Worship, Rest, & Busyness
In the modern world, we're well-acquainted with busyness.
The demands of school, work, family, relationships, external obligations, self-imposed expectations - it’s no wonder we're so exhausted all the time.
We know it, too, and we know it's a problem...but anything less than "too busy" feels like "not busy (or, perhaps, useful) enough."
So we feel guilty when we spend an hour reading a book or sit down to watch an episode of our favorite show. If we're not in a hurry to do something, then we're "wasting our time." But here's the thing: "Hurry and love are incompatible" (Comer, 23). In other words, the love we find in rest is in conflict with the lack of time to rest. And if we want to be present and intentional with people and things that matter to us, we need rest. At Illume, we believe this rest can very well be found in worship.
"Worship" is often defined as the act of showing reverence, deep respect, and devotion to someone or something. Because of this definition, when you hear about religious organizations engaging people in “worship” it can be natural to assume that means people gather around the thing they worship and show reverence and respect to that thing. It’s a reasonable assumption, but it’s not exactly what the Bible communicates about what happens when we worship. When God invites his people into worship, it’s not so much so that they can tell God how great they think God is. It’s actually the opposite. God is inviting people to come and hear what their God has done for them, thinks of them, and offers them.
So...God worships the people!
God does this because God loves the people. God invites them to crawl up into a powerful, caring, loving set of arms and find comfort and belonging and rest in worship. Does this lead to God’s people showing gratitude and love and respect back to God? Probably! But it’s in a back-and-forth, interconnected, interdependent relationship that has been initiated by God (and is entirely non-obligatory.)
Whether we realize it or not, we all worship. Everyone devotes hours of our time showing the value they find in work, sports, celebrities, financial security, etc., only to discover that these "gods" demand more than we're capable of giving - and leave us more exhausted than before. There is power in worship. While these lesser gods use our worship to control us, we at Illume find in the Bible a God who meets us in worship to provide rest for our souls. As we minister, we try to make this happen for people in every gathering (we call these gatherings "Spotlights.) The purpose of a Spotlight's Worship section is to orient our time and attention - our lives - toward receiving love from God with the understanding that, when we do so, he provides rest. He provides spiritual rejuvenation to souls weighted by the burden of hurry.
Illume's Spotlights begin with worship because it provides the rest our souls need to then be able to focus our attention on spiritual growth. Having the energy that comes from rest, we use it to work our spiritual muscles. We wrestle with spiritual and life-related questions. We learn. From there, we use the knowledge we've gained to serve. Those "spiritual muscles" we've built up are used to help a friend move whatever metaphorical couches they need help with. Once the move is complete or we've exhausted ourselves in service and we find ourselves tired and worn, we rest. This is the cycle that exists within a Christian's life, that leads to growth and maturity, and that's why every Spotlight includes Worship, Learning, and Serving.
A beautiful aspect of Spotlights is that they are done in Community. We push against the demands of our hurried culture to worship together. To find rest together. And we experience a greater sense of connection, gratitude, peace, safety, faith, freedom - all this and more - because this is the power of worship. This is the power of finding rest in a busy world.
The demands of school, work, family, relationships, external obligations, self-imposed expectations - it’s no wonder we're so exhausted all the time.
We know it, too, and we know it's a problem...but anything less than "too busy" feels like "not busy (or, perhaps, useful) enough."
So we feel guilty when we spend an hour reading a book or sit down to watch an episode of our favorite show. If we're not in a hurry to do something, then we're "wasting our time." But here's the thing: "Hurry and love are incompatible" (Comer, 23). In other words, the love we find in rest is in conflict with the lack of time to rest. And if we want to be present and intentional with people and things that matter to us, we need rest. At Illume, we believe this rest can very well be found in worship.
"Worship" is often defined as the act of showing reverence, deep respect, and devotion to someone or something. Because of this definition, when you hear about religious organizations engaging people in “worship” it can be natural to assume that means people gather around the thing they worship and show reverence and respect to that thing. It’s a reasonable assumption, but it’s not exactly what the Bible communicates about what happens when we worship. When God invites his people into worship, it’s not so much so that they can tell God how great they think God is. It’s actually the opposite. God is inviting people to come and hear what their God has done for them, thinks of them, and offers them.
So...God worships the people!
God does this because God loves the people. God invites them to crawl up into a powerful, caring, loving set of arms and find comfort and belonging and rest in worship. Does this lead to God’s people showing gratitude and love and respect back to God? Probably! But it’s in a back-and-forth, interconnected, interdependent relationship that has been initiated by God (and is entirely non-obligatory.)
Whether we realize it or not, we all worship. Everyone devotes hours of our time showing the value they find in work, sports, celebrities, financial security, etc., only to discover that these "gods" demand more than we're capable of giving - and leave us more exhausted than before. There is power in worship. While these lesser gods use our worship to control us, we at Illume find in the Bible a God who meets us in worship to provide rest for our souls. As we minister, we try to make this happen for people in every gathering (we call these gatherings "Spotlights.) The purpose of a Spotlight's Worship section is to orient our time and attention - our lives - toward receiving love from God with the understanding that, when we do so, he provides rest. He provides spiritual rejuvenation to souls weighted by the burden of hurry.
Illume's Spotlights begin with worship because it provides the rest our souls need to then be able to focus our attention on spiritual growth. Having the energy that comes from rest, we use it to work our spiritual muscles. We wrestle with spiritual and life-related questions. We learn. From there, we use the knowledge we've gained to serve. Those "spiritual muscles" we've built up are used to help a friend move whatever metaphorical couches they need help with. Once the move is complete or we've exhausted ourselves in service and we find ourselves tired and worn, we rest. This is the cycle that exists within a Christian's life, that leads to growth and maturity, and that's why every Spotlight includes Worship, Learning, and Serving.
A beautiful aspect of Spotlights is that they are done in Community. We push against the demands of our hurried culture to worship together. To find rest together. And we experience a greater sense of connection, gratitude, peace, safety, faith, freedom - all this and more - because this is the power of worship. This is the power of finding rest in a busy world.
To consider this further, you might enjoy the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer.