CREEDE HINSHAW: When does worship start?

What does it mean to worship God?

I suggest an answer based on my attendance at a typical 11 o’clock Sunday worship service. (Most Methodist faithful are absolutely certain that the Bible mandates worship must be precisely one hour long, beginning at exactly 11 a.m. on the Sabbath, but that’s another column.)

On this particular Sunday before entering the sanctuary, I was greeted by a friend distributing the morning worship bulletins. (Methodists are also convinced that worship requires a printed order of worship, a long-standing practice that prevents the Holy Spirit from breaking out spontaneously and dangerously, but that’s another column.) My friend, a college football addict, playfully asked me whether the faith of a coach or his players could lead to a national championship.

We chuckled for awhile and I headed into the sanctuary, where an elderly church member sitting in her wheelchair beckoned me to tell me with glee that today was her birthday. Kneeling beside her, I kissed her cheek. (Many Methodists are terrified to say, “The peace of Christ be with you,” but are completely at ease hugging and kissing one another as a form of endearment, holy or otherwise, but that’s another column.)

Moving to the pew, I exchanged pleasantries with those seated nearby and spied on the other side of the sanctuary an adult from West Georgia who had driven to Macon to worship with his father. Not having seen this man in quite a few years, I chased him down the aisle after worship so I could speak to son and his father, two men I highly respect and consider my friends.

The sermon that Sunday had more than enough well-delivered content to be thought provoking and the choir’s anthem was stirring. Furthermore, as we sang the opening hymn, I was deeply affected by a particular phrase of 4-6 words that I’d never before heeded. I could add that the Doxology, the Gloria Patri, the Lord’s Prayer, the reading of scripture also add such richness to worship.

But when did worship start and finish that Sunday? Were my conversations immediately preceding and following the service considered worship? The same encounters could have taken place on the street corner, at a civic club or in the neighborhood.

Yes, but one important element of corporate worship is, well, the corporeal part. We are bodies who love each other, even though some people prefer 11 a.m. worship when others keep their distance physically and emotionally.

I honor those for whom worship is quieter, more sedate. I find myself there at times myself. But for many people worship is as much horizontal as it is vertical. We need each other and we need both angles.

My question is whether commonplace greeting, conversation and embrace are a significant part of worship of God. I think so. The God who created us in the divine image invites us weekly to recognize that image in each other. As we do so, we are worshiping the God who created us all.

Creede Hinshaw of Macon is a retired Methodist minister.