Principle of Worship

Even John Hagee observes a Feast of TabernaclesA growing number of Christians have begun in recent years to observe the biblical Feasts and Holy Days as celebrations that point to Jesus Christ. There is not universal agreement among groups that do observe these special times, including the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall, on just how they ought to be observed. 

Although the Bible gives no direct commands to Christians on exactly how they should celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, it does present some principles that should be considered by those who wish to do so. One bedrock principle is that the Feast of Tabernacles should be a time for worship.

Lev. 23:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies [KJV: “holy convocations”]

Lev. 23:34-36 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. … and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly ... do no regular work. (I will address the issue of sacrifice in a later post.)

I do not want to belabor the obvious, but here are the definitions of “assembly” and “sacred” from Dictionary.com:

Assembly: 1. an assembling or coming together of a number of persons, usually for a particular purpose: The principal will speak to all the students at Friday's assembly.

2. a group of persons gathered together, usually for a particular purpose, whether religious, political, educational, or social.

Sacred: devoted or dedicated to a deity or to some religious purpose; consecrated.

So God wants us to get together in a group for a religious purpose at the beginning and at the end of the Feast. (And on Saturday—the weekly Sabbath—if there is one within the Feast period: see Lev 23:2-3.) Regarding this topic of worship, there are two areas where those who do celebrate this Feast may have a wrong emphasis.

The first is that, among some, worship is emphasized to the point where the other principles take second place. Time is fungible; in other words, time spent on one activity cannot be spent on another activity. Some groups that host Feast of Tabernacles gatherings are “bare-bones” in their approach. I went to such a Feast site in 2007. Their whole philosophy was to keep scheduling of any group activities other than official daily “worship services” during the eight days of the gathering to a bare minimum, and let individuals and families make their own plans. So there were exactly three group events: a picnic, a fun show, and miniature golf. There were no activities geared specifically for children (not even children’s Bible classes) apart from the miniature golf outing. While having formal worship assemblies every day during the time of the Feast of Tabernacles is not forbidden, one should not forget that they are a church tradition and not a command of God.

How then can a festival site give proper emphasis to the various principles while not ignoring the sacred assembly? The first is not to schedule more formal worship services featuring sermons than you have talented speakers. It is better not to have a sermon than to have a bad one. Another idea that has merit is a “free day.” Many Feast sites have a free day where no formal worship service is planned for the day, and everyone is free to sleep in late, go sight-seeing, or whatever appeals to them. (There may be, instead of the morning worship service, a Bible study that evening … actually, a Bible “lecture,” as one cannot have a truly effective “Bible study” with over 20 people—10 is best). Often this free day is a Friday.

Another idea is to fill the activity schedule with so many events that one cannot go to them all; no one is expected to. Individual church congregations or fellowship groups in attendance at the Feast site can sponsor various activities: a game night with snacks; a picnic; sing-a-longs with traditional hymns or praise music; a teen dance; a family dance; a movie night, and so on. But to do this you need to have a large enough Feast site to accomplish it. To have these kinds of activities you need a critical mass of people.

This leads us to the other improper emphasis that exists in many groups. For various reasons, often having to do with our inability to get along with each other, there are many Feast sites that have so few people that I hesitate to even call them Feasts. Some individuals will take their family camping, build a booth, and assume they have done their biblical “religious duty.” But without a critical mass of people, many of the principles we will be talking about in this series cannot be achieved. One of these is the worship principle. Yes, I know that Jesus said that “wherever two or more” were gathered together He would be among them … however, Jesus is there when you are alone too! To use this verse to justify our inability to get along with each other is not what Jesus had in mind.

I think that many in their Feast and weekly worship choices are committing a type of fallacy called the “fallacy of the beard.” When someone is growing a beard, it is difficult to say exactly when the man has a beard instead of merely having “unshaven stubble.” It is difficult to draw the line. Does the fact that it is difficult to draw the line mean that there is no such thing as a beard? No, it does not.

I will talk about The Principle of Temporary Shelters (booths) soon. In the same way the fact that it is difficult to know when you have a critical mass of people does not mean that there is no such thing as a sacred assembly with a critical mass. Remember that at the time of Josephus in the first century one million people would go to Jerusalem for the Feasts! A lean-to in the back yard really is not the same. Yes, there are good and valid reasons why those with a Sabbatarian Church of God background are so scattered, but there are plenty of bad and invalid ones too. Why settle for less than God’s best for us?

In order to achieve the “principle of worship” you need a critical mass of people so that you have good music, good messages, and fun activities. In your worship times, do these words of the Apostle John speak to you?

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1John 4:20)

Pam Dewey contributed to this post.