“Worship: Loving Madly”
From the Archives
Dr. Claudio Carvalhaes (Image Source)
Each month, our blog features articles from the archives of Liturgy. Our goal is to share the wisdom from decades past so that we might celebrate the work and insights of these excellent ministers and scholars.
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In 2014, W. Scott Haldemann guest-edited an issue of Liturgy dedicated to “Liturgy, Culture, and Race.” That issue included an article by Dr. Claudio Carvalhaes entitled, “Worship: Loving Madly.” In this essay, Carvalhaes argues that worship must ground the worshippers in care for the poor and for the earth. If we do not love our neighbors, we do not love God. He makes use of a quote from Augustine asking “What do I love when I love my God?” in order to explore the many ways secular values turn Christians away from the love of neighbor. “Grounded in the life, death, and resurrected life of Jesus Christ that is embodied throughout our worship, an empowered love will go beyond expressions of charity or niceness.” He makes specific suggestions about how Christians can participate in the economic system in order to love our neighbors. These include choosing “alternative investments, such as companies that are not listed on the stock market—community development banks, cooperatives, microfinancing firms, and the like, which may produce a lower interest yield but are doing some real good among the poor.”
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“Our honoring of God is different, but not higher, than the ways we love another person because God can only be known in and through others. If worship is to honor God and my neighbor, this also means that I must care for my neighbor in ways that I would care for Jesus.”
- Claudio Carvalhaes
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Cláudio Carvalhaes, an ordained Presbyterian pastor from Brazil, is professor of worship and liturgy at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is the author, among other writings, of Eucharist and Globalization: Redrawing the Borders of Eucharistic Hospitality (Pickwick Publications, 2014).
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