The Journey To Worship
by Glen on 2003-01-05 00:04:02
Enroute to and from a Bible conference in Texas, we stopped along the way to meet with seven of America’s ten most sought after church leaders in the realm of New Testament Church life. That in itself was worth the journey, but the thing from which I most benefited was a wonderful discovery regarding worship.
Now you should remember that virtually all of my college and seminary training had been to prepare me for staff positions as an associate where I would be responsible for the worship and Christian education functions of a church. Frankly, my training had been almost exclusively centered on the vehicle. I suppose everyone assumed I already knew worship was to be directed exclusively toward God . . . . but in real life I neither comprehended or practiced that fact.
So, it came as a real shock when, as we made that three-week excursion, I was literally amazed at how God seemed to “show up” in services so diverse that one would have never been convinced I could enjoy them all. From a little gathering of unknown church leaders using shaped-note song books to the sound of a decrepit old upright piano to an ornate sanctuary where the pastor and staff all dressed in identical pin-striped suits and the 200 voice robed choir sang sacred classics, two things remained the same . . . . God was there and was being genuinely worshipped, and my heart was strangely warmed.
I still remember sitting in that great sanctuary and thinking, “I’ve missed it for all these years! It doesn’t matter what songs we sing or what order we follow; it is God we’re after! And He is pleased!” I often wonder just how many church members and leaders miss out on a pure moment in God’s presence because the focus is on the vehicle rather than the purpose of the journey. I was captured by Boquist’s statement, “Worship is the vehicle in which the church, the bride of Christ, travels to see her beloved”.
His article stirred several thoughts in my heart as regarding three things. Almost every group that gathers annually for a meeting has a committee responsible for recommending a location, a time, and a speaker . . . . the famed “Time, Place, and Preacher Committee”. Tragically, we’ve chosen a similar committee to our attitude toward worship. We assume it requires a specific time, a certain place, and a particular performer in order for us to worship. In other words, we’ve got to have a format.
In so doing, we allocate ourselves to a comfortable position of being a spectator . . . . an onlooker. As a spectator, we have assumed we have also been given the rights of analyst, judge, and score-keeper . . . . and time-keeper. So, when we go away from that place at that particular time, we take our notes and score cards with us and we critique the performer/s. Little wonder it is, then, that our lives are so shallow and void of true moments of pure and indescribable worship. Sometimes we don’thave a clue about how to worship “in spirit and in truth”.