The following three insights look at worship from the perspective of a metaphysical Christian. The language we use in metaphysical worship is different from the language we use in metaphysical education. In education, we use the language of metaphysics. In worship, we use mystical language, the sacred language of relationships, the language of “I-Thou.”

How worship drives confidence and commitment.

In Insight 14, Rational Choice in the Religious Marketplace, I listed two human factors — confidence expressed by the spiritual leader and confidence expressed by the congregants — that drive religious commitment. These two factors are related to education and the understanding obtained through metaphysical study.

But there are four more (superhuman) factors that drive religious commitment.[1] These factors are related to worship and are mystical in nature. I offer these as evidence of the importance of mystical experience in ministry. Here they are, along with how I see them being expressed in metaphysical Christian worship:

1. Confidence increases to the degree that people have mystical experiences (a sense of contact with God). Mystical experiences are experiences of God active in our life. If God is remote, unreachable, or not concerned, then we have no mystical experience of God and there is little reason to place confidence in the ministry. Charles Fillmore “went to headquarters.” Emerson called upon intuition. Metaphysical Christians refer to these mystical experiences as Spiritual Baptism.

2. Confidence increases to the extent that people participate in religious rituals. This is a form of exchange. Rituals build faith. Rituals carry us into a mood (emotion), activating the limbic system. Metaphysical Christians often refer to these rituals as Spiritual Communion.

3. Confidence is strengthened when prayer builds bonds of affection with God. This is a form of exchange. Like rituals, prayer has a mood (emotion). When metaphysical Christians gather for worship, they typically call their services Prayer Services.

4. Confidence increases to the degree that miracles are attributed to the worship experience. Miracles get the benefit of the doubt compared to magic and science because God could be saying “no.” In metaphysical Christian circles, gatherings for healing and other miracles are called Healing Services.

These four factors are, for me, an informed way of identifying what is truly essential in worship, particularly for the metaphysical Christian. Stark and Finke are saying that religious confidence (and commitment) increases with: our mystical experience and contact with God, our ritualistic communion and engagement with God, our conversations with God in the form of prayer, and the extent to which we attribute healing miracles to these experiences, engagements, and prayers.[2] The expression of these factors in metaphysical Christian worship are Spiritual Baptism and Spiritual Communion (Insight 20), Prayer Services (Insight 21), and Healing Services (Insight 22).

What is distinct about these forms of worship is that they offer an experience of engagement with God as a benevolent presence. These four forms of metaphysical worship build on the experience described in Insight 10, Benevolent and Engaged or Distant and Benign? That is to say, God is here now, experienced through the Christ within, raising us to a place where the Holy Spirit pours out its inspiration upon us.

[1] Stark and Finke. Acts of Faith, pp.106-113
[2] Stark and Finke (2000), Confidence and Risk. Mystical experience (p.110), religious rituals (p.107), prayer (p.109), miracles (p.109).