Christians can never worship in isolation

Thinking a bit more about worship lately and came into a conversation with someone who shared that she disagreed with my definition of worship. For her, worship is not limited to a corporate experience and that she can worship by herself in the beauty of nature.

I stated that while that I beautiful I would not call that Christian worship. Devotion? Sure. Worship, no.

Worship is never done in isolation. It is not something that is a part of the Christian experience. Even Jesus worshiped in the community and never alone.

What became apparent to me in my conversation with this woman I respect was that for many people "corporate" or "community" means having people around. So when going into a closet and shutting the door means one is not in a corporate setting - that person is alone.

Here is the kicker, in Christian thought we trust we are not alone. We have the Advocate (Holy Spirit) we are surrounded by the "great cloud of witnesses" we are in communion with God in Christ.

Every time we are alone and we are in a worshipful spirit, we are never alone. Our worship is a constant celebration with a community that is fully present. Christian worship is never done in isolation.

With that in mind, there are times in our lives when we are truly alone. When we are abandoned by all, but these times are not worshipful. Abandonment is something that Peter Rollins takes on full force in his book Insurrection - which I hope to post about soon.

Ordination Questions

What are the marks of the Christian life?

It is unclear to me what exactly this question is asking.  On a broad level the marks of the Christian life are first rooted in faith in God as fully disclosed in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as witnessed in the Scriptures and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.  These are what I would call the ‘essentials’ to the Christian life.  Once the individual has moved to this level of faith then there are fruits which mature out of that life.  The individual begins to embody the greatest commandment of loving God and neighbor.  The individual begins to seek after that which is required by God as made known through the prophet Micah – do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.  The fruits of justice, kindness and humility are nourished and fed by the Grace of God, which is why it remains of the upmost importance Christians structure our lives around disciplines such as fasting, Scripture reading, Holy Communion, repentance, baptism, acts of justice and mercy, prayer and worship.  These disciplines allow the Christian to stay in touch with the Spirit and Will of God.  It is these disciplines, requirements of God and this Faith that sets the Christian apart from the non-Christian, or “marks the Christian”.