On Worship

I’m sure that none of this will be profound (not that other stuff I say is profound and this discussion somehow differentiates itself), but having participated in a number of dialogues over the last couple weeks on the subject of worship, I feel obliged to jot some thoughts down for the sake of prosperity, if for no other reason.

1. Worship is too narrowly defined. We pray much lip service to the truth that “worship is more than singing,” but we don’t truly live out the maxim. For many it is entirely about Sunday morning song services. When they don’t hear the songs they like, or there are “too many new ones,” then they feel they can’t worship God fully. Without realizing it they turn the song service into their singular vehicle for worshiping God. Worship is more than songs. Deuteronomy 6 says to worship with our heart, soul, and strength; literally, the entirety of our being.

2. People lean to heavily upon the myth that worship is only meaningful if they “felt something.” Emotion is the dominant method of evaluating the authenticity of our time of worship. Not that emotion doesn’t play a role in our worship, because emotions are God-given and Scripture is clear that emotion is certainly involved in our relationship with God. I spent my teen years bouncing from one emotional worship service to another at camps and conferences, grading my worship by if I cried or “felt God” (what does God feel like? Is he leathery, like Jack Palance, or soft, like a babies skin?). I wonder what moments of worship I missed out on because of my narrow evaluation of worship. Ever wonder if the acts of worship that are least pleasing to God are the ones with the greatest emotion?

3. Modern worship is too focused on the individual’s relationship with God to the detriment of a communal emphasis. Now, while many worship artists are swinging the pendulum back toward a communal emphasis there is still an over-abundance of narcissistic worship songs. These songs are not bad in-and-of themselves except where they turn our focus solely on our interior well-being and away from God.

4. Far too often have I heard someone complain, “That worship service was boring,” or “I didn’t like those songs at all.” It usually takes every ounce of will power not to smart of to them “Who cares? Last I checked we weren’t singing them to you or for you” (side note: I’m a hypocrite, because I’ve done this). Would it change anything to realize that when we grade the services or songs, like Dick Clark on American Bandstand, we were stealing—yes, stealing!—from God the worship and attention that is rightfully His? It is a symptom of how much the culture of consumerism and an over-abundance and over-emphasis on personal rights, choices, and freedoms has infected the Church. Burger King let’s us have it our way, so why shouldn’t the worship? When we turn our Cadillac’s on, it’s supposed to turn us on, so why shouldn’t worship excite us. And, if the worship doesn’t suit us then we can go somewhere where it does. This is nothing less than theft of God’s worship.

5. Personally, I truly believe we place way more value on the songs than God does. We’re like the two-year-old who brings their mother a dandelion as a gift. The “flower” is a worthless weed. God has legions of saints and angels singing His praises at all times, for all eternity. What can our songs add to that? Nothing, really. But have you ever seen a mother turn down a dandelion form a beaming toddler? It’s the heart of the child, the intentions, which the mother loves.

With all of our wrong-headedness I still believe that God loves our dandelions.