| Expect the Unexpected |
It would look different every time. God creates. That's His nature. Put Him in charge, and you never know what will happen. God may have everyone on the floor, weeping over sin. He may have the pastor lead a worship dance. He may give an exhortation through a 12-year-old girl.
He may orchestrate an hour of unscripted singing or spontaneous testimonies. He may prompt individuals to read Scriptures aloud. He may call forth unexpected giving and unexpected gifts. He may draw the group into fervent prayer.
God may usher in people who had no intention of "going to church" that day but could not resist His drawing. He might overwhelm everyone present with an outlandish miracle - or a deep awareness of His love.
It will be fitting, all right. It will have order, all right. But not any order we could have outlined beforehand. The flow will take us places we never expected - and there we'll find God. |
| Become True Worshipers |
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One day, Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman at a well. She asked Him where God wants worship to originate. Generously, she gave Jesus two choices. He picked neither. He said worship arises from "true worshipers," who "worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).
Notice: True worship starts in our spirits. As your spirit responds in truth to the one true God, your soul and body join the refrain. Mind, emotions, will, voice, hands, feet - all add their rich harmony to the melody the spirit is singing. So ordered, worship reflects God's limitless creativity and highly honors Him.
Sadly, most of us haven't learned this order. We try every substitute imaginable. Some start with emotions; some, with the mind. Some give their bodies license to act, unrestrained. Some lock up their bodies, allowing only minimal, synchronized actions (bow your head, stand, sit).
Too often, we engage mouth while disengaging soul and spirit. We gather. The music starts. We stand and sing. Inside, we may be jaded, disillusioned, bitter - or happily self-focused: too enamored with certain sins to give them up; too enamored with certain goals to let God get in the way. Outwardly, we comply. Inwardly, we go out for recess. Mentally, we check off the "church attendance" box on this week's to-do list.
While others applaud our faithfulness, the Lord cries: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men" (Isa. 29:13).
God doesn't just dislike that kind of worship. He rejects it.
But often, we're frustratingly stuck. Worship in spirit? In truth? Instead, going to church has fed our "spiritual bulimia." Admit it or not, we identify with the line in the song "Boondocks," by Little Big Town: "Five card poker on Saturday night. Church on Sunday mornin'."
Maybe our game isn't poker. Still, we've experienced the cycle. We "binge" - indulging in things we know aren't right yet feeling helpless to stop. Then we "purge" - weeping, making silent promises to do better, running to the altar, "rededicating" or taking whatever other action we hope will fix things with God. Afterward, the pattern repeats, ad nauseam, until cynicism sets in.
Lip-service, spiritual bulimia and their bed-fellows result from a systemic dis-order: Trying to worship God without first presenting ourselves wholly to God.
Regardless what Tradition tells us, the order of worship does not begin with the organ prelude (or the keyboard's opening chords). True worship begins when we choose once-for-all to offer our "bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Rom. 12:1).
"This is your spiritual act of worship." This decisive dedication of our bodies to God wrenches worship from the depths of our being. It evicts lip-service. It banishes spiritual bulimia. It exposes as sham whatever mimics worship but doesn't originate in our spirit.
Now we see! Worship is not, at its core, a mental exercise, yet our minds are active. It is not, at its core, a feel-good experience, yet our emotions are expressed. Freely, freely, freely, the living water of the Spirit bubbles up in us and bursts forth from us. This worship delights the Father's heart.
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| Learn Body Language |
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When we yield ourselves wholly to God, we pave the way for a lifetime of worshiping Him in spirit and truth. We open ourselves in a new way to His vast creativity and life. Now all we need is - one another.
God is fitting us together. His people are His temple, His Body, His Bride. While He loves and receives our individual worship, He also intends for us to worship Him together.
Tradition applauds corporate worship - but produces only an illusion. People gather in one place, but what ascends heavenward must sound more like a band warming up than a symphony in concert. The true worshipers in the group, whether few or many, are each engaged in personal worship in the midst of a crowd. That's far different from the Body of Christ worshiping as one.
When God's in charge, He calls forth from His people a symphony of worship.
He provides leaders to coach us as a team to welcome His life, cultivate His creativity and mature into unity. He gives leaders these instructions: "Prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" (Eph. 4:12). Notice the purpose: to build up the Body, not just individuals.
How does a symphony prepare? Practice. How do God's people prepare to do His works? We practice hearing and obeying Him.
In an orchestra, who practices? The conductor only? Of course not. All the players practice individually. Just as crucial, everyone practices together. So too, when we gather, we're all to practice hearing and obeying Christ "until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son" (Eph. 4:13 MSG).
Yet, Tradition forbids this kind of practice. It sends this distinct message: "Do not try to hear from God except, of course, by way of the sermon. The 'clergy' will hear from God and tell you what He said. If you think God is telling you to do anything during this service other than the actions we call for at the time we call for them, do not do it. That would disrupt our order and might keep us from getting out on time."
Ah, but when God's people decide to let God, rather than Tradition, guide worship, they revisit 1 Corinthians 14:26-31: "When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two - or at the most three - should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged."
When God's in charge, the order of worship looks like this: God initiates. His people respond. His leaders cooperate with Him in guiding the process.
When Tradition's in charge, the order of worship looks like this: The leaders initiate. The people do only what they're told to do. This makes for very apathetic people and very tired leaders - all frustrated because they've corporately experienced a lifetime of form without power.
Tradition uses many ploys to keep God's people from breaking out of this robotic pattern. First, we don't even see that it is a manmade pattern. We're just sure our printed Order of Service first appeared in one of Paul's epistles.
When the Holy Spirit does speak to us within a worship setting, calling for us to do something not listed in the bulletin (as if He were in charge!), we suppress Him. We chalk the Spirit's prompting up to emotion or rebellion. Regardless what we tell ourselves, "clergy" and "laity" alike do what's expected of us - no more, no less - because we fear What People Will Think more than we fear God.
How freeing when the Body begins learning to trust God and each other. How powerful when a roomful of true worshipers practice together hearing God's voice and responding to Him. How invigorating when we give one another room to fail, at the same time we're helping each other succeed.
To us who've sung, "Tradition, tradition! Tradition!" for so long, such a dynamic seems risky and messy. Quite honestly, it's both. But we cannot move from our order to God's order without the mess of renovation. So let's risk it! Gathering to worship, let's learn together to hear and obey Him. Let's learn as one Body how to lift up the Head.
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| Open the Door |
If you think the type worship I've described exists somewhere between heaven and Never Never Land, think again. In fact, do this experiment: Hold out one hand in front of you. Now make a gesture as if turning a knob and opening a door.
Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:17 NASU). In heaven, God sets the order of worship. So, by your cries of faith, reach out and open the door for that kind of worship to invade your region on earth. Invite the Spirit of God to sweep in, to make of you a true worshiper and to call forth from His people a symphony of worship. Ask Him to show you where it's already happening.
It can happen at Walmart.
Recently, my husband and I met with a small group of Christians in a home. Munching on snacks, we laughed over funny stories. We discussed major life changes some in the group are facing. Then, the host couple told us about a family they know. The parents are adopting two baby boys from Africa, in addition to their two daughters. Learning some of the family's needs, we prayed for them. Our eyes wet, we interceded for people we had never met.
Afterward, armed with specific lists, we divided into teams and drove to the nearest Walmart. There, we ran through the store, gathering gift items for this family, delighted over the creative ideas that emerged as we worked together.
When our team got stuck in a 30-minute check-out line, we spent the time discussing questions related to wise parenting.
For two hours, God orchestrated - maybe not a symphony, but a lovely ensemble. We didn't sing one hymn or praise chorus. But He had us all sight-reading parts we had no idea we could play, making music together. The music wafted out to touch another family, encouraging them in the "works of service" to which God has called them. Most of all, the song wafted upward to the One who wrote it.
The lyrics went this way: "God, God! God! God, God! God!"
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Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Today's New International Version.
Other translations used: New American Standard Updated (NASU), The Message (MSG): The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
Spiritual bulimia: Dr. Terry Matthews, Wake Forest University, Religion in the South, http://www.wfu.edu:/~matthetl/south/lectureone.html
"Boondocks," Wayne Kirkpatrick, Kimberly Roads, Phillip Sweet, Karen Fairchild, Jimi Westbrook
(© 2004 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp)
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Deborah P. Brunt