"That Was Some Good Worship Today"

Ya think. This is the kind of thinking that has driven me (screaming) from church. Not only in the vast majority of “worship music” really awful-REALLY-it’s awful- but modern church has turned in to a concert. Not only that, but it has become so scripted and trite that all “worship” has been removed. I know these are harsh words, and probably sound like they’re coming from some old grumpy, hymn-loving, been-in-church-my-whole-life congregant. But that’s not true. I have been an active lead-worshipper for over 10 years, a working musician for over 30, yes I am old, but not THAT old, and believer for most of my adult life. But frankly, I don’t think more than a handful of people even get it. (David Crowder, my apologies. After seeing you at Q last year, I know YOU get it!) So I am going to say that I must agree totally with your post. But how do we fix it? Looking forward to your next post…

it is the service, not the worship that was good/bad.

Maybe it comes down to education on the real meaning of the word.

We have had people stop going to our “contemporary” service because they didn’t like the “worship”…sounds like a personal issue to me, not a congregational one.

(but, I am evil like that)

Nice thought to ponder

The danger of those statements – to me – is more that it’s like worship is something to be consumed, like a good cup of coffee. I realize there is skill and thoughtful prep involved but it feels like a “rating” to me when I hear people say that. That really bothers me. Perhaps we could alter our word choices a bit – “God spoke to me this morning.” or “It was an honor to join with the Body of Christ to worship together this morning.”

What is a concert to you and a worshipful time to others is merely a difference in perspective. I know plenty of people who would call traditional worship styles a concert.

I don’t have an issue with people disagreeing on style. I don’t like country music. We should desire that our times of worship whether they are music or any other form are done in ways that make sense to us.

Eh, this kinda comes off as an argument of semantics to me. It is like me writing a blog about going to church and someone comes back with the snarky response, “what is ‘the church?’” My eyes get stuck in my head from rolling them that hard.

I think we would run into more problems if we corrected people on their theological inaccuracy, which could in turn offend them. Then you have to bring them on Christian Oprah to reconcile and give them a brand new car. Is that what you want to do? Just give out brand new cars? =P

Good thought though.

I don’t have a problem with someone not liking the style too, but that isn’t bad worship, it is a style conflict.

RIGHT Jan, worship is not something to be consumed, Webster’s says “reverent honor and homage paid to god or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.”

That is US giving to God, not the other way around, and maybe THAT is why I get so frustrated.

I used to be a praise and worship leader and I started to come to the point that worship is not a once a week thing, or even a “show” once a week.

It is a state of being in the constant presence and love of our creator. And you can never NOT be in His presence.

I have a similar problem with clapping for people in church.

We are there to worship God, yet we applaud the choir because they did such a good job worshipping? And if we don’t clap for the choir on one week, did they not worship well enough. Shall we click on the LIKE button for this week’s musical selections, folks?

Like Jan said above, we are looking at the worship as a consumable product with comments like this. Our perspective is skewed if we even think that we should have any role in judging how well the worship was executed.

I do think there is room for more performance-oriented music, but I wouldn’t necessarily call that congregational worship music.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tyler Braun, Ben Davis. Ben Davis said: RT @tylerbraun: New blog post on theology and "good" worship // http://bit.ly/bZXsw8 // Every church goer should read this. [...]

Good article from Collide this morning: http://www.collidemagazine.com/blog/index.php/1950/worship-by-any-other-name

Yes…totally agree. As a matter of fact the NIV translation of Romans 12:1 is…

“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.”

That sure puts a new perspective on worship!

Thanks for sharing.

I agree. How many people would “worship” God if the praise leader walked to the mic and said,”We aren’t going to perform for you today. We want you to perform for God. Where we normally sing for an hour, and you sing along, today we want YOU to sing a joyful song of praise to God. Today we want you to dance for God, we want You to shake a tambourine or beat a drum and worship Him.”? I think that needs to be done every so often. BTW, we don’t have a church “service”. We start worship at 1015 a.m. Sunday morning and end our church meeting whenever the pastor ends his message. A service is something performed, completed or done for you. Too many people go to church to feel good. Don’t get me wrong, I want to feel good in church, want to feel the Holy Spirit moving and touching lives. We need to remember to honor God, exalt Him, be humble and a servant of Jesus. God bless y’all

Interesting thought on clapping. Personally as a lead worshipper, clapping isn’t pointed at our “performance” rather directed to the One we have come to worship. Again, I truly believe we need to be careful at assumptions that are drawn at these circumstances.