated from the small w crowd and its expectations.

Not all groups behave badly. Compassion expressed through policies of care for the sick and the poor is at the heart of socialist groups—non-profits, governments, and so on. But of course one could say it was also at the heart of Stalinism! Compassion is also expressed through good deeds by the anti-socialist rugged individualist. It seems to me that big W Worship is a universal aspect of life regardless of corporate political, social, and cultural groupings (or the absence thereof).

The problem is that once formed, even if from Big W principles, our groupings soon degenerate into small w worship (Marxists turn Stalinist). Churches that welcome and nurture people who are going astray (drug addicts, gang members, …) are unquestionably doing good thereby, but on balance it seems to me they are bound to do more harm than good.

Chris: The original definition of “peculiar” as “belonging to God” still resonates in our modern world, where love, mercy, and grace seem not so common because we are apart from God and from one another—these qualities can’t exist in a vacuum. To be “peculiar” is therefore at least as worthy a corporate goal as it is a worthy goal for the individual.

Jay: Few would deny that we are individually called to love and care for one another, to do the things by which Jesus said we would be judged. But are we also called to help… enable… empower others to love and care for one another? If so, it seems intuitive that a corporate basis for worship would bring more resources to bear to achieve that goal.

Kiran: There is a danger that we conflate belonging to God with knowing Him. It stands to reason (we think) that God’s chosen people must know what he expects, therefore they are justified in telling others how to behave. On the other hand, the security of belonging to God might encourage insularity. The point of worship is to get to a place where one feels secure in the presence of God, despite life’s tribulations—like Job, for example. When we feel we are children of God, we want to help others achieve that same feeling. We should just recognize that in so doing we may sometimes make mistakes and errors of judgment.

Josh: People have many different reasons for coming to a body of believers—their family is there; they are searching for something—God, perhaps. The only time when small-w worship might inspire Big-W Worship is when the body of believers is made up of peculiar—possessed—people who are all on the same page and seeking the same thing from God. There’s otherwise just too much corporate baggage that can get in the way. Individual Big-W Worship can still take place in the corporate setting, but not corporate Big-W Worship unless it is a body of like-minded people—which I think is very rare.

Kiran: Corporate worship is like a mixed vegetable soup, with each vegetable contributing something but not the whole flavor, but it can at times stimulate Big-W Worship. It has happened to me.

Josh: But it takes only a sprinkle of kitty litter to render the soup inedible!

David: Job was surrounded corporate worshipers (his friends). Thank goodness, he didn’t listen to them.

Robin: But the commission to go and make disciples is still there. We may pray: “Lord, teach me to be what you meant by “peculiar people” but if ever we think we have received an answer, the outcome is probably the opposite of what we hoped for, because it will mean we have lost out humility. We may pray for it but only God can identify it. When he acts through the Holy Spirit we get the Pentecostal experience, with people energized to move toward a common goal of good.

Donald: Andrews University has a diverse and global student body. That is something we embrace and celebrate. We fly the lags of all the nations around the mall, yet we put the US flag front and center. Do we seek our own identity out of that diversity or do we simply appreciate the diversity? I don’t think we would like to be called peculiar, but would be happy to be called chosen. A non-denominational nationwide Christian bible study organization I know of forbids the introduction of church dogma. Why would people seek out a body with such distinct parameters? Does its rejection of corporateness qualify it as a Big-W Worship body?

David: I think it does! Lacking and even denying a corporate identity, it is just “two or three [hundred] gathered in my name.” Peter called God’s own (peculiar) people a priesthood, which presumably ministers to people who are not God’s chosen people.

Robin: I’ve been criticized at non-denominational meetings just for owning to being an Adventist, after being asked. Not very welcoming or inclusive of them.

Jazlin: They too have their rules and parameters, and so are exclusive too! But to me, corporate worship refers to the format of worship. I don’t enjoy being preached at in a formal way. Informal worship is less restrictive, less confining. I like to follow the Bible and the teachings of Jesus it contains. I follow Jesus and his ethics, not a group and its ethics. We may not understand the full truth of the Bible but we have to follow our own interpretation of it.

Mikiko: Religion is so diverse in part because of the many different human interpretations of the Bible. We are at least all united in Christ himself.

Donald: The pastor of a major non-denominational church I know says the same thing. He teaches that the local church is the hope of the world, and encourages not to seek out a denominational church but any church close by home!

Jazlin: Since we have the love of Christ, we will follow his commandments. That’s what love means.

Mikiko:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19)

Jay: That verse was just running through my mind. It suggests that Jesus wanted us to gather people together, as he himself did with the disciples, to reach a goal. A goal-oriented group has corporate potential.

David: But he didn’t hire a headhunter to find the disciples. There was no job description,no qualifications. It was literally a random gathering of misfits!

Jay: So next week, let’s talk about Jesus Inc., and about the goals of small-w worship and Big-W Worship.

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