I’ve been thinking a lot about “worship” lately. For many years, I thought worship had to do with singing songs to God in church. I have to be honest; I haven’t sung any hymns or choruses in a long time. Actually, I just don’t have the heart or desire to sing church worship songs at all. To me, it often feels empty and shallow. Singing songs about God can feel trite if there isn’t a context for the words that you are saying. They become meaningless, just more mindless activity that we assign spiritual value to. I can’t see how we can truly worship God with lyrics and melody unless those words are coming from something authentic, something rooted in reality. Are the words ringing true with what’s in my heart? Is there a context to this truth?
I’ve song a thousand songs that basically say the words, “God, I surrender.” Most of those times, I groped for God through those songs, seeking very hard to make that statement true. It was like I was trying to convince myself and God that I did indeed surrender everything to Him. However, without there being something in my life making it a true expression of worship, all I was doing was trying to muster up some kind of emotional intensity through the power of music. When worship comes out of real life, there is no striving. That which is in our hearts will naturally surface. For example, when our first child died at birth, and I struggled with even believing or loving God anymore, I made a choice. Both my wife and I chose to say, “God, this hurts like hell, but I still love You. I don’t understand why this is happening, but I still trust You. God, I surrender.” Now there was something real to incite the response of surrender to God. This has been one of the deepest worship experiences of my life. Once you start worshipping God with your life, singing songs can sometimes feel trivial.
This is why I am closer to God outside the walls of the organized church. Life is my worship time and the world all around me is my sanctuary or temple. I don’t look for God once a week on a Sunday morning. I wake up each day wondering where and how I’ll see Him next.
Paul, I think the fact that the organized church has, by and large, reduced worship to the singing of songs has created a short lived, shallow worship experience and the unauthentic expression of it that you’ve described.
Worship in the lives of the characters of the Bible and in the lives of believers today is a choice, it is rooted in life, it is humbly bowing before the LORD and saying, “In this too, you are awesome. I bow down. I worship you”.
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” – Romans 12:1-2a
I have changed my view of what it means to worship God based on this passage. Of course, praising God through songs and such is still worship, but, in my opinion, the greatest way to worship God is to live the way he wants us all to live: with love and compassion for one another.
Amen, and Amen!
Amen to Don!!!
There’s a whole book dedicated to the subject: Teaching Children Authentic Worship by Kathleen Chapman.
It was written intending to give sunday school teachers a ‘glue’ for the church children to worship God.
What I learned is:
The basics of worship is simply focusing on God. And not yourself. After all God is bigger than anything, and if he’s so great then why not spend some time adoring Him? It’s actually quite hard to focus on God for a full minute… try it.. (that’s worship by the way) without letting your mind wander…
One thing to conclude: Worship has MANY forms.
When I did go to “conventional church” I felt confined to the alotted time for worship. I felt rushed to open up my heart to God within the time that the church leaders thought appropriate. I felt cheated of receiving anything from God. When I have my quiet times with God now, there is no set time frame in which I need to accomidate. I don’t need to worry about offending anyone with the way I cry out to God or dance in His presence (I was told by a church leader not to dance in church anymore). I can be me loving Him in the way He designed me – expressive and wholehearted. With this new found freedom, I have been given the strength to stand up for my beliefs and offer friends advice which stands true to God’s word. Some days my life may not seem like a sacrifice to God, but it is always an offering.
If someone were to ask me what God means to me and how I am convinced of His reality I would have to say that next to His Word, He is the God who visits me, comes to be with me by His very Presence; in my pain, joy, aloneness, struggles.
Although He is always with me by his Word (Heb13:5, etc), He visits me especially in the times that I set aside to be with Him, whether in pouring out my heart in anguish to Him or just sitting quietly in His Presence. Just being in His Presence and waiting for Him, drawing close to Him, to me this is worship, and what His heart longs for.
The neat thing about having a sacred time to be alone with Him is that He always knows my need at that particular time and will always manifest Himself accordingly. There are times when He melts my heart and pours His comfort overwhelmingly into me. There are times when He chastens me by His Word. But mostly I come away from these precious times in awe of the reality that He knows me and yet loves me. Walking in this reality when I leave our trysting time and place is my understanding of worship.