Consider the Suffering, WARC Official Says
Feb. 2, 2009 -- Pastors, teachers and liturgists need to think about and address the suffering in the world, as well the challenges facing people in the pews, as they plan worship services, says Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
Speaking last Friday at the annual Calvin Symposium on Worship in Grand Rapids, Mich., the Evangelical Presbyterian pastor and church leader said that awareness of suffering and then seeking justice for those who are hurting ought to be central to the prayers, adoration, sermons and songs that occur in churches every week.
"We are called to be instruments of God in situations of suffering," Setri said. "God gives us the miracle of us being inspired to do his will by paying attention to those who are in suffering situations."
WARC will merge next year with the Reformed Ecumenical Council to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The merger is to take place at Calvin College. Together, the groups represent more than 80 million Reformed Christians around the world.
In his hour-long presentation at the symposium, Nyomi listed the various types of suffering that Christians need to consider. These include the pain caused by wars in such places as Iraq, Darfur, and Gaza, and poverty in countries such as Zimbabwe and Guatemala.
The current economic crisis facing the world and how it is impacting individuals is another form of suffering to consider. But then there are the challenges caused by problems, and even deaths, within families, he said. Then there is global warming, struggles facing illegal immigrants, the battle against HIV/AIDS, and violence among street gangs in inner cities.
"This list is not exhaustive, but we need to talk about suffering in the context of worship," he said. "The God who hears the cries of those who suffer is our God and we are called to experience in that suffering."
Some of the most moving worship he has experienced occurs in some of the places where the suffering is the worst, says Nyomi. He recalls joy and enthusiasm among Christians in Iraq prior to the start of the war in 2003. He also recalled preaching to hundreds of people who had survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
"We need to feel responsible for our brothers and sisters," he said, citing several passages from the Old and New Testaments in which God calls for his people to reach out and help others, especially the poor and the orphans, the sick and the dying.
Nyomi was one of dozens of speakers at the Symposium on Worship, which ended Saturday. It drew more than 1,400 attendees, many from the Christian Reformed Church and more than 30 other denominations across the US and Canada.
Topics addressed included exploring aspects of the emerging church; leadership; use of music in worship, and the use of multi-media in preaching. Countries represented this year ranged from Argentina to Costa Rica and from Egypt to Indonesia.
"There are a variety of ways in which we address suffering in worship," said the WARC general secretary. "Some of those are quiet and contemplative, while others include song and dance and worship of God in thanksgiving, even in defiance of evil and the power of suffering."
But beyond acknowledging suffering through worship, there is the need for Christians to struggle against the injustice that causes suffering. "God calls us to do something more than just giving to charity. We are asked to help free the prisoners, clothe the naked, share food with the hungry, and to treat others fairly."
The quest for justice only starts, but doesn't end, in church on Sunday. "Our attention to suffering and commitment to justice ought to be part of formal worship, but also in the worship that we do in our lives outside of church," he said.
-Chris Meehan, CRC Communications
-- Chris Meehan News & Media Director Christian Reformed Church in North America 1-616-224-0849