Tim Keller, the famous preacher from Redeemer Presbyterian in New York, argues that being caught up in the transcendence of God should be a central mark of our church gatherings. He says that people come to church because they expect to meet the transcendent God.

My question today is; is that right? And if it is, what makes for a gathering where God's transcendence is declared?

Should we seek to declare the transcendence of God?

We can all repeat anecdotes about the endless ways in which, in our search for community and relevance, churches have jettisoned speaking of a transcendent God for entertainment and relationship with one another.

In this individualistic age, we want God to be incarnated, to be one of us - not sitting on his high throne of heaven.

However, the God of the Bible is both bigger and better than anything we can imagine. If that were not the case then there would be no point in worshipping Him. God is sitting on his high throne in heaven, from where he sovereignly rules all, with a gracious hand and a loving heart toward those who are rebellious creatures. It is both our privilege and responsibility to declare this to each other and the world.

But to merely focus on the transcendence of God is insufficient and wrong. The one who inhabits all eternity also became man, and died for our sins in our place. He is near to his people. He hears the sighs and whispers of his children, and inconceivably lives within those who are his. That God is close to us in this way only declares his bigness and goodness even more loudly.

Short cuts to declaring the transcendence of God?

There are some short cut, erroneous ways to declare the transcendence of God.

One short cut way is to create the atmosphere of another world, of a spiritual realm. It can be done by incense, candles, vivid colours, almost ecstatic singing. Such things may well take us out of the mundane existence in which we live, but it undermines the presence of God with us in the everyday aspects of life. It strives to create an epiphany, an appearing of God, when he is already with his people.  It leads us to look for God in the wrong places.

Another short cut is to think that I meet God when I meet and love my brother.

I am greater than I possibly can be when I love. I rise above myself when I love properly. And so we strive for relational care and excellence. This is much closer to the truth. As John reminds us, we cannot say we love God whom we have not seen, if we don't love our brother who we do see.

However, we are not, even at our best, big enough or good enough to adequately mirror God's character.

One simple change to make

There are many things that may be said about what we should do as we gather together to remember our God. But here is one simple thing.

Typically, the first thing we do when our church gathering commences is to sing an upbeat song about how great God is, and how it is good to be together. That's well and good.

But this approach can so easily lead us to a shallow and simplistic understanding of what is happening as we meet.

What is actually happening is that the God who is too pure to look upon sin, is actually drawing us sinners to himself. He welcomes us to be with him. When we realise not only that God is present with us when we gather, but in fact it is God who has created our gathering, this should lead us to reflect on our own failures and His great holiness.

In the light of this what should we do but. confess our sins.

If we repeatedly neglect confessing our sins, we will think it is our right to be with God, rather than recognise that we gather together by his sovereign goodness.

Now if we confess our sins, it also right that we hear the wonderful words of comfort that God forgives our sins, and showers his people with blessings. It is then that we can be honest: not needing to pretend we are better than we are, and being able to be truly thankful.

Come to think of it, perhaps those 16th century reformers knew something when they put together their services so long ago.