coalescent worship

A couple of days ago, I was glancing through some music for the upcoming church service.  (This was before yesterday's lovely experience of actually studying the service).  I was looking at the words of one of the hymns and felt a weird sensation in my heart.  The lyrics of the hymn at that moment were, "Thy justice like mountains high soaring above."  And I suddenly felt this desire to go to the mountain, lift my hands toward the heavens and proclaim this hymn to the skies.  I thought to myself, Whoa, there, calm down, it's just a hymn.  But then the very next line was, "Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love."  I'm sorry, how is that not ridiculously beautiful and drawing you into praise?  Imagine standing on the mountain, sky above you, all the earth beneath you, and the clouds are fountains showering down God's goodness and love on you in that place where nothing else exists, but just you and heaven.  Yeah...beautiful...

I believe God has gifted certain individuals with the ability to arrange music in such a way as to draw us into, what I like to call, ascended worship.  Where God's goodness pours down on us and then our praise ascends to Him, and yet we're the ones that receive the ultimate blessing.  Handel's Messiah is one of the more popular arrangements that has the power to draw us into that kind of worship.  But there are others too; we've often felt it when listening to music or participating in it or whatever; you know what I mean.  Yesterday I was searching for a way to articulate the process I've had the privilege to experience over the last few months.

Now keep in mind that the church services I attend are different than what I'm used to.  In former churches, we would sing 3 or 4 songs at the beginning and then that's it.  These services have music throughout and I can't get enough of it.  It is what worship should be!  It is an entirely different experience all together and I am much more aware of God's presence and His love during those times.  In an effort to find the words to express my feelings, I closed my eyes and tried to draw to mind an image to describe what I encounter during the church services.

I thought of a drop of water I had seen in slow motion in some science class or science movie or whatever. You know the idea; a drop falls into still water, creating an immediate ripple effect, then it somehow bounces back up into the air, and then falls back and down and then repeats its pattern until it settles into the water.  The ripples extend further and further out until they settle in stillness again. This process is called the coalescence cascade.  Coalescence is defined as come together to form one whole.  Wow, if you don't get the application yet, then maybe I've chosen the wrong analogy.  This is incredible and so perfect!

Watch this exceptionally slow motion video to get a more clear understanding of the coalescence cascade.

So now do you see it?  Do you see what music and praise and worship is?  The droplet of water is from the sky (liken that to God's goodness and love) and the body of water is all of us.  (It's actually interesting to note that in Bible prophecy whenever they talk about seas of water it is referring to people. cool, huh?)

Anyway, God's goodness comes down in one tiny little speck but it has an unproportionally large impact on the face of the water.  Independent of any will of its own, the water reacts to the drop by accepting it and then extending part of itself out and up toward the heavens.  Then, altogether, it drops back into the water for a smaller reaction and then repeats the process until the water droplet and the mass of water are one.  No one would be able to separate that drop from the larger water.  They are completely one.

When God's goodness and grace and love fall down on us, it becomes a part of us.  The Spirit of God, which resides in our hearts, responds to the Creator in worship and praise. But it's when we acknowledge that response that we are wholly blessed.  Praise and worship provide us with that response.  Music provides that for me and probably for you too.  It is His gift to us and yet another reason to praise Him!  Not only has He given us His eternal love but also the ability with which to respond to that love.  He's thought of everything, hasn't He.

There is something to be said about participating in a deliberately arranged worship service. Yes, sometimes we can experience impromptu worship and find ourselves in moments that catch us by surprise. But if you are so fortunate as to participate in a service where God is guiding musicians and pastors and members into unity of worship, then you are truly blessed.  I am truly blessed.  And I praise God, today, as I reflect on this amazing gift that extends deeper into my being than I even recognized.