Been thinking a bit lately about worship. What is it? Why is it important – individually/corporately?
I’m pretty convinced that we worship poorly. I know I’m not supposed to say those kind of things since I’m party of a Vineyard church. But nevertheless, I think it is true. I’m not just critiquing our particular church’s worship…. no, I’m painting with a broad brush and making gross over-generalizations that (you decide) may or may not be true. It’s what I do.
The usual critique of worship goes something like this: “Worship in the western.northamerican.usa church has all about the individual. The worship songs are shallow and sentimental, trite and simplistic. We have devulged into a “me and jesus” (and JUST me and jesus) theology (if you can even call that a theology).” I reckon that is still true and still an important critique. Unfortunately, it seems that the critique stops there with the enpassioned cry – “Worship is not all about ME and my needs, its about God”. I couldn’t agree more. But I want to push on that…. If worship is about God, then HOW is it about God? Surely this isn’t just about changing singular pronouns to plural (though that wouldn’t hurt). If our worship primarily and singularly is about God – his glory revealed…. a thin place where heaven and earth intersect, then what character should it have?
Here are three ideas:
1. Worship is about Story. Whatsmore it is about re-Story-ing ourselves. Worship is the great act of remembrance. Remembrance of Whose Story we are in and the nature, plot, flow, and dynamics of said Story. Last night Sarah and I visited the Identity HC. Jonathan Hicks said something along the lines of “every story needs a problem to be a good story”. Our worship both reminds us of the problem we have and resolution of it. Worship deals honestly with sin, but just as honestly with redemption. As such, worship Orients us. Like a compass in the wilderness, we are (re)oriented by worship. Too often we’ve devalued worship to “experiencing God”, and while this happens and is wonderful when it does, we have placed such weight on this that I fear it could be an idol. The experience of worship is (whether we “feel” it or not) the sense by which we are plucked up out of the small story we live in and re-inserted into the Big Story. We should leave worship changed – not merely because we have had (and even if we don’t) an ethereal moment – but because we re-Story ourselves…. or rather we are re-Storied by the Author. See Chris for more.
2. Worship is about Allegiance. In a similar way that we are re-Storied, our worship is a “pledge of allegiance” to Someone else (other than ourselves or our idols). Many others more competent than I have written and spoken on the sense in which the New Testament idea of “faith” or “believe” was allegiance to someone, so I’ll let you learn that from them. But I see worship as The Great Public Act of a Christian. Worship is justice. In as much as we are called to work for justice (and again, many have spoken much more eloquently than I on this – see Sojourners) our public display of allegiance – PDA, if you will – visibly proclaims the Kingdom. This Kingdom where lion and lamb go on sleepovers and rich and poor have pizza parties. We work, strive, endeavor for such equality and unity – but worship simply stands as a testament to it. Yes, we are flawed, broken, incompetent purveyors of this justice… that is exactly why our worship is so powerful. We stand and say, “we don’t do this Kingdom thing right, we miss it more than we care to admit, but still we stand and say this Kingdomland is our home and its King is our King”. When an unbelieving (“unAllegianced”) person sees our worship they are not, I submit, drawn by the depth of our passion, the quality of our singing, the profundity of our spirituality. They are drawn by the wonderous paradox that is the cross. That in dying we live. That we stand, pledge, and proclaim fealty to One that is worthy of such a thing. One that would die so that we might live.
3. Worship is about Community. Yeah, I know community-shoomunity. It’s all the rage. If worship is about being caught up in the Great Story and about pledging our Allegiance to the Great King, then it must also be about our Common-unity with others who do the same. For we can not do this alone. We need one another. In worship we connect backwards, upwards, outwards, and forwards. Backwards to the saints who have gone before. Upwards to our Trinitarian God (now there’s a community!). Outwards to our fellow Christians. Forwards to those saints who will stand on our shoulders. If being the Body of Christ means anything then our worship should be like water to a body. You’ve heard that our bodies are made of some crazy percentage – like 80%(?) – of water. Worship should be that for the Body of Christ. It makes everything work, lubricates the joints, delivers oxygen to parts, and all those other things that make me wish I’d paid more attention in biology. Our worship cannot exist in a vacuum. It must always be connected to the Body. And if worship doesn’t connect us more to one another (and not just God) then I would say that we have poor, inept, and inadequate worship. Perhaps that is harsh, but surely it is true – our allegiance to God and participation in his narrative is never a solo journey. So our worship should never be a solo event. Whatsmore (and now I get in trouble), I have a sneaking suspicsion that worship cannot fully live outside a local church. Oh, my. What about International House of Prayer, worship CDs played in cars, solitude retreats, etc… I’m not sure. I imagine that they have their place – but ONLY in connection to the local body of Christ (i.e. church). If someone only gets their “worship” from going to a mega-church worship service (where they don’t know anyone) or some annonymous prayer gathering then I submit that they do not worship. Note I said “ONLY”. I’ve been to these gatherings and have, I believe, experienced worship – but they are intermittent events within the context of an ongoing relationship with a known body of believers. If worship is not just about “me and Jesus” then we ought to act like it. We need to worship together.
Well, I give up. I submit this to blogland. These are things I’ve been thinking about. I believe that we need better worship in our churches. It is not about technique or affect – it is about deeper stuff.
We’re going to have a conversation about such things in a few weeks. My friend Eric will visit in Feb (17-19) for a conversation. The discussion will center around what it may mean to be a “Missional Worship Artist.”
The discussion will explore an aspect of worship leading beyond reminding believers Whom they worship and pose the question, “How might artists reveal the Kingdom of God to those who cannot see it?” (John
3:3) Come join us, it’ll be good.
Pax Christi
