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Worship
That Inspires
This Easter season was the most invigorating worship week of my
life. On Palm Sunday I worshiped and preached in Bujumbura, Burundi.
My soul was stirred when response time found many people on their
faces in prayer at an altar of mats on bare concrete. On Maundy
Thursday I preached in Riruta Church in Nairobi, Kenya. Riruta is
in a slum. The building was a slab of concrete, 2X4’s and sheet
metal roofing and siding. One woman, a former alcoholic glowed with
the soul-freeing grace of God.
On Good Friday I preached at Karen Church in Nairobi. Though this
service of Word and Sacrament was more somber, it brought the Spirit
near for soul work. By Easter Sunday I was home in Greenville, Illinois.
For first time in 28 years, I did not preach on Easter Sunday. Twice
during the singing, I had to stop. My throat tightened up. Gratitude
for radical grace made it impossible for me to sing.
Those eight days escorted me through the entire spectrum of music
and worship options. All of them were inspiring. From a crude leather-skinned
drum to a half-million dollar pipe organ, worship happened.
Nine different Free Methodist churches, ranging in size from 50
to 1000, have been my home as a member or pastor. Our people’s
passion for God and wisdom regarding worship has been revealed in
our public services. So when I hear rumblings of congregations struggling,
fighting, splitting over worship styles, I ask the notorious Rodney
King line from the LA riots: “Couldn’t we all just get
along?”
On a regular basis I receive e-mails, letters and phone calls that
reveal profound frustration on all sides of the “worship style”
issue. We are all asking, “Will we ever get through this?”
Keep in mind that the key factor for local church health is not
a particular style of music. Churches with classical styles are
producing whole people. Churches with contemporary styles are also
making disciples. Churches with old time gospel styles are knocking
the doors of hell off their hinges. Congregational health does not
pivot on whether we are hand-clappers, hand-raisers, hand-holders
or hand-folders.
Our denominational “Expected Outcomes” suggest that every
local church should be a healthy worshiping community. This means
that corporate worship will honor God, and be meaningful to people.
When such worship is experienced “in community” we crave
more of it. We have a soul sense: “This is that for which I
was made.”
It is important to understand that healthy worship functions within
three general spheres.
In the first sphere, where God is the audience, our objective is
to honor and please Him, while we celebrate His grace. To do this
we praise, magnify, love, adore, give thanks, confess, ask forgiveness
and ask for godly care. Assisting us in this sphere, we use music,
the Word, the Sacraments, prayer and rituals.
But worship also functions in a second sphere as ministry to believers.
Here Christians comprise the audience. To promote growth and maturity
in Christ we teach, encourage, advise, remind of past actions (God’s
and ours) and promote fellowship.
Finally, worship functions in the sphere of a ministry to non-believers.
In this sphere the audience is the non-Christian, whom God has awakened
and drawn into our midst. The objective here is to foster evangelism
through proclamation and invitation.
Consequently, there is a certain complexity to worship that will
always create some degree of tension. There must be a balancing
of innovation with sensitivity, exuberance with reverence, and boldness
with prudence. We will seek to be on the cutting edge of the contemporary,
while preserving and transmitting our rich heritage of faith to
future generations.
For that balance to exist certain things need to characterize our
worship:
- The Word and the Table. Communion will be given its proper place
alongside the preached Word.
- A spirit of celebration. For the redeemed, joy instead of somberness
is usually the most correct response to grace.
- Narration, or the telling of a story, will be common. We will
resist the spectator mentality, because we are ruminating on a
common journey.
- Spaces for freedom and joy will be allowed. I have called this
“ER” time, which stands for Holy Spirit “Elbow
Room.” We provide opportunity for the Holy Spirit to change
the agenda through the prayers and testimonies of God’s people.
- Expressive ritual. We will take advantage of 2000 years of wisdom
that is expressed in the rituals of the church.
- Worship exists to empower us to live for God and love people
in the world. Worship will never be just a mystical end in itself.
- Balance our traditions with cultural relevance. We will use
words and actions that connect to today’s diverse and complex
society.
In hundreds of our churches, inspiring worship happens regularly.
As we give our very best to our public worship services, God can
and will use our communities of faith to reach a lost and lonely
world.
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