What does it really mean to worship God — and can it happen anywhere besides a Sunday morning church service?
In this third installment of their 12-part journey through Let Our Joys Be Known: A Brethren Heritage Curriculum, Pastor Harry Jarrett and producer Grayson Preece dig into one of the most fundamental questions of the Christian life: Why do we worship, and what is worship, anyway?
Grayson opens by reflecting on worship as a deeply personal commitment — a simple, meaningful hour that anchors his week and connects him to community. Harry pushes that definition outward, drawing on his background as a missionary and pastor to reframe worship not as a one-hour weekly event, but as the ongoing practice of assigning worth — recognizing the sacred presence of God woven through all of creation, all of our relationships, and every ordinary moment of the day.
The conversation wanders beautifully from a highway drive through the Virginia countryside to the starry sky on a late-night walk, from a formative season at Camp Bethel to a surprising dinner conversation with a man in Italy who was convinced he’d mastered the Ten Commandments by avoiding relationships entirely. Along the way, Harry and Grayson explore the Pietist and Anabaptist roots of the Church of the Brethren, the Christian mystical tradition’s understanding of God’s ever-present nearness, and why the experience of feeling absent from God is itself a form of awareness that God exists.
The episode builds to a passionate argument Harry makes for something most of the Christian church has quietly let slip away: foot washing. It is, Harry contends, the one practice Jesus most explicitly commanded — and the one that is hardest to do precisely because it demands genuine vulnerability, humility, and trust. He believes it could radically reshape how Christians relate to one another and to God.
Wherever you are in your own faith journey — whether you show up every Sunday or haven’t set foot in a church in years — this conversation will invite you to ask: When did I last notice God? And what was it that helped me see?
RUN OF SHOW
00:00 — Welcome & Series Introduction Producer Grayson Preece introduces the episode and places it as Part 3 of the 12-part Let Our Joys Be Known series.
00:45 — Why Do You Come to Worship? Grayson shares his personal reason for showing up every Sunday — the power of a simple, repeated commitment to a community and a time.
03:40 — The Hour on Sunday Harry references Nancy Beach’s book and reflects on how, for most people, Sunday morning is the only intentional hour spent thinking about God, faith, or theology all week.
05:50 — Worship Beyond the Sanctuary Harry expands the definition of worship: its root meaning is “assigning worth,” and his pastoral vocation has pushed him to help people see God not just on Sundays but in the entire arc of life.
07:00 — Acts 17 and “In God We Live and Move” Harry discusses the Apostle Paul’s speech to the Athenians as a foundation for understanding God as permeating all of creation — a thread running through the Pietist and Anabaptist traditions that shaped the Church of the Brethren.
08:00 — Seeing God on the Interstate Grayson shares a personal moment of divine awareness during a highway drive — turning off the music and suddenly noticing beauty, presence, and the sacred all around him.
09:15 — Being in the Same Room Is a Miracle A reflection on the wonder of human presence and how those moments when the “veil” parts reveal something of the divine.
10:00 — Does God Need Our Worship? Harry asks a provocative question: does God actually need us to worship? He reframes worship as building our own awareness and deepening our relationship with the divine, not informing God of God’s own greatness.
12:00 — Worship as Preparation and as Remembrance Grayson and Harry discuss how the Sunday hour might function as both a launching pad for the week ahead and a space to recognize God in what has already happened — “That was God on Thursday.”
13:50 — Camp Bethel and Worship in Creation A warm detour into the transformative experience of working at Church of the Brethren summer camps — and how an entire week immersed in relationship, community, and creation functions as extended, full-body worship.
14:30 — The Three Relationships at the Heart of Faith Grayson names what he sees as a “holy trinity” for the camp experience: relationships with God, with creation, and with each other — and how none of the three can thrive in isolation.
16:00 — Books Harry Is Reading Harry shares three books shaping his current theological reconstruction: Tony Jones’ The God of the Wild Places, and Richard Rohr’s Everything Belongs and The Universal Christ — all pointing toward a God who was already present, everywhere, before we arrived.
17:30 — Noticing God as an Act of Worship The simple act of naming “I see God here” — in a person, a place, a moment — is itself worship.
18:00 — The Absence of God and the Christian Mystics Harry draws on the Christian mystical tradition to suggest that even the feeling of God’s absence is a spiritual signal — you can’t miss what was never there. God is never absent; we are simply not always aware.
19:20 — Personal vs. Communal Faith Grayson notices the language of “I” in worship discussions. Harry reflects on the tension between personal and communal faith, the risk of becoming a spiritual hermit, and the story of the man in Italy who followed all Ten Commandments — because he had no relationships to challenge him.
22:40 — Foot Washing: The Ordinance We’re Missing Harry makes his most passionate case of the episode: that foot washing — the one practice Jesus most directly commanded — has been all but abandoned by the wider church, while the passive act of taking communion has become central. Why? Because foot washing requires you to do something. It demands vulnerability on both sides.
25:00 — Grayson’s Camp Bethel Foot Washing Memory Grayson recalls the foot washing ritual at summer staff closing — who he would and wouldn’t ask, how intimate and unsettling it felt, and what that discomfort reveals about us.
26:50 — What Foot Washing Could Do for the Church Harry’s bold claim: a regular, literal practice of washing one another’s feet could radically change the paradigm of the North American Christian church — binding people together in ways nothing else can.
27:07 — Closing & Listener Invitation The hosts wrap up and invite listeners to order Let Our Joys Be Known through Brethren Press and to continue the conversation with a friend, with or without the book.
RESOURCE GUIDE
📖 The Series Text
Let Our Joys Be Known: A Brethren Heritage Curriculum for Adults by Richard B. Gardner and Kenneth M. Shaffer Jr. — Brethren Press The 12-session adult curriculum Harry and Grayson are working through together. Designed for Sunday school settings, it explores the heritage, theology, and practices of the Church of the Brethren. 🔗 Order from Brethren Press: www.brethrenpress.com
📚 Books Referenced in This Episode
An Hour on Sunday: Creating Moments of Transformation and Wonder by Nancy Beach A book exploring the deep, shaping forces that can make the Sunday worship hour a time of transformation and wonder — for both believers and seekers alike. Beach served as Programming Director at Willow Creek Community Church and later as a leadership coach. She is also the author of Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading as a Woman in the Church. 🔗 Find on Amazon | Author’s website
The God of Wild Places: Rediscovering the Divine in the Untamed Outdoors by Tony Jones (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024) The story of a pastor’s journey out of the church and into the woods, in pursuit of the God he’d lost — paddling a canoe, hunting with his dog, butchering deer. Jones is also the author of Did God Kill Jesus? and The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life, and he hosts the Reverend Hunter Podcast. He teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary. 🔗 Find on Amazon | Author’s website
Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer by Richard Rohr One of Richard Rohr’s most popular books, offering the conviction that we have no real access to who we really are except in God — and that only when we rest in God can we find the safety and freedom to be fully ourselves. A defense of contemplative prayer in which God is presented as a lover who receives and forgives everything, and in which the central insight is: “We cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.” 🔗 Find on Amazon | CAC Bookstore
The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe by Richard Rohr (Convergent Books, 2019) — New York Times Bestseller Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world — arguing that faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. 🔗 Find on Amazon | Penguin Random House
🏕️ Camps & Places Mentioned
Camp Bethel — Fincastle, Virginia A Christian summer camp and year-round event center on 470 sacred acres of forests, fields, ponds, streams, and hills in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, operated by the Virlina District Church of the Brethren since 1927. Their mission: TOGETHER — with God, with each other, and with creation. 🔗 campbethelvirginia.org
Brethren Woods Camp and Retreat Center — Keezletown, Virginia A year-round camp and retreat center owned and operated by the Shenandoah District of the Church of the Brethren, located in the Shenandoah Valley just 12 miles northeast of Harrisonburg, seeking “to provide Christian educational opportunities, facilities, and programs for all ages in an inviting woodland setting.” They always need summer counselors! 🔗 brethrenwoods.org
📖 Scripture References
Acts 17:28 — “In him we live and move and have our being” (Paul speaking to the Athenians in Athens)
John 13:14-15 — Jesus washing the disciples’ feet and commanding them to do the same
Revelation 4:11 — “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things”
Faith in Process is hosted by Pastor Harry Jarrett, live from Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren in Weyers Cave, Virginia. New episodes air weekly. Subscribe on Substack, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. 🔗 pastorharryjarrett.substack.com/s/faith-in-process
