I believe that our entire life is a journey to find God, and in response find out who we are in God. In a bigger picture, this is worship: to pay reverence to God in response to what we find about Him, what we find about ourselves, and realizing that we are mere mortals and yet God’s grace still covers us.

I also believe that worship is not a set of motions or songs we sing; how we live our life ought to be worship. However, I have a problem when people take this concept to mean that it is fine if worship is merely a mindset and that people need not gather if we are all worshiping in our private spheres.

Worship should be done in the context of community. It doesn’t matter if it’s singing songs of praise, breaking bread, serving together, studying, struggling with issues of faith, or loving those around you. The church always gathered to worship, by confessing, receiving the Word, partaking in communion, and being sent out to a continued life of worship.

Thus, we must not forget that there is power in coming together as a community. In light of this, I would like to take a look at the chapel program on this campus. It is true that Friday chapel is the most attended chapel. Some may view this as just students getting together to worship for the emotional experience.

For two years, I struggled through certain issues with worship: the watering down of theology, words based on the individual self, bringing down the majesty of God, and being satisfied with feeling good. However, taking the position of chapel worship team coordinator has enabled me to see just how much thought and prayer goes on behind the scenes.

One of the biggest differences in approach that chapel has undertaken in the last two years is the use of lectionary, which is based on the church calendar and consists of a carefully chosen set of scriptures drawn from both the Old and New Testaments.

The leaders of the Prayer Arts and Worship Team go through individual lectio divina (meditating through the scripture) on the chosen passage, as well as collaborative planning session as a team.

In describing all of this, I am merely trying to say that there is a desire for campus chapel worship to be deeper and more Christ-centred. One song from the Iona community states the importance of community as follows: “Join the hands of friend and stranger, join the hands of age and youth, Join the faithful and the doubter in their common search for truth.”

To me, this is a call to the table, to confess, to share stories, to sing songs of praise, to break bread, to affirm the hope we have and to go out to live Christ. Whether broken, doubting, cynical, or in despair, we still need to gather in worship.

There is always room to remind ourselves of what we may not see. This is the heart of worship, and it ought to be foundational to how we live our life. Without this exploration, we cannot fully deepen our understanding of who God is, and who we are meant to be in Him.