Lesslie Newbigin was very aware of how we can keep the Gospel to ourselves. He wrote that Jesus is not Lord of the Christians, but Lord of All. It’s easy to avoid doing mission work when we see faith as just a part of our lives. It’s our culture, and so we sometimes give up seeking out unbelievers because they just wouldn’t like it in our churches. I have thought that way many times.
One of the ways that we can keep our faith to ourselves is through worship. The Christian way of worship that frequently replaces creativity with convenience. Having been on a few worship teams myself, I know how it goes. Oftentimes the leader will throw together a few songs that tie in with the message, practice it a few times through so transitions are smooth, and then perform. It becomes routine, and it becomes an expected part of Sunday morning. Like coffee, it can be a friendly drug that gets us on our feet, maybe wakes us up a little, but can actually numb our senses.
Maybe it is that continually reinforcing a “church culture” is what’s keeping people away—or, more likely, keeping us away from people. Maybe it’s that, since we do not allow freeing expressions of love towards God (because we do the same thing every week), we become machines that do not know how to love Him except through singing simple songs and occasionally raising our hands. Maybe this standard, expected way of worship is just one more thing that keeps us from being missional. Why? Because it kills imagination that might be used to share revelations that would bring the body together in a way that is beautiful and how God planned it to be.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit (prophecy, exhortation, tongues, interpretation, etc.) are there for the asking, but we do not ask. We already have our set list planned for next week.
~Lauren
I hope this isn’t the case, because our “traditional” form of contemporary worship is one of my favorite wayst to connect with God. I come from a church that is just now allowing drums and guitar, so it’s all new are really cool for me, but that’s probably just me.
I’m not necessarily convinced that routine has to breed indifference. If that were the case, monasticism would be an utter failure. Although I agree with what Rob said in class (especially the inverted horseshoe remark), changing just because we’ve done something for a while isn’t always the best way to go. I play somewhat regularly for my church’s worship, and I try view it as an opportunity to be mindful of where my heart is at. That said, I agree that creativity might be rather stifled by the process of organizing worship so many times a week.
The idea of creativity is wonderful. God bestowed upon us certain gifts that were meant to glorify Him so we should utilize them all. I cannot deny though, that I find contemporary worship lovely. It may be solely because I am worshiping my Creator, but nonetheless, I think it is important to, while acting upon the belief that contemporary worship has become somewhat stagnant, that it has value because it is celebration in the name of our God. Great post, Lauren, we need to be innovative with the Holy Spirit’s gifts.
Very intriguing, this is an interesting concept that I have never really thought about before. Living in a house with a roommate who is a regular part of a worship team I was able to ask him about his thoughts on this. He said he has definitely fallen into the feeling of routine because there are weeks when he leads worship 3-4+ times. However, he was quick to quote Romans 12:1 “…living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” Romans goes on to say this is an act of worship and to not conform to the world. Being part of the worship team has to be a damper on sanity sometimes, but it is being done for God and is sacrificial, in most cases, therefore it pleases God. But then also, the conforming part has to be dealt with. Some churches conform to comfort and that can be patronizing to people. This definitely has to be dealt with. Thanks for the thoughts!
-Colten
Jeremiah, you honestly got a chuckle out of me at “the gifts of the Holy Spirit are weird.” Oh man… I wish it weren’t so true!
And Danielle! I have a few ideas on the subject, which is why that’s what I’m writing my paper on. I will share my findings with you. I hope to learn a lot.
I completely agree and understand. I find myself falling prey to believing that it’s okay if I’m late to church, it’s still “just worship time”. I get it. My question is, where do we go from here? I know that we need to trust the Holy Spirit, I just wonder what it’s going to look like and how we can join in the movement with God. I don’t have any answers; just more questions.
The connection you make between love and worship is great. It is merely our love for God that allows us to worship him. Any worship motivated by anything other than complete adoration for the Lord is false worship. True worship is the overflowing heart. I think that our robotic singing is not a pleasing sacrifice to God but rather an insult as it is obvious we don’t not have joy in what he has done.
Also I love this: “The gifts of the Holy Spirit (prophecy, exhortation, tongues, interpretation, etc.) are there for the asking, but we do not ask. We already have our set list planned for next week.” Our routine is comfortable and that is all we really want. Plus the gifts of the Spirit are weird.
Thanks for the insight Lauren.
Thanks for posting this Lauren, I was just thinking about it after Rob’s comment about our contemporary worship. Especially from being on the worship team it seems like more of a routine like you said than true worship. I wonder if we don’t need to keep changing up the flow of our worship to stay alert and aware of what we’re actually doing and saying.