WORSHIP - The Great Reversal

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.  (Psalm 22:27)

Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy splendor.  (Psalm 29:2)

O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!  (Psalm 95:6)

Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.  (Psalm 96:9)

Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!  (Psalm 99:5)

Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. (Psalm 100:2)

I have been thinking about worship a great deal lately.  This is not at all an unreasonable thing when you consider that I am a child of God and a pastor in Christ's church.  I have been doing so first out of the office of pastor; considering our communal worship life - how to plan, create, and structure it so that we bring before God our very best.  We have been talking about adding additional worship services - a morning prayer service, a mid-week service.  We have talked about how to make worship more accessible for families with young children.  Many of the conversations have left me feeling energized - I LOVE WORSHIP.  I love to worship the Lord.  I love to plan woship and lead worship.  I love to see the faces of others as they are truly worshiping the Lord with all of their hearts.  But every so often there is something about the conversations that nag at me.

Recently, I was talking with a friend who commented that this week was the week for her congregation's 'praise' service.  I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was less than enthusiastic about it, which rather surprised me.  So I asked about it and she said that it seemed really odd to her.  Supposedly, it was "to bring young people into the church."  She couldn't imagine any young people wanting to come to this worship service.  She has been to 'contemporary' worship services  - with me, actually - and they were well done.  But for this praise service, there was no musical instruments.  This was using a DVD with the congreation singing, dancing, and clapping along and it was just odd to her.

I thought about this congregation that somehow had gotten themsleves to the place where they were planning worship as a means of attracting young people.  I thought about some of the conversations we have been having in the congregation where I serve.  Attracing young people has been a 'motive' behaind many of our suggestions, as well.  Then there have been the comments about people not "getting anything out of worship."  The reasons vary - we do not have a contemporary worship service; we use the piano too much and the organ not enough; I kowtow to the young people; I cater to the "old folks" too much; you name it.  There are as many reasons for why peope do not "get something" out of worship as there are people who complain about it.

I noticed, though, they all have a common theme: they view worship as the place that they come to get THEIR needs met.  That caused me to ask myself ...

WHEN DID WORSHIP BECOME ABOUT US AND NOT ABOUT GOD?

I always regarded worship as the time when I gave of myself - my time, my gifts, my voice, my prayers, my song, my attention to the Word, my confession of sins and of the faith - all acts of bowing down in worship of the one who created, redeemed, and sustains me.  I never considered whether or not it pleased me.  My pre-worship prayer is always that what we did in worship was pleasing and acceptable to God - as acts of worship. (Perhaps that is my Roman Catholic upbringing coming out, but I think that is a reasonable assessment of the intent of worship.)

I am finding now, however, that many believe that my goal in worship planning and leadership is to design a service that makes THEM feel uplifted, encouraged, and even entertained.  The music must be to their tastes - contemporary, traditional, organ, praise band.  The sermon should be short and have cute anecdotes in it.  The worship service should be an hour or less.  (I guess that is all the time God deserves?)

So I have discovered that by the standards of many - in my congregation and in the general culture - I am a FAILURE at worship planning and leadership.  Because I always plan the service to point to God and God's redeeming work in the cross of Christ.  I do not consider worship as I time for US to be pleased, but a time for us to please God with our worship.  I do not consider worship a marketing tool with which to bring people into the church.  I DO pray that the Spirit among us as we worship and our sense of community is enticing to those who visit with us.

Perhaps one of the disouraging comments is when someone specifically says that they "just don't get anything out of worship."   While I am tempted to take this personally, I suppose what really bothers me is that EVERY WEEK we gather and receive forgiveness of sins, nurture and strength for the life of faith throuh hearing the Word of God, and the very presence of Jesus with us in the sacrament of Holy Communion.

So I find myself with a few rather burning questions; questions that I wrestle with both as a disciple of Jesus and as one called to the office of pastor to lead others in discipleship. 

WHEN DID THE GREAT REVERSAL IN WORSHIP HAPPEN?

WHEN DID WORSHIP BECOME ABOUT US AND NOT ABOUT GOD?

WHEN DID JESUS CEASE TO BE 'ENOUGH'?

I have no answers to these questions.  I continue to wrestle with them.  I know only that I will continually fail in worship planning and leadership as long as those I serve expect me to plan our worship to please them.  And that is one of the few failures in life that I am learning to be very comfortable with.

WORSHIP:  IT'S A GOD-THING.

Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. (Psalm 96:9)

In Christ -
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