In His Presence

Here’s one way to note the difference between our belief about worship and the way of the “contemporary” worship style. Both sides agree that when we are in Jesus’ presence we ought to worship Him, and in fact we can even agree on what that should look like.

Consider the popular praise song “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe:

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk by Your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes would see
When Your face is before me
I can only imagine
Yeah

Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for You Jesus
Or in awe of You be still?
Will I stand in Your presence
Or to my knees, will I fall?
Will I sing hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine

See there? We agree on the appropriate response to being in His presence: “Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees, will I fall?” the assumption being that the latter option is preferred. After all, I’m in His presence!

There seems to be, however, a rather profound disagreement on when we are in His presence. The singer/songwriter here tries to imagine being in heaven, in glory, after passing from this earthly life. That’s when he knows he will be in His presence.

But what about now? We believe we are in His presence when at the altar, receiving Him in the Sacrament. That’s a core tenet of our sacramental faith. And what’s remarkable here is that both sides agree on what an appropriate response to being in His presence is: falling to the knees!

See, all you complainers about our Gottesdienst genuflecting? (we just posted a throwback post on the matter the other day). We agree! Since we are in His presence, the Celebrant genuflects, and the people at the rail, even more profoundly, do a double genuflection (both knees).

The only difference is this: when are we in His presence?