This Week #7, October 19, 2003

A New Worship Style

“I just don’t get anything out of the way we’ve been worshipping. It’s not that there is anything wrong with it, I just don’t relate to it.”

I ‘ve heard that statement more than a few times. Now you have to know I live in a rather small world, and have severely limited experience on the broad scale, so these remarks are not intended to ignite a furor about Worship around the world. (I’m just saying that while pretending more than a couple of dozen people read this in the first place and anyone outside my own circle of lloved ones, and probably even some of them, would care what I say in the matter anyway.)

The thing is, they’re talking about “contemporary” worship. They’re talking about the endless round of choruses (or is that choruses that never end?) we call “praise and worship”, and the sermonettes that often follow. They are talking about the “bands” and “praise teams” and general clamor of too many people moving in too many directions all at the same time.

Now hear me, and listen closely. There is nothing wrong with those things. Everybody gets to choose their worship style, their message preferences, and the noise level in the room. Sometimes I kinda’ like that stuff (except for the sermonettes).

It’s just that I am hearing more and more people, young and older, who are looking for a different kind of worship. They are looking for songs that tell the story of Jesus, that proclaim the great Truths of the faith, and are a bit more harmonious and less bombastic. They want to hear the Word of God, the Truth of God, the Mind of God, the Principles of Scripture clearly and accurately proclaimed. They are not afraid to hear the word “sin” because they are experiencing it fairly regularly. They are not hiding from accountability because they need it and want it. They do not want the music to excite their passions, but quiet their hearts so that they might encounter the still, small voice of God.

Now hear me, and listen closely. We don’t all have to worship the same way! For those who like that old stuff (I mean this “new” stuff is getting pretty old), well, in the words of a popular advertiser, just do it! But for those of us who like the good stuff (often called the “old stuff”, but pretty new to a lot of folks), the kind we enjoy here at Shady Grove, aren’t you glad we can worship as we please?

© Weaver 2003