New Experiences in Worship

Well, it's been a month since I left Oak Ridge--five Sundays.  During that time, I have not set foot in a church.  Oh, I have gone to church, but it just so happened that none of those churches have had buildings.   Only one of those  churches has been ARP, or anything like what I have been used to.   They have all been--shall we say--unique.

First, let me say that this is not a critique of any of these churches.  I am no more qualified to critique the worship service of another church than I am qualified to criticize the Portuguese of a Brazilian  pastor.   I am not familiar with that language.   Every church ministers to a different culture and speaks a different language of faith.  It is foolish for me or for anyone else to think I know better than these congregations and who speak with God every week.  No two churches are exactly the same, and so no two churches will use exactly the same style of worship and music. To judge another church is frankly arrogant. 

Two of those churches have been contemporary, "one name" churches--Threshhold and Element. They both have cutting edge contemporary music, goodt men for pastors,  and meet in YMCAs'  where the slogan is   "preparing young Christian men for the future, through training in mind, body, and Spirit."

In contrast,  the traditional ARP church meets in a funeral home,  which also prepares people for the future,  sort of.

Element and the ARP congregation were both small--about fifty or so in attendance.  Threshhold is large,  about five hundred people.   Threshhold is an EPC  church.  Their pastor, Jeff Gardner, is definitely Reformed in his theology and outlook.  I have been impressed with thee church's passion for God, tgeur  compassion to others. Their many different social and evangelistic ministries, as well as the original artwork produced by  members  of their congregation on the walls as you go in to the worship area. 

As good as these congregations were,  they were not my most exciting recent experience in worship.

Last Tuesday, New Life Seminary had their first convocation in the history of the school.  We professors put on our academic robes and finery and marched into the chapel in line.  I was expecting a solemn, serious service.  Instead, I had a rocking good time.

New Life I may have mentioned is about seventy or eighty percent African American, so the predominate form of worship is African American, with a bit of authentic African  and Caribbean thrown in.  Worship was led by a pastor who wore dreadlocks and played a keyboard. There was much hand-clapping and swaying as we sang.  Choruses of "amen" and "halelujah" rang out through the congregation.   As the preacher spoke. the worship leader riffed on the keyboard, never too loud to interfere but just enough to set the mood.  There was more excitement and joy in that room than any ten worship services I usually attend.  They made traditional Presbyterian worshippers look like manikins.

I said I wasn't going to criticize others' worship, but now I must break my rule a little.  The most noticeable difference between that convocation and the other churches I attended was the direction in which the energy flowed.  In most churches,  all the energy comes from the front.  Preachers, musicians,  and worship leaders, whatever their denomination or style, try to whip the congregation into a worshipful mood, while the congregation resists.  Most churches resemble concert goers or lecture hall attendees,  waiting to see how the people on the stage will entertain, inform, or move them.   But this convocation was different.  There, the  worship leader did not need to create excitement.  The excitement was already there in a room full of worshippers, who were all in love with Jesus.  It was like a great Gospel choir, an explosion of joyous praise performed before the great Audience of One.   The worship leaders  had only to direct worshipful excitement. They did not need to create it.  The Holy Spirit had already done that. 

I am not advocating emotionalistic worship, but the free expression of emotion.  Worshp should be orderly, and the Word of God should be central.  But I have to ask myself,  what is worship going to look like in heaven? 

Will the saints gathered around the throne of God sit on their hands on a cloud while solemnly enjoying the heavenly orchestra or the holy praise band?  I do not think so.  The worship of heaven (or so it seems to me) will more closely resemble that convocation than the stage directed shows that go on in most Protestant churches today.   It will be a place not only of order but exuberance,  where each of us, filled with wonder and praise,  will shout to the glory of God, unashamedly clap our hands at his awesome  majesty, and wonder at His  unending love.

Whatever our tradition,  t seems to me that we could do with a little less order and a little more wonder.