“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
(-Jesus to the woman of Samaria found in John 4:23-24)

A friend of mine had the oppressive clouds of modern ministry crushing their fullness upon her. She had to leave her church/school facility to get into contact with God; thus confirming the truth of one of my favorite maxims: "Don't let the church interfere with your intimacy with God." In any case, she took a drive and found herself heading down the old Mission Trail, and visiting a few of the ancient churches in the area. She needed to be silent; to just sit and become centered in the living presence of Christ once again. As she was sitting in a courtyard at the Ysleta Mission, she noticed a large statue of the Virgin Mary with a sign in front of it that read, "NO ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS, PLEASE." The sign's message turned into a profound meaning for her: It's time to leave "artificial" worship behind and find the authentic, straight-from-the-heart worship to the Father once again. It's time to seek once again, what it means to truly worship "in spirit and in truth," since these are the "worshippers the Father seeks."

In the "praise-and-worship" churches, there is much talk of the "presence of God" in the midst of the congregation as it sings and worships. However, our prayers, devotion, and worship can easily turn into "plastic flowers," when we no longer give the gift of our presence to God. Becoming present to the Lord transcends the worship styles, models, and formulas that we often adopt and then essentially worship in lieu of God. Authentic worship that is "in spirit and in truth" occurs when there is a mutual intersection of God's presence and our own. Too often, the congregational worship in contemporary church is nothing but white noise and constant movement that keeps us from peeling the artificial layers of our hearts away to come to the place where the indwelling Christ is centered. St. John of the Cross wrote, "The Father spoke one word from all eternity and he spoke it in silence, and it is in silence that we hear it." Sitting in silence removes the artificiality that tends to wax thickly on our personalities, and then the true flower of the soul is exposed to the presence of God. The fragrance of the soul's true essence mingles with the person of the Holy Spirit, and worship and prayer becomes truly communal and eternal.

Artificial flowers are intended to last. They speak of practicality and functionality as opposed to creativity and beauty. Too often, too many churches worship the Lord together out of a sense of this rational pragmatism rather than taking the inconvenient and sometimes arduous journey of discovering what it means to become worshippers in spirit and in truth. Authentic flowers are organic, which speaks of our true humanity being found in the true humanity of Jesus. Genuine flowers must be cut, and they begin to die after they are placed in the vase. This kind of authentic worship involves becoming intimately aware of the mystical union of our sufferings with the very sufferings of Christ. When this awareness becomes an "offering of fragrant flowers," it mysteriously and powerfully becomes a part of God's healing of the world. Artificial flowers maintain an outward appearance of shape and color, but they release no fragrance. Organic flowers release the perfume of worship, and they quickly die and dry, but they are transformed into a newness of beauty through this death into dryness. It is precisely because of this quick death that worshippers return much sooner with another fresh bunch of living/dying flowers in their pilgrim hands. It's worship in spirit and in truth: a worship that comes out of the death and resurrection of our Lord.

-David

Three Sunflowers (Vincent Van Gogh)