Lynne and I had a conversation this week...
...which led to a conversation with Ryan...
...which led to a whole lotta thinking in my head...
...which, of course, means I have to tell you. {I'm so junior high that way.}
Lynne asked me what came to mind when I heard the phrase "worship experience."
I thought about it for a minute and I concluded it was a production. A whole carefully constructed and orchestrated event with a rehearsed multi-piece-and-voice band, power point, music, speaking, note-taking...the whole nine yards.
We talked about it more and it left me wondering...
...when did worship have to become an experience?
When did it become imperative to conjure up so much feeling and emotion in a controlled setting?
The worship I remember best has taken place...kicked back in a boat with the anchor dropped in the middle of a lake...or swinging my legs off the side of a pier with my journal in hand and no one else around...or face down on a blanket in my backyard with the sun beating down on my hair...leaning against the wall of the shower while hot water pelted me and I choked through sobs...or behind the wheel of my Bekah-mobile with the radio cranked. No production. Just God, me, and whatever He was using in that moment.
Ryan and I talked about it later and I shared with him this tweet from Beth Moore, in which she quoted her daughter, Melissa:
People don't read the Bible. They just talk about it.
It's true, you know.
How many times have I curled up to read my devotions and I read everything but the Bible?
I'm convicted today. Am I depending on a constructed experience? Or am I allowing God to teach me to just worship...with whatever I have and wherever I am? Am I reading the Bible? Or just talking about it?
God...grow me.
2 hours ago
3 comments:
My friend Jamie blogs here http://rebootingworship.com/ about being a recovering worship leader. It scares me sometimes that we think we have to be entertained to have a "worship experience". I think the most important ones we should be seeking are those in private; those where you meet with God through his word or through your anguished prayers or prayers of thanksgiving.
I have to agree with Mark...I feel people put too much emphasis on emotion. Emotion is fine as a response to the Word, to music that moves us, or in appreciation of all that God does for us even when we fail Him. True worship is THINKING...thinking with Bible doctrine and divine viewpoint, rather than emotion and human viewpoint. It is being in fellowship and quietly concentrating during Bible teaching so we can learn what God would have us do rather than what we might want to do.
Emotion should be a 'response to' rather than a 'means of' worship. Our emotions can and often do lead us astray, but God's infallible word never will!
Mark- Thanks so much for sharing that link! I read a few of her posts yesterday and really enjoyed her perspective! And I shared it with Lynne. She and I had both discussed the "entertainment factor" - I think you hit it right on!
Karen - I heard an interview once with Cliff Barrows, who was the music leader for the Billy Graham crusades, and someone accused the massive numbers of people going forward at the crusades to the emotion stirred up by music. So for a while, Billy cancelled all music at the crusades to make sure it wasn't false emotion driven happenings. Turns out - it wasn't. But the point remains that people DO get all caught up in emotion!!
Post a Comment