Worship is the Words?

Worship is a huge concept, but the focus of this post is in regards to worship music.

There is a large group of Christians today that believes this misconception that worship is the words. There is a constant battle in my church between the people who believe this and those who realize that perhaps the music adds something to the worship experience. This battle is carried out by the sound-men as they either try and mix all the sounds, which usually ends up creating an unpleasant sound for all parties involved.

First, let's look at what words actually are. Words are a social construct that we use to express thoughts. Worship is a thought, or impulse that we seek to release somehow, language is the most natural, easiest way to express ourselves. But is that the only way in which we can express ourselves? There are a huge array of media which humans can use to communicate or express their thoughts. Classical music is especially good at telling a story without words. A well written song can actually produce a visual image in the mind of the listener, it communicates a message by virtue of the notes alone.

What would happen, I wonder if Christian songwriters began to write songs that told a story of praise and thanksgiving to God that used a combination of words and music to worship. What if maybe, just maybe, the music itself became just as much a part of the worship experience as the words. Who are we to say that the music isn't as glorifying as the words? Scripture says to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord" a joyful noise does not mean "words".

The Imago Dei Part I

"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). 

Human beings are ikons or image bearers of God, there is something about humanity that bears the likeness of God. For centuries theologians have struggled with what exactly this could mean, I don't intend to fully explore the full meaning of this idea, but I think I've stumbled upon a small insight in this regard.

A verse that caught my attention was Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." I've always understood this verse to mean that whenever a few Christians gather together, Christ is present. But clearly Christ is always present, he is present in his Creation, in the Eucharist, in worship, in service, in everything. This can't be all that this verse means.

Often I have observed my friends and mentors and been encouraged or challenged in my faith. I see other people living holy lives and say to myself, hey I should do that. I then set my sights on the specific behavior of that person and try to emulate it. As you can imagine, this is often a disastrous exercise. 

Now, back to this idea of Imago Dei, as I was meditating on these things, I realized that part of being made in the image of God, is our ability to reflect godlike attributes. Metaphorically, people are windows through which we can catch a glimpse of God. I realized that to successfully engage in a holy, god-fearing lifestyle I must focus my sights on that which the window shows a glimpse of, not the window itself. In other words, I must look to God, the one who's Spirit transforms lives to reflect his glory, in order for my life to be transformed. To fixate myself on the actions of friends and colleagues in order to transform my life will always fail.

So to try and pull all of these strands together, I think that being image bearers of God has given us the ability to see him in the lives of our friends. We must be careful to not think that everyone is reflecting God perfectly, but when we are confronted with a behavior that is clearly affirmed in Scripture, we have seen an image of Christ. Therefore when Jesus proclaimed that when we gather together he is present, he was speaking in a quite physical, literal sense. When believers gather together we bring together a bunch of image bearers that ultimately present a picture of Christ.

Mutterings

A note about the following: this was inspired by the work of Kim Fabricius, the content is meant to make the reader think, the crassness and cynicism of it is for effect, and probably heavily influenced by the long day I spent battling mosquitoes and cattle while thinking about this stuff.

Defining what God can and can’t do and what he does indeed do are two completely different things. Using the retort, “Are you saying God can’t do that?” is always irrelevant.

Worship is not singing the newest Matt Maher song as passionately as you can and getting a happy feeling inside in return.

God is more than a feeling.

Happiness and joy have never been the same thing, why in the world would something as overwhelming as the Joy of the Lord have anything to do with putting a smile on?

The Catholic Church may need a bit of work, but Protestants, you’ve gone way too far.

The very gates of hell will not be able to prevail against the Church of Christ, never for a moment think that the Church is obsolete, this is only the beginning.

Every day millions of children die in a pile of shit, and you are more upset that I just used a swear word.

Even if God appeared to us and made it obvious that he is in total control and free will was obsolete, we would still look for a way to do our own thing, that’s the nature of sin.

The mystery of marriage is children, if we eliminate that aspect; nobody has grounds to reject gay marriage.

Falling in love with God is never enough, how many men have fallen in love with a woman yet continue to look at others, in that context it’s called adultery, in the context of God, it is idolatry.

If fear demonstrates a breakdown of faith, how are we ever to fear the Lord Our God?

It may be the work of loving hands that builds a beautiful cathedral, but a greater beauty is found in the feeding of the hungry.

Pessimism and optimism are both false, the truth lies in contentment.

Amen means "Let it be so" think about that before using it, ponder whether or not you really want whatever you are Amening to to happen.

God created the greatest piece of art for free and said, "It is good". Man charges thousands of dollars for a blank canvas and claims to be better than God.

Doubt is the consort of Faith.

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12) The Truth is alway greeted by a raucous chorus of denial and slander.

Only when you realize the extent of your debauchery can you truly be filled with grace, a "righteous" man is graceless.

Mere Contentment?

Something that has been on my mind since coming home this summer is the concept of contentment. I want to truly embrace the moment that has been given me, not just tolerating an experience while frantically looking around for a distraction or casting my eyes ahead to the next new thing on the horizon.

The other day I was reading a blog and one of the comments used the phrase, "mere contentment"; I have to admit, I was quite startled. Mere contentment, I thought, wow, this must be a really easy thing, am I a complete failure for not achieving it yet, or is there perhaps more to it than is commonly believed.

Ecclesiastes has a lot to say on the subject, actually, the entire book could be summed up with the idea that it is good to find contentment in the work of your hands and the food on your table, don't stress, just live life. Crazy enough, Jesus echoes these same sentiments when he points to the lilies of the field and explains how the Father provides arraignment finer than Solomon's attire. He points out the birds of the air and how they never lack for food, because the Father provides for them, how much more will he provide for our needs?

Contentment is more than just positive thinking, it is seeing the beauty of the reality of a situation and glorying in the idea that God created it just the way that it is. This is incredibly hard to do, and I often fail, but seeing each day as a gift, instead of a right, is the first step on the path to contentment. "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people..." (Ephesians 6:8) If we are serving the Lord wholeheartedly we will find contentment because we are giving back to the one who gave us all we have.

Crying

The tear, possibly the most perfect expression of emotion available to humanity. Tears are the natural overflow of an intense emotional experience, joy, relief, pain, sadness, humiliation, etc. Unfortunately crying has become a sign of weakness, especially for men. A man who cannot control his emotions and present a stoic exterior to the world is deemed a failure. Recent attempts have been made by the feminist movement to encourage men to express their emotional side, yet I have witnessed the natural recoil of those same advocates of emotional expressiveness when confronted by a weeping man.

As men we are presented with this conflicting dichotomy, freedom to express our emotions openly and let the tears flow, and an unspoken rule that says men can not cry. Everyone will give voice to the first and strongly support it, but almost without exception, those same people will, with their body language, condemn the man that dares to cry.

As a result, men in our culture struggle with giving the appropriate emotional response in a given situation. I often find myself half crying, filled to overflow with intense emotion, not necessarily sadness, often worship or joy, yet having no source of release. The result is a tearing up of the eyes and otherwise stoic features. The only clue to my true feelings lay in my eyes, a quick blink or two, a moistness around the lashes.

The suppression of strong emotion at times when it threatens to overwhelm me has led to the inability to experience proper emotions, for example, at a time where tears of sadness are the appropriate response, I feel nothing, I convince myself to feel sorrowful to the point where I can muster up a few sniffles to look like a caring human being.

There is a balance to be maintained however. Emotions should not have complete control over our actions, self-control is key in every aspect of our lives, it simply would not do to have people burst into sobbing fits on a whim, neither would hysterical laughter be an appropriate response.  I rather enjoy the awkward half crying that sometimes overtakes me, even though it is a symptom of the dysfunctional nature of our society, I embrace it and revel in the release of emotion that is so raw and powerful.

"Jesus wept," one of the shortest verses in the Bible, yet it speaks volumes. Jesus broke down, opened himself up for public humiliation and let go of his emotions when confronted by the death of his friend. There is no shame in crying, but remember, everything in moderation.

Doubting Thomas

Doubt, that insidiously gnawing tendril of fear and insecurity. It eats away at your conscience, tormenting your very soul, mind and being. Constantly I am beset with doubts; I have a hunger to learn more and more, and yet with every new thing I learn I am sent back to square one to try and systematically fit everything together into some sort of a coherent whole. This past year at college my little world was rocked almost daily as I learned new and wonderful things about God, the Bible and humanity, it was scary, amazing and beautiful all at once. Through it all doubt was my constant companion, a healthy counterpart for faith I think.

A couple weeks ago my pastor said something that blew my mind and sent me into a mini spiral of despair. He announced that he has never doubted his faith in Christ and in his salvation. Immediately I began to panic as he declared that we need not ever doubt all of our good Christian heritage, the Scriptures, or the assurance of our salvation. What kind of Christian am I, I thought, surely I must not truly be a believer if I am so constantly plagued with doubts, why am I not one hundred percent confident in my beliefs at all times?

I cast my mind back to the gospel accounts, if you read carefully, you'll notice that not only did the apostles not really understand what was going on, they were afflicted with some pretty severe doubts, and unlike us, they did not have millenia of tradition and writings to fall back on for reassurance.

I started thinking about what faith was, I think 1 Peter 1:8 sums it up very well, "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy." Faith is a journey we embark on without knowing exactly where we are going, we don't know all the little details, nor do we always need to. Faith is realizing that you don't know where you are going, second guessing, doubting, fearing, but persevering. Faith is continuing to walk in the direction you were shown even when you can't see your feet to be certain that you are still on the path. God is faithful, he will guide you along, but doubting isn't a testament against your faith, listening to your doubts and acting upon them is. It is healthy to doubt, and I believe anyone who is absolutely honest with themselves, if they have faced any trials of any kind, would admit to experiencing doubt.

"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world" 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NLT). A mark of true faith is the faith that experiences trials and yet stands strong, I think an extension of that would be experiencing the paralyzing touch of doubt and yet carrying on; that is genuine faith, it has been tested and refined in the fires of heaven.

God Bless

Think about it...

This evening as I cruised around on Facebook I noticed a friend's status that read, "someone complained to Voltaire that life was hard. He replied compared to what?" - War Games by Linda Poleman..... Think about it" (thanks Mike). I immediately replied that it was easier to live for a cause than to die for one, which got me thinking. The message that we often get from movies and music is that the true demonstration of love is to die for someone. There are countless songs in which the singer claims that he would die for his true love, countless movies in which couples sacrifice themselves for love of the other person. We often see such examples and say, "wow that person really loved", or, "how romantic!" Unfortunately, I think that what we are seeing in such examples is base cowardice, immaturity, and fatalistic idealism.


As mortals we put a lot of emphasis on our mortality. The thought of dying is terrifying to most, even those who have some belief in an afterlife are still periodically beset with fear or doubt, the reality is, we can have faith, but we don't have 100% guaranteed certainty of everything working out. Therefore, it would seem that overcoming that fear and uncertainty, willing to risk everything and possibly throw away the only shot at life we have for the sake of someone else is a huge sacrifice. I think this is quite probably one of the greatest lies our society has fallen for; the idea that it is harder to die than to live. 


We are all alive. We all know the cost of living, what it takes to have relationships with people, to maintain health, to struggle financially, spiritually, emotionally, etc. yet Christ calls us to pick up our cross daily and follow him. Wait a minute, what is our cross you may ask? I suggest that it is all of those above mentioned burdens, knowingly shouldering all of that potential pain and suffering, approaching it willingly and even cheerfully, daily. In the context of a romantic relationship this means living for the other person day by day, working to make the relationship stronger, accepting the struggles and hardships and sacrificing yourself every single day for the benefit of the other person. Personal rights get put aside in the interest of the best possible well-being of the other.


Some of you may be thinking, wait a minute, you mentioned picking up a cross, and that Christ guy, did he not sacrifice his very life for his bride, the Church? Yes, he surely did. So then what is so cowardly or lesser about being willing to give up your life in one great act that proves your love for the beloved? Simply this, Christ is Risen! Jesus lived from all eternity in communion with the Trinity. He forsook that to be incarnated as a man and he lived with us for years, daily laying aside his authority and rights as Creator of the universe, as is written in Philippians 2:6-8, "Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross." Jesus started his sacrifice long before the moment of the crucifixion. He put up with living in a lowly human body, associated with sinners and prostitutes and showed love every day to those who would later applaud his death. When he died it was not as a cheap alternative to living out a life of sacrificial love, it was the culmination of a life of sacrificial love. And Christ has risen, he is alive and continues to live, showering his bride with love, constantly forgiving the many transgressions of his bride the Church, in order that he may present us blameless to his Father in Heaven.


So yes, while throwing one's life away in an all out moment of passion, allegedly proving one's love for another may appear flashy and extravagant, it pales in comparison to a life lived in sacrificial love, devoted to one's partner. In Ephesians chapter 5 we are given guidelines as to how to live as husband and wife, I believe that what this text is saying is that we are called to live a life of sacrificial love. Women are called to submit, i.e., lay aside their own rights and desires, and men are called to sacrifice, just as Christ sacrificed, living a life of sacrificial love with the willingness to give it all, not as a first option, but as a culmination.


I hope that when looking for a way to express your love, you would realize that the most meaningful way in which you could do so, is to lay down your life, by living.