Thursday, October 23, 2014

Appropriate Worship in Public

One of the characteristics of the Contemporary Christian Music worship movement has been writing songs that express a deep personal intimacy with God. This intimacy is expressed in lyrics that read like love letters to the Creator and Redeemer. This is appropriate for private worship but I question whether this type of song is best for the public worship gathering.

The psalms of the Hebrew Bible are no strangers to expressing desire and longing for God. Psalm 42 “As the deer pants for water, so my soul longs for you, O God” is a beautiful picture of the desire for intimacy with God. David’s direct address of the Divine shows his closeness with God: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.” (Ps 139:17-18) David was intimate with God.

There is something exhilarating about being in the midst of a group of worshipers so caught up in their private communion with God that all else disappears from their consciousness. For them, it must be a lot like that first teenage kiss: the feelings of wonder and joy are overwhelming; you feel like you’re going to melt.

But I propose that the most intimate expressions of our love for God should be reserved for the private “prayer closet” (Matthew 6:5-8) and not be put on public display. It’s like a lovey-dovey married couple. Between a husband and wife there are appropriate expressions of affection behind closed doors that are completely inappropriate in public. I think that principle holds true for public worship as well.

Public worship is just that – public. It is the gathering of the body, the community. The corporate expression of adoration, praise, lament, surrender requires an outlet different from personal intimacy. The actions for corporate worship need to be actions that the group can do together. Therefore I strive to choose singable songs and to get us comfortable with new songs; we do all we can to provide good sight and sound and temperature – so what we do together we can do with a minimum of distraction.

Well, those are my thoughts on the subject. We all have different personalities with varied emotional and expressive capacities. Whatever we do in our gatherings for worship, let us do it to the honor and glory of Christ. (1 Cor. 10:31-33)  AMEN

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

From the Inside Out: Worship that Transforms


Our North American culture places a high value on the pragmatic. “Principle and theory are fine,” it is said, “but does it work? Is it practical? Do people like it and will they buy it?”

The 1992 film Sister Act voiced this idea of pragmatism in the church humorously and pointedly. Actress Whoopi Goldberg played Delores, a night club singer taking refuge from a mobster hit man out to kill her. She was disguised as a nun (dubbed Sister Mary Clarence) in a convent. The convent church building was crumbling from disrepair and few parishioners attended the lifeless services. The once vibrant ministry had become irrelevant to its surrounding community.

Delores used her music skills to turn the convent’s bedraggled and anemic choir into a first-rate, energetic, heart-pounding gospel ensemble. This, she said, was the remedy to the church’s certain demise. But the Mother Superior (played by Maggie Smith) was skeptical …

Mother Superior:   [use] Boogie-woogie on the piano? What were you thinking?
Delores:                  I was thinkin' more like Vegas, y'know, get some butts in the seats.
Mother Superior:   And what next? Popcorn? Curtain calls? This is not a theater or a casino.
Delores:                  Yeah, but that's the problem. See, people like going to theaters, and they like going to casinos, but they don't like coming to church. Why? Because it's a drag. But we could change all that, see? We could pack this joint.

Pragmatic, market-driven, product-centered, give ‘em what they want.

It is no wander that so many Christian congregations in the US have been in an uproar for the past couple of decades about the look, feel, and sound of their gatherings for worship. They have been driven by pragmatism - and this alone is not healthy.

There has been a mass migration away from the “smells and bells” of so-called “traditional worship” to so-called “contemporary worship.” The migration has been away from the architecture of neo-Gothic sanctuaries to performing arts centers; from ancient liturgies to multi-media production; from hymns to choruses, choirs to worship bands, congregation-friendly to presentation-focused song.

But the issue of whether congregational worship feels “dead” or “alive” is not a matter of the music being “up-tempo and positive” or that there are cup holders on the backs of the pews, if there are pews at all.

The vibrancy of any worship service starts with the spiritual vitality of each worshiper present and engaged and their desire to mature in Christ.

Gordon T. Smith writes in his outstanding new book about Christian maturity,
The so-called worship war missed the point entirely; it was characterized as a battle between old and new, ancient and contemporary. The real issue is whether our worship … nurtures genuine adult maturity in Christ. Let me stress something here: I am not protesting the involvement of youth in leading worship - not for a moment. It is rather that every dimension of congregational life - including teaching, governance and mission - calls for wisdom and maturity… Nowhere is this more crucial than in the most formative dimension of congregational life of worship….[1]

As we pursue maturity in Christ by pursuing Christ, our experience of Him in public gatherings for worship will be flavored with an intensity, a spiritual passion that is palpable. The “what” of what we do in our gatherings for worship becomes second or third priority to the “why” of why we have gathered together and the “so what” result of our communion with God and His people.

The refrain of Joel Houston’s song From the Inside Out gives voice to our desire for complete transformation in Christ starting at the very inner core of our being; from heart to hands.

In my heart, in my soul
Lord, I give You control
Consume me from the inside out, Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out[2]

Having stated all the above, we get back to Sister Mary Clarence’s insistence that the style of worship needs to be hip, hot, and happenin’. What style of worship is best, biblical, and blessed of God?

Please notice that at this point I am talking about style and not content. They are separate issues. The content of worship must invariably be the good news of the kingdom of God in Christ through the power of the Spirit; That sinners receive redemption by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. In a very tight nutshell, that is the content of worship.

But there is no biblical command or prescription regarding style for worship. I can only think of one word that best describes a style appropriate for all congregations: indigenous. Here’s what the oxford Online Dictionary says: Indigenous – originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native[3]

Native – the things that we do in the way that is characteristic of us. The softness or loudness of music, the type of songs and instruments, the melodies and harmonies and rhythms, the architecture and decorations and more must be “native” to that congregation. That is, all that we do and bring before the Lord must be marked by that which originates from who we are.

In the Phillips translations of 1 Corinthians 14:26 the apostle Paul writes of this principle unto the building up of the body: “Well then, my brothers, whenever you meet let everyone be ready to contribute a psalm, a piece of teaching, a spiritual truth, or a ‘tongue’ with an interpreter. Everything should be done to make your church strong in the faith.”

For me the bottom line of what is right and best for the church in worship is that through indigenous acts and elements we bring, the body of Christ is made stronger, moving us ever closer to the image of Christ.



[1] Smith, Gordon T., Called to be Saints: An Invitation to Christian Maturity, IVP Academic, page 187
[2] Joel Houston © 2005 Hillsong Music Publishing (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)