Mother Teresa and Your Church’s Worship
Mother Teresa and Your Church’s Worship
Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40).
Take a trip with me to Calcutta, India in 1988.
Tucked away in an alley off a dingy street in that worn-out city is a very nondescript doorway. I was a bit uncertain that it was even the right place. But that humble doorway, through which I was warmly welcomed by the Missionaries of Charity, became an entrance for me into an understanding of worship that is branded deeply in my mind and heart.
Mother Teresa was probably not someone you would have thought of as a worship consultant to your church. However, as you retrace with me my conversation with her, I think you might discover an insight that, if put into practice, could deepen your life of worship and increase the sense of God’s pleasure in it.
After presenting her with simple gifts - a booklet I had written, and two popular worship recordings at the time (Give Thanks, with Don Moen, and Glorify Thy Name with Kent Henry), I exuberantly described what I saw going on internationally in the area of worship. “It’s a worldwide revival of joy,” I reported. “God is clothing His people with garments of praise!”
Surely, I thought, I would declare the good news of what God was doing, and introduce these faithful servants of God to a greater and more glorious worship!
Her eyes were kind, but unimpressed, as she pushed back the cassettes saying they didn’t have any music players. They had chosen to live without such distractions. (Historical reference: many years ago, before CDs and digital music, people used to use cassette tapes to listen to music.)
I thought to myself “How can you possibly be a worshiper and not be aware of all the great new worship songs?”
I was daunted, but after regaining equilibrium, I tried again. “What kind of music do you and the Missionaries of Charity like? What kind of instruments do you use? Do you have certain favorite songs?”
No instruments, I learned. Their early morning worship times were very reverent, and prayer was more prominent than singing.
A chance of a lifetime conversation, and I was blowing it! It’s like we were speaking different languages. Then I remembered the words of my friend who had invited me to India and had helped set up this meeting.
He had said, “Ask what worship means to her?” So I did.
Finally, we connected. Her eyes brightened as she answered something like this: “If you really want to bless the Lord and pour out your love on him, he has told us how to do it.” And then she quoted Jesus’ words in Matthew 25: In much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me.
She said that when the Missionaries of Charity minister to lepers from the streets of Calcutta, they do it as an act of worship to Jesus. They attend to them as though they are attending to Jesus himself. She challenged me with these words: “If you really want to lavish your love on God, pour out your life on the needy.”
“Mother Teresa,” I asked, “would you pray for me that I would be a true worshiper?” I had come as the teacher; I now found myself the learner.
She answered, “Only if you’ll pray for me first that I would be one too.” We prayed for each other. The photograph above is of that moment. It is a special treasure to me.
On my flight home, somewhere between Delhi and Frankfurt, I came across these words in Hebrews 13:
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
With such sacrifices - not only vocal praise but acts of mercy and generosity - God is pleased! I thought, “What a great title for a worship conference: ‘With Such Sacrifices!'”
Just like the cross of Christ is vertical and horizontal… and just like the two great commandments - to love God and love your neighbor - reach upward as well as outward, so the true worship of God has two components: spoken praise to him and selfless service to others. One without the other is an incomplete expression of worship.
So what would Mother Teresa have said to help the worship in our churches? Maybe her words would go like this: “You mustn’t think worship only happens when you are singing; it happens also when you’re serving others. Until we are vitally connected with those our Lord calls ‘the least of these,’ we are not yet the worshiping churches he is looking for. Until we find delight in serving the insignificant - the children, the powerless, the prisoners, the unborn - God’s pleasure in our worship is incomplete.”
So if you’re part of the worship ministry in your church, and it’s all starting to feel a bit empty, maybe it’s time to cancel the regular worship band or choir practice and find out where the “least of these” are so you can go to them and show Jesus just how much you really love him.
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