There are four consequences of this re-shaping, reflected in comments of people who are cynical in their view of church.
1. Worship is entertainment. We have become focused on what we get out of worship. We need a good band with nice singers. I hope the Pastor tells some jokes during his sermon. If the show is good enough, we will put some money in the offering plate as payment. I often have joked about putting a coupon in the Oak Forest newsletter as part of our advertising. $5 dollars off your next offering.
2. Worship is over- sensitized. The reason we hear so much about no more crying in the Bible is because there is plenty of it going on today in our churches. We want a feeling or an emotion when we come together. Our culture has shown us that emotional responses are an indication of success. The cameras zoom in on a person weeping at a wedding or funeral. If we are not moved visibly to an emotion, somehow our church is over-intellectualized. This brings us to the third consequence.
3. Worship is over-intellectualized. We have become a culture of explanation. Any person with cable TV can learn the secrets of magicians, myths and legends de-bunked, or how to make that favorite restaurant food yourself in your own kitchen. Many churches today will explain the Christian faith to you. We will read from scripture and the latest book to teach you everything you need to know about Christianity. This was an interesting concept in India. I was told several times that Hinduism is not a religion. It is a way of life. You can't read how to be Hindu in a book. You have to experience it. They were telling me this because our culture is known for explaining Christianity in an intellectual way.
4. Worship focuses on the self. I need to tread lightly here with all of the counselors we have in this church. I don't need to remind you of all the American preachers under fire for the prosperity Gospel message being preached in many churches today and on TV channels broadcast across the globe. Since much of our culture focuses on the self, it shouldn't surprise you that many of our churches focus on the self. I don't want to make any enemies here, but an example of this for me is the "I am second" campaign. I know they do great things and they want you to say God is first, but I was always bothered by the title. There are two ways to state their campaign. I am second. God is first. By saying "I am second", we focus attention on our position in relation to God. Worship doesn't focus on where we are. It focuses on where God is.
Enough said about what cynical people think.
Back to my trip to Uganda, Africa. I was asked to visit to help recover the sense of Festive worship. Festive worship is centered around an event. It is hard to have a party without a theme. We celebrate birthdays, National holidays, weddings, and many other events. On Sunday we celebrate the Christ event. What is that you might ask? Well looking back to the Old Testament, Jewish worship was centered around the Exodus event. When Jesus came to die for our sins, we have an event to celebrate. I went to a soccer match in Uganda. It was a big deal. The King of Buganda, Uganda was there. The Kingdom of Buganda was playing against another Kingdom area of which I don't recall, but that isn't important. The important part was how they celebrated after each goal. The people would run up to the king's feet and bow. Not just bow, but throw themselves flat on their faces before him to honor him for the goal. We went to church that following Sunday. I noticed nobody bowed. Nobody was excited at all. It was as if they had forgotten why they were at church. It is a celebration with our God who saves. We honor him. We bow before him. Later this morning we will sing "We Bow Down". I commented during my rehearsal on Thursday that I expected to see people actually bowing down. I was excited to see people demonstrate last week how deep, high, and wide their love for God is. Do we believe the words we sing? Can we catch a bit of celebration in the moment? I challenge you that this type of event is only good when you are here. Have you ever taken pictures of a really great party and shown them to someone later? Somehow the pictures can't capture the moment. We use phrases like "Well, you should have been there." We recorded many songs in India. We had some great moments of worship. When I listened to the recordings they didn't sound as good as I remember. I think it's because I was listening for quality of music. I listened to the voices as one would listen to determine if the recording is worthy. It wasn't. But we were not singing to make a recording. We sang to worship God. On Sundays are we worshiping or listening? If we listen, our music will always fall short of expectations. If we worship, God joins in and when God joins in, he brings it! There have been moments for me that the music or singing lacked in my expectation. It is on those Sundays that people come tell me how amazing the worship was. What is your expectation?
Back to my trip to Uganda, Africa. I was asked to visit to help recover the sense of Festive worship. Festive worship is centered around an event. It is hard to have a party without a theme. We celebrate birthdays, National holidays, weddings, and many other events. On Sunday we celebrate the Christ event. What is that you might ask? Well looking back to the Old Testament, Jewish worship was centered around the Exodus event. When Jesus came to die for our sins, we have an event to celebrate. I went to a soccer match in Uganda. It was a big deal. The King of Buganda, Uganda was there. The Kingdom of Buganda was playing against another Kingdom area of which I don't recall, but that isn't important. The important part was how they celebrated after each goal. The people would run up to the king's feet and bow. Not just bow, but throw themselves flat on their faces before him to honor him for the goal. We went to church that following Sunday. I noticed nobody bowed. Nobody was excited at all. It was as if they had forgotten why they were at church. It is a celebration with our God who saves. We honor him. We bow before him. Later this morning we will sing "We Bow Down". I commented during my rehearsal on Thursday that I expected to see people actually bowing down. I was excited to see people demonstrate last week how deep, high, and wide their love for God is. Do we believe the words we sing? Can we catch a bit of celebration in the moment? I challenge you that this type of event is only good when you are here. Have you ever taken pictures of a really great party and shown them to someone later? Somehow the pictures can't capture the moment. We use phrases like "Well, you should have been there." We recorded many songs in India. We had some great moments of worship. When I listened to the recordings they didn't sound as good as I remember. I think it's because I was listening for quality of music. I listened to the voices as one would listen to determine if the recording is worthy. It wasn't. But we were not singing to make a recording. We sang to worship God. On Sundays are we worshiping or listening? If we listen, our music will always fall short of expectations. If we worship, God joins in and when God joins in, he brings it! There have been moments for me that the music or singing lacked in my expectation. It is on those Sundays that people come tell me how amazing the worship was. What is your expectation?
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