Experiencing the Depth of God's Church

John Milton once said, “Gratitude bestows reverence… changing forever how we experience life and the world.”  Now I am a fan of quotes, but this one particularly affects me after attending the Calvin Worship Symposium. My name is Katie Inge, child and servant of God. That, is my definition. But before this trip I am not so sure I would have presented myself that way. For, “gratitude bestows reverence” and I lacked gratitude. Growing up in the church my entire life I took my faith, better yet I took God for granted. I had no gratitude therefore I had no reverence. I knew of God and we talked often. However, never in my life had I even slightly come into contact with an opportunity that showed me His vast diversity, His sovereign reign, His global Church. Attempting to understand God, for me, was like trying to understand the ocean. No one can tell me how deep the deepest part of the ocean is. No one can tell me everything that makes it up. Because I never had a gratitude for this ocean and its greatness, I took it a surface value. It was beautiful and powerful. Vast and strong. The waves showed timing, rhythm, and sound. That is not nothing. I stayed on the beach and enjoyed its beauty. There was much I saw and learned to appreciate about the ocean, but I never dove in. God was my ocean and it was time to get my feet wet.

Image courtesy of
www.calvin.edu/worship

The Worship Symposium at Calvin College in 2015 had one of the greatest impacts on my life spiritually. There were times where I was learning something completely new. There were times when we were learning something I had learned many times before and I saw it in a new light. I was introduced to the diversity of the Church and for the first time, I began to understand in a small way how big our world and our God is. This experience stretched me intellectually and spiritually, and for that I am forever grateful.

On day one of Worship Symposium I was not sure what to expect. I knew the basic idea of what the Symposium was about but had no comprehension on how much it would impact my life. As a collective Chapel Team we began day one together. Starting at the Timothy Blackmon morning worship service, we learned about The Comfort of God.

After the morning service our teachers allowed us to divide and choose which seminar we would like to attend. I was the only person to choose Seminar 2: What is the Most Important Word in Preaching: Story or Exposition?. Awesome. I was one of the youngest people at this symposium and I was interested in a seminar I have to attend alone. Also, I was on a college campus that I was not at all familiar with. So, like a kindergartner at my first day of school, I was dropped off outside my seminar building. I quickly found the auditorium and found a seat. It was a well-sized room and I was hopeful that I would not have any company. I sat on the end of the row so I would only be subject to one neighbor. The room began to fill quickly, apparently I had chosen a popular topic. Soon I came to accepting that the two seats to my right would not remain empty for much longer. So I desperately looked for a friendly face. Sure enough, I saw a college-aged guy that wouldn’t make me feel awfully young and under-educated, so I smiled and offered him a seat. He was a junior at Calvin College whose major was biology. This will do, I love biology and he is not over 50 like everyone else here. The second seat was filled by a pastor from Canada. 

The seminar began with author Scott Hoezee explaining his thoughts on the topic. Hoezee believes that humans innately desire to listen to stories. He strongly emphasizes narrative in preaching. Now, I believe Scott has a point in saying people enjoy and relate to stories. In the sense of trying to relate to the modern age stories can be helpful. However, we can not become so complacent as to only teach through stories, and forget the value in expository lessons. This was the point made by the next speaker, Mike Graves. Mike believes that there is some value in narrative while preaching. However, he also recognizes the importance of the facts when teaching such an important message. 

Image courtesy of 
www.calvin.edu/worship

The second half of the seminar was focused on two Bible passages. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand as told by Mark and part of Paul's letter to Corinth. These were both passages we had all heard many times before. We studied a common passage yet I found myself learning a completely new lesson. All my life I had read the story wrong and missed the message. Then, while at Symposium I saw it. I saw the passage. I saw the point. I saw what God was trying to show me. Not reverence for a miracle but for His provision to those who serve in His name. It was a great experience in a lecture and studying setting to learn how to learn and teach more efficiently about God.

   

That night, I attended a vespers service which featured the band Urban Doxology. From the Call to Worship to the Sending I was locked in. It was an absolutely beautiful service emphasizing culture and freedom. This vesper was certainly one of my favorite parts of the Worship Symposium. Unfortunately, an experience like that will never be justified or explained by simply writing about it. You had to be there to hear the cry out to God in the Call to Worship from Isaiah 58. You had to be there to feel the emotion of the congregation as we sang out, "Declare Your name, Jehovah reigns, despite our problems. And through the pain we'll learn to trust in You." You had to be there in a room full of drastically diverse people to feel the greatness of God's church. You had to sit by the man from Liberia and woman from Canada both praising the same God with their hands held high. I had to be there, and I was.

   

The next day at Symposium was also very impactful. We began again with morning service this time

Image courtesy of  www.calvin.edu/worship

lead by Meg... Meg was by far the greatest female pastor I had ever heard speak. Her confidence and character made the sermon a pleasure to listen to.

Next, we had a seminary service on the history of certain traditions of the church. I was utterly prepared to be bored to death. History if not my forte and I doubted anything interesting could come from the history of a tradition I have known for 17 years. But my, oh, my, God works in the most mysterious ways. The first woman who spoke covered the topic of the Communion bread or wafer. This lecture was exceptionally dry. So, in my mind, I have confirmed my assumption of brutal boredom. Prepared to endure 3 more painful lectures, I waited painfully as the next speaker began. May I just say the history of the church and tradition was presented with such grace and interest in the next three speaker I was forced to swallow my hypothesis of boredom. It was a fantastic and education piece that I actively took notes on. Interesting how something you are certain will go one way is transformed by God.

         

Instead of one long seminar like the day before we had the opportunity to attend workshops. I was meant to attend two workshops and miss one lesson for lunch. Well, instead I missed lunch and took 3 classes. My hungry stomach didn't appreciate it but my hungry spirit did.

    

My classes were on various topics. I began with one on cultural diversity and ensuring people of all races feel welcomed and expected in the church. The speaker made a great point of anticipating "different" people each week rather than changing only when "different" people come.

        

Next, was a class on the past ten years and future ten years of the church and what those looked or would look like. This was interesting because, unfortunately, many people had a poor view on where the church is going. They believe our generational change will make church-going scarce. Personally, I believe it is just because they are on the other side of the equation now. Traditional parents of the 70s/80s probably had the same hypothesis because the children were experiencing new lifestyles. What they are forgetting is the church has survived plenty of change and no cultural trend is going to change that.