Thoughts on Worship

[Dannell Shu]

"Me-oriented worship is the result of a culturally driven worship. When worship is situated in the culture and not in the story of God, worship becomes focused on the self. It becomes narcissistic. . . . Much of our worship has shifted from a focus on God and God’s story to a focus on me and my story."

Robert Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006), 231.

~This quote reflects a significant shift in my understanding of worship as one who worships and one who leads others in worship. The shift began as I started the process of completing a Masters in Worship Studies at the Institute for Worship Studies in Jan 07. www.iwsfla.org My life, my worship, isn't about me in that God is a "character" within the story of my life. Rather I am a "character" / an active participant within God's story.

This understanding has brought new life to what is means to be a servant of Christ and to live a life of surrender unto God. My availability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and respond promptly within the seemingly everyday moments of life has greatly expanded. I recognize that when God invites me to participate He is engaging me in a much larger narrative. It has greatly impacted how I am reading and understanding the Bible, the narration of God's redemption of His creation.

On the flip side I have become starkly aware of how much of my worship and the worship I experience in the churches we visit is me-oriented. It is interesting to me that Robert Webber points out that this is the result of culturally driven worship. So much of the messages I find myself surrounded by as a result of the prevalence of advertising and marketing are focused on products and services catering to "me" the consumer. In this kind of a cultural environment I am encouraged to live a life that is focused on my needs (actual or perceived) and the pursuit of fulfilling them.

How do we change direction in what drives our worship? Where do we begin?

Dannell

[Grant]

Hey Dannell-
That’s a great question. Where do we begin? So called “worship” (called as such, mainly because it has music and talks about God) has been on a steady slide towards entertainment for a long time. On our trip to Trinidad, a few people commented on the “American Idol” version of “Shout to the Lord,” and how sickening it was to see that great song of worship reduced to a showcase for vocal licks. While I agree, I don’t fully perceive the difference between that and some of the $100,000 video productions sold at Northwestern Bookstore. Mainstream Christian culture has fully embraced the entertainment model of worship for at least 10 years, but it started long before that. “Worship” bands regularly perform encores that point to the talent of the musicians rather than the glory of God. Pastor Matthew Barnett of the L.A. Dream Center makes no apology for the fact that he wants his musicians and singers to put on a good show. For all of the good that they do, it is ironic that his church (and Nashville as well) draws talent looking for a big break, just like Hollywood does. The unspoken tagline for many such performers could be “look at me, see how pretty I can be…”

It’s a tough call to make because frankly, guitar solos appeal to my flesh, and yet I know that talent given to God is worship. So is taking out the trash, but my flesh doesn’t like that too well. Romans 12:1 has often been referred to wherever GWM has played so far: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” I would submit that congregational worship as we know it is a very thin slice of what the Apostle Paul had in mind here, and our individual parts, whether they be running sound, singing, dancing, playing… are even thinner slices of that pie. In fact, the use of our bodies in this particular (Romans) context, only involves “movement” to the extent that just about everything we do requires movement. We might more accurately think of Paul’s instruction to give our bodies as saying – “Give God your whole bad self.” Or, as Paul says in Colossians 3:16,17 – “…with gratitude in your hearts to God. … whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Ultimately, I think much of what constitutes true worship boils down to the attitude of one's heart when doing it. I have played drums in worship to God with attitudes that ranged from humble to agitated and worse. In operating sound equipment, I have been a complete servant, and I have lashed out in anger. In visiting difficult people, cleaning up messes, doing “ministry,” or mundane tasks my motivations and attitudes have run the gamut. Sometimes I have tried to limit my “ministry” to things that I’m best at – things that look and smell like ministry to the detriment of what Christ might have done in similar circumstances. In our pursuit of excellence, we should not make excellence an end to itself, AKA an idol. My giftings are only of value to the corporate body of Christ when they are actually needed, and discernment is helpful in distinguishing between needs and wants.

Wow - I just put a lot of time into this response, and we have a grand total of 11 people in our network so far. It's worship.

Luv-n-frenz,
Grant

[Dannell Shu]

Here are some further thoughts from Robbert Webber on this:

I am concerned over how worship has become a program, a show, and entertainment. Once again the problem is a self-centered and presentational approach to worship. If we think worship is about me, or if we are trying to sell people on worship and lure them to receive Jesus into their lives, then I can see the value of all entertaining programs. But once again, presentational worship turns true worship on its head. If worship is truly doing God’s story and calling people to find their life and story by entering God’s story, then the style of worship is prayer.

Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 25.

More and more I am finding great freedom understaning my life by entering into God's story. The seemingly small everyday moments hold greater signifigance and the "performance of worship" falls away. Less and less I find myself "doing" worshio and rather living and being my worship.

What about you? Are you finding your life within the greater narrative of God's story? How is it affecting your worship?

[Alan Brisco]

Hi Grant,

We've never met - we will some day!

As I read your reply to Dannell, a couple of things crossed my mind. Can we really say "talent given to God is [God-pleasing] worship"? Isn't it possible to offer something at worship that doesn't please Him? Cain comes to mind. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) come to mind.

Simply offering something to God may be an act of worship - but it will always be inadequate if it begin in us and is anchored in ourselves. It will often be flawed and sometimes even devious. We may not even know the depths of either ourselves.

So, it seems to me that this presents an insurmountable probem if we use our hearts as 'guides'?

If I use my heart as a plumbline, might I find that I am not "in line" with what pleases God? Jeremiah 17:9 cautions us "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who [including ourselves] can know it? Even with the greatest of self-discipline and the most Godly intentions may leave me with worship efforts that begin and in ME!

What I need is worship that begins and ends in God alone. When he is both subject and object in each 'worship sentence' worship will be about the best "in Him". If I concnetrate on being better, more, or even less then the focus - intentionally or otherwise is on ME! I end up tangled up in ME!

David Petersen (Engaging with God: a Biblical Tehology of Worship - InterVarsity Press, 1992) gives the best definition of worship I've heard - "worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way that h alone makes possible."

Part of the challenge is our crazy notion that worship is something "I" do to "show" God what "I" think or feel or believe "about" him. "I" end up being at the ctner of "my" worship as I reflect upon and try to reflect God.

True worship is not just a matter of reflection where we express ourselves to God. It is also an act of formation where God informs, forms, and transforms us as we are willing. We are being shaped by God in God-pleasing worship. Given the magnitude of all this, God simply won't let worship "he desires" be a matter of me or even us trying to do it alone. Instead he invites us "in" to be formed (his action) and consequently we respond (our response).

Keep looking up...
Alan




Grant said:

Hey Dannell-
That’s a great question. Where do we begin? So called “worship” (called as such, mainly because it has music and talks about God) has been on a steady slide towards entertainment for a long time. On our trip to Trinidad, a few people commented on the “American Idol” version of “Shout to the Lord,” and how sickening it was to see that great song of worship reduced to a showcase for vocal licks. While I agree, I don’t fully perceive the difference between that and some of the $100,000 video productions sold at Northwestern Bookstore. Mainstream Christian culture has fully embraced the entertainment model of worship for at least 10 years, but it started long before that. “Worship” bands regularly perform encores that point to the talent of the musicians rather than the glory of God. Pastor Matthew Barnett of the L.A. Dream Center makes no apology for the fact that he wants his musicians and singers to put on a good show. For all of the good that they do, it is ironic that his church (and Nashville as well) draws talent looking for a big break, just like Hollywood does. The unspoken tagline for many such performers could be “look at me, see how pretty I can be…”

It’s a tough call to make because frankly, guitar solos appeal to my flesh, and yet I know that talent given to God is worship. So is taking out the trash, but my flesh doesn’t like that too well. Romans 12:1 has often been referred to wherever GWM has played so far: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” I would submit that congregational worship as we know it is a very thin slice of what the Apostle Paul had in mind here, and our individual parts, whether they be running sound, singing, dancing, playing… are even thinner slices of that pie. In fact, the use of our bodies in this particular (Romans) context, only involves “movement” to the extent that just about everything we do requires movement. We might more accurately think of Paul’s instruction to give our bodies as saying – “Give God your whole bad self.” Or, as Paul says in Colossians 3:16,17 – “…with gratitude in your hearts to God. … whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Ultimately, I think much of what constitutes true worship boils down to the attitude of one's heart when doing it. I have played drums in worship to God with attitudes that ranged from humble to agitated and worse. In operating sound equipment, I have been a complete servant, and I have lashed out in anger. In visiting difficult people, cleaning up messes, doing “ministry,” or mundane tasks my motivations and attitudes have run the gamut. Sometimes I have tried to limit my “ministry” to things that I’m best at – things that look and smell like ministry to the detriment of what Christ might have done in similar circumstances. In our pursuit of excellence, we should not make excellence an end to itself, AKA an idol. My giftings are only of value to the corporate body of Christ when they are actually needed, and discernment is helpful in distinguishing between needs and wants.

Wow - I just put a lot of time into this response, and we have a grand total of 11 people in our network so far. It's worship.

Luv-n-frenz,
Grant

[Alan Brisco]

Hey Dannell,

The more we allow our narrative to get immersed in His narrative, the less we get sucked ino our own narrative (which is narcissism). We avoid the false sense of importance about our own narrative and find massive meaning in his. Gotta love this narrative stuff. Sounds like you've been reading some good stuff.

Keep looking up...
Alan

Dannell Shu said:

Here are some further thoughts from Robbert Webber on this:

I am concerned over how worship has become a program, a show, and entertainment. Once again the problem is a self-centered and presentational approach to worship. If we think worship is about me, or if we are trying to sell people on worship and lure them to receive Jesus into their lives, then I can see the value of all entertaining programs. But once again, presentational worship turns true worship on its head. If worship is truly doing God’s story and calling people to find their life and story by entering God’s story, then the style of worship is prayer.

Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 25.

More and more I am finding great freedom understaning my life by entering into God's story. The seemingly small everyday moments hold greater signifigance and the "performance of worship" falls away. Less and less I find myself "doing" worshio and rather living and being my worship.

What about you? Are you finding your life within the greater narrative of God's story? How is it affecting your worship?

[Grant]

Hello Alan -
You raise some good points. Obviously it is a dangerous thing to use one's self as the measuring stick of what is good and proper in worship. The larger context of my point is to say that worship is much larger than something you do in a worship service, or even in private communication with God. It involves every part of oneself. Without diving into a whole other discussion, most people I know, myself included, have a tendancy to separate our lives into the sacred and the secular. What if there is no difference for the Christian? What if everything I do, however mundane, has spiritual implications?

Assuming that worship must begin and end with God, let us go back to our own births, which were enabled by God's action on our behalf. Then lets go to the day of our spiritual birth in Christ. Then lets go to the end of our natural lives. Ideally, all of the in between should be dedicated to the pursuit of worship. What of the mundane, all of the insignificance, all of the dirty mistakes, all of the good, the bad, the ugly... How much of it is pure worship? Must I be a monk or a worship leader to achieve maximum worship, or is God pleased when I worship him even through the mundane tasks of life?

I once tried to do some manual labor in the middle of a (free form) prayer meeting, and was corrected by my pastor, that I should be praying. I was not being distracting, and I don't hold it against him, but little did he know, I was actually worshiping - even worshiping with movement.

Suddenly, worship is much larger than a worship service, and whether or not I dance in it. It's larger than all of the talent on stage or in the tech booth, even while including those things. Instead of a performance in the hands of professionals, worship is back in the hands of the believer to please God, or displease God, as they choose.

"whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Col. 3:17

God Bless,
Grant