Would a seminary paper I wrote forty years ago this month still be timely, relevant, and something helpful? I wondered about that myself last week when I went searching for a paper file folder that was stuffed about halfway back in the second-up-from-the-bottom file cabinet drawer. The bottom drawer holds all my notes from all my classes in college. Yeah. . . I’m that guy. . . and I saved all my textbooks too! Truth be told, I’ve reached into that file drawer to find guidance and direction on several occasions over the years. That next drawer up holds all my seminary notes from my time at Gordon-Conwell during the 1980’s. The folder I was looking for was simply labeled with one word: “Worship.” Inside I found a stack of papers I had written as part of an independent study on worship, including one that I had handed in 40 years ago this month. . . on November 22, 1985 to be precise.
The paper was simply titled, “Theology of Worship”, and I read words written four decades ago as preparation for a Youth Culture Matters podcast episode on youth and worship. For me, the preparation was timely for a number of reasons. As a youth culture-watcher who watches how the culture has come into the church, I’ve been very curious and even concerned at times about how we curate worship experiences for our kids. Are we targeting emotional reactions and interpreting raised hands and movement as marks of good and “successful” worship? Are we teaching and singing songs that faithfully center on God, putting forth lyrics designed to acurately reflect biblical truth while serving to nurture the faith of those singing? Do our worship spaces, room set up, staging, and lighting (etc.) create or even manipulate emotions? Or are we working to create a sense of transcendence that lead kids to focus on God as the object of worship rather than the worship leader? Do we correctly see God as the audience in worship, rather than the audience as the audience in worship? So many questions. . . all so important to consider but many times forgotten as we plan worship. And, have we done things in ways that have led our kids and even ourselves to simply equate “worship” with a corporate gathering. . . or maybe even just the musical component of that time together?
These questions moved even more front and center over the summer as I read through the OT Book of Ezekiel, a book that leaves no stone unturned regarding the scourge of idolatry (which we are all prone to!) and the proper worship of the One, True God. We’ve all been created as worship-beings. . . made to worship you can say. And in my paper I found this definition of worship: “Worship is an active response to God whereby we declare His worth. It is a 24/7 activity in the life of believers as we respond to the mighty acts of God, specifically His mighty act of redemption in Jesus Christ.”
I ran across some provocative and helpful words in a book I pulled off my shelf, The Ten Commandments, by Ronald Wallace, that had been written all the way back in 1965. In his chapter on the Second Commandment (prohibiting idol worship), consider what Wallace wrote. . .
What matters when a congregation gathers for worship, is not the amount of religious excitement we can create, or the pious devotion we can stimulate by a display of imagery either through eloquence in word, or skill in manipulation, or by the creation of “atmosphere” by music or colour. What matters is one simple fact, the presence of a merciful God in the midst through the Holy Spirit, as Jesus Christ incarnate, crucified and risen is set forth and offered to His people. But the presence of God Himself through the Holy Spirit to receive and inspire our worship is promised not to those who are most successful in the stimulation in such pious or religious atmosphere, but to those who seek Him simply through the symbols, images, and ceremonies of His own choosing. No matter how difficult the situation may be for the Church in confronting the modern mind and the modern world, our policy in this matter must be decided not by anxiety but by faith in the Word of God.
Somehow those words written so long ago have not lost one bit of their timeliness or relevance.
I really believe that we need to be thinking long and hard about everything we are doing as we bring our students together for worship. Are we seeing worship as formative for them, or is it in reality de-formative.. . perhaps without us even knowing it? There are lots of good and necessary questions we need to be asking.
I would invite you to listen in to the discussion we had with a couple of very thoughtful worship leaders on this latest edition of our Youth Culture Matters podcast. I trust it will get you thinking about and even re-thinking some of the beliefs and practices we so easily assimilate. . . maybe because that’s just what everyone else is doing.