Will God Show up?

One of the things we wonder about in worship is whether God will “show up”. We’re so hungry for his presence: so ready for heaven to touch earth, and his gifts to transcend the dullness of of daily life. I’ve heard it hundred of times. “Wow, God really showed up…” So often we speak this with barely concealed relief. What this really means is that we are often uncertain, and anxious when it comes to God’s presence. If you’re like me, you don’t really want to admit to this. It makes me sound down right unspiritual. [And I am!] It begs the question of how we know that God is present. Is it a particular feeling? Is it an experience that we’re trying to recreate each week as we lead God’s people? Our nervousness tells us the truth. It tells us that we know deep down that our experiences are elusive, inconsistent, and just plain hard to reproduce from week to week. Some weeks we feel like instruments of the Holy Spirit: responsive to his touch and filled with his holy breath. Other weeks we feel like instruments recently carried down from the attic: dusty, cracked, in need of tuning. How do we know that God will show up?

Because he promised.

The painting above is from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and shows what is referred to in liturgical circles as the annunciation. The angel is pointing its finger at Mary and saying, “You’re the one!” The angel is announcing God’s word. In the magnificat, where Mary praises God for this good news, she doesn’t thank the Lord for an experience with an angel-but for the message she received. She was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and the mother of the One who would save his people from their sins. God’s word says, “When two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them” [Mt 18.20]. He says that he will ask the Father to send the Helper to be with us forever [Jn 14.16].

There is a reality afoot that transcends our experience. We start with the assumption that God is with us. The assumptions that we must sing louder, play more skillfully, or lift our hands higher brings us dangerously close to the prophets of Baal who danced themselves into a frenzy and cut themselves in order to get their god to show up.

The way of the Spirit is the way of freedom. He invites us into his promised presence and then rest in this precious fulfillment as we lead his people in worship.