God
Posted 27/6/2004
If we think about the words "worship of God", there is some sense of worshiping the ultimate.
The only ultimate we actually know in today's world is humanity and the world/cosmos in which it lives. I don't mean this in the sense that humanity has undue primacy and is its own god. Humanity is very small in the scheme of all things, and must live in balance with the earth if it is to survive. Worship which worships the ultimate implies living in a harmony with all that is around us. Concepts such as sustainability and reverence for our environment will be writ large in such living. Otherwise, in the scheme of all that is, we will be a passing footnote, a petered-out path for life which grew on in some-thing-else. Worship of the ultimate cannot focus on some artificial set of (received) dogma. It must live honestly and openly before everything that is. It is living. It is not mere assent to a set of beliefs.
If we think along these paths, then "revelation" is the best of what we have learned and know about living in harmony and peace. Revelation is history, reflection on history and, the rediscovery of history. But always a history in dialogue with today.
Faith (not a mere set of beliefs) is about living in ways that produce the best outcome for humanity and the world. I say "humanity" because I am talking about corporate outcomes not just the (short term) gains of some individuals over others. Faith takes today and yesterday seriously, and lives always remembering its hopes for tomorrow.
"God the father in heaven" has not revealed these things but they are nonetheless discovered in our relating to the ultimate reality (God) in and with which we live. There might be some use for the word "revelation" in this.
Worship is then first of all the living of life. Corporate worship most be about living the life together and encouraging each other in that living.
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