Something is Missing

Somewhere in my lifetime, something was lost in Christian worship. It is hard to put one's finger on it and say “Aha! That’s it!” But it seems to be something that is fundamentally at the center of what worship is for Christians.

Among North American evangelicals an ethos has developed which seems to say that worship is supposed to entertain the people so they will come back for more. We are trying to fill needs that would otherwise be filled by listening to talk radio, going to concerts, movies, theater, or even the local pub for conversation.

We tell ourselves that we need to have top-flight preachers who can hold people’s attention. People whose words effect life-change in those who listen to them. We prefer a band whose music and singing is pitch perfect, whose stage presence and ability to understand audience response causes our emotions to well up inside our hearts. We want drama that is just as good as anything on the stage or silver screen. We’re interested in actors and writers who can convey the whole range of human experience to us as if we had never seen it before.

One of the newest things in the North American evangelical experience of worship is to promote conversational teaching experiences as well as intimacy in worship. We don’t want to be preached at anymore, we want someone to talk to us. In some places, the message is even deleted from the service in favor of an open dialogue with the congregation, a back and forth conversation about a particular topic.

To be sure this promotes a relational feel to the service. It helps us to feel connected to the person who is leading the teaching and creates an intimate atmosphere. Intimacy is further promoted and developed by turning the lights down. Some have said this makes people feel more spiritual. I’ve heard others say it helps men to feel more comfortable. Still others have said it gets people to lose their inhibitions about singing or raising their arms in public.

I wonder if these are the right motivations for God’s people to have when they assemble for worship. I even question if these are the right motivations we should have when looking for ministry leaders or setting the vision for our church ministry. I question that because they seem to be centered around us and not God.

I think this is what has been lost and is quite possibly the reason for the growing shallowness of the evangelical church in North America. The numbers may be great, but we haven’t led them to any place that is better than what they couldn’t find elsewhere. We spend great amounts of time in church talking about God, but somehow we fail to introduce people to Him.

The mystery and awe of meeting God is gone.

We no longer see Him high and lifted up on His throne with the smoke filling the Temple as Isaiah saw Him because we’re too busy making things run right so the people are entertained and will come back next week to hear the message and support our ministry.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the one-size-fits-all solution for this situation. I do know that God longs to meet His people in worship. Jesus Christ didn’t come to earth and live as a human being to entertain the crowds with His teaching or His miracles. He came to introduce us to the Father by announcing the nearness of the kingdom of God on earth. When we worship, we should know we are in God’s presence. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ opened the doors of heaven for us to enter the throne room of God.