Annie Dillard and Worship

Thanks to Jim Barr for this quote from Annie Dillard on worship in his call to worship last Sunday:

The higher Christian churches - where if anywhere I belong- come at God with an air of professionalism, with authority and pomp, as though they knew what they were doing, as though people in themselves were an appropriate set of creatures to have dealings with God. I often think of set pieces of liturgy as certain words which people have successfully addressed to God without their getting killed. In the high churches they saunter through the liturgy like Mohawks along a strand of scaffolding who have long since forgotten their danger. If God were to blast such a service to bits, the congregation would be genuinely shocked. But in the low churches you expect it any minute. This is the beginning of wisdom.
(p.59 Holy the Firm)

For the sermon that day - a really good sermon - see the Canberra Baptist website, 15 March The Discerning Worshippers Guide
http://www.canbap.org/sermons/sermons2009.html
Click to get the MP3.