Recently my dear wife and I went to a Micheal W. Smith concert. I have been a huge fan of his since the 80s and really enjoy his style. He put on a great show, especially for a guy in his late 50s.
But every Christian concert I have been to (and granted it’s not many, but it is over the span of more than 30 years) follows pretty much the same formula. There’s an opening act (or two) that plays a few songs and then talks at great length about a charity of some kind, usually a child sponsorship thing (that involves a personal story of meeting a child they sponsored) and encouraging people to sign up. Then the headliner opens with a really upbeat song or three, there will be a tribute of some kind to veterans or something, a long worship set that is a medley of the artists own songs and popular worship songs, an altar call that includes a song that is very emotional, then the closing which is a really rocking number and then the artist’s greatest hit. If there is an encore it will be another greatest hit. The end.
Same formula, every concert, every time.
And people react the same way every time. Some interest in the opening acts, dancing and singing for the upbeat songs, hand-raising and swaying for the worship songs.
The conclusion I’ve come to through all these concerts is that it’s all carefully orchestrated to evoke a very particular emotional response. The flow from the “commercial” for the charity, through the upbeat songs into the worship and the altar call is all set to make people feel a certain way, to respond a certain way, to “the call”.
It’s pretty brilliant actually. Many people have begun their “Christian walk” this way. And while, on the one hand, it’s good to “bring people to Christ”, on the other it’s pretty manipulative.
Churches caught on to this long ago. Even my own church has followed this formula in its worship time. A ‘starter’ song, then what we call the “kids can” which is basically a plea for money for the children’s ministry, sometimes followed by the “missions moment” which is a plea to support our missions, then the real music starts with two upbeat songs, maybe two mellower songs, then a worship song going into the Lord’s Supper, and then the sermon with its altar call including a worship song that has a general “come to Jesus” feel. Then closing with something peppy.
I don’t mean to be critical of my own church, or any church for that matter. But the point I want to make is this:
Is triggering an emotional response in people really the best way to reach them? And when you have non-believers and believers in the same place, with the latter group dancing and raising their hands, and the former looking confused, what kind of response are we expecting from the newcomers?
In other words, are we working too much on people’s hearts and not enough on their minds, their intellect, their brains?
Worship is important for Christians. It’s mentioned many many times in the Bible. Many of the Psalms are worship songs.
But what IS worship? Is it just singing a few songs? Is it the raising of hands or bowing in prayer or kneeling or any of those outward expressions?
Let’s get into this:
The word “worship” first appears in the English translation of the Bible in Genesis chapter 22. If you went to Sunday School, you know the story. Abraham, as commanded by God, is to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice him. At the last second, Isaac is spared and a ram is provided, caught in a bush, for the sacrifice. The word appears as Abraham and Isaac leave the servants with the donkey. Abraham says (paraphrasing) “Stay here with the donkey while I go over there and worship.”
The word in Hebrew is סְגִד pronounced “seg-EED”. Literally translated it’s a verb that means “the motion of bowing down and putting your face on the ground”.
There are several other words that are also translated into English as worship, some literally mean “serve” or “pay homage”, but for the most part words translated as “worship” in the old testament seem to imply bowing or another form of prostrating one’s self.
In the New Testament “worship” first appears in Matthew 2:2. It’s the Nativity story of the Wise Men seeking the newborn Jesus to worship him. The word in Greek is προσκυνέω (pross-koo-NEH-o). Literally translated it’s a verb that mean “to kiss a hand, as a dog to his master” or “to touch one’s head to the floor as an expression of reverence”.
Likewise, there are several other words from the Greek that are translated in the New Testament as “worship”, as in the Old Testament some literally mean “serve”, but also “to devote” and “to give”, but the word, pross-koo-NEH-o, is used by far the most.
So we see, in context, the Bible tells us that worship is an act of bowing, putting your head to the floor. (Perhaps not literally, but certainly with that attitude.)
I have never, or at least very very rarely, have seen Christians doing that. Thanks to the media we see pictures and video of worshipers in mosques doing it, so I get the idea that it’s not something we’re likely to see Christians emulating anytime soon.
Be that as it may, even if we don’t take the word literally, it’s obvious that worship is an act of bowing before God, in our attitude if not our outward appearance.
Then what is with the raising of hands?
There’s another word often used in churches: praise. We praise God. The word appears a few times in the New Testament, and the Old, but approximately 137 times in the Book of Psalms (depending on which English translation you use), more than all others combined. And in the Psalms we’re told to praise the Lord in many ways. Psalm 134:2 says “Lift your hands in the sanctuary”.
Praise and worship are often used interchangeably, or very often together as the phrase “praise and worship”. Our church bulletins might even call the music part of our services “Time of praise and worship”.
I won’t get into all the linguistics, but worship and praise are actually two different things. The word most used for praise, especially in the psalms is הָלַל pronounced “ha-lahl”. (You’ve probably seen that word as it’s used in Arabic, related to Islamic practices, where it means “permissable”. Not the same thing.) In it’s Hebrew, Old Testament context it has a similar meaning to “The teacher praised the student to his mother”. Boast. Brag. “I will praise the Lord for his mercies”.
Be that as it may, in English, and our western churches, we traditionally don’t differentiate between praise and worship. They’re one and the same.
But how did we go from worship being an act of bowing, and praise being what it was to our emotionally manipulative practices today?
I don’t honestly know. Something like that is pretty hard to track. Yet here we are.
And in my opinion, it needs to stop.
Emotions are good, and important, but in many cases are too easy to manipulate and very hard to trust. Think of your favorite song. How do you feel when it comes on the radio? Think of your favorite movie. How do you feel during the exciting/dramatic/sad part? If your emotions can be dictated by something you are listening to or watching, how can you trust them on something as important as God? Why would we allow a certain formula of music, prayer, and sermons dictate our emotional and intellectual response?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that emotion shouldn’t be part of worship. What I AM saying is that emotion should not be MANIPULATED by worship, especially in terms of any non-believers in the congregation.
We shouldn’t be making new Christians by messing with their hearts through music and slide shows and lights and whatever.
And I’m not forgetting the sermons. Sermons are great. Fabulous. Very important. But if the purpose of the sermon is to manipulate, to invoke an emotional response through banging on a pulpit, stomping on a stage, and shouting really loud, then any real change the speaker is aiming for isn’t likely to happen, or at least not last very long.
So what do we do?
Well, I don’t honestly expect my “read by maybe 10 people” blog to make any sort of change in the actions of the American church, but I’ll share my opinions anyway.
Matt Redman wrote a song a while back called “Heart of Worship” (which in itself often evokes the emotional response that I’ve been talking about). The story behind the writing of the song is that his church had decided to try to do a service (or a few) without any music or any of the other “trappings” of their regular worship time. The objective was to find new and different ways to worship together.
WE should do that. All of us. All the churches. Maybe not all the time, but one Sunday a year, or maybe a couple times, just do something completely out of the mold, away from the formula, and do something completely different. Poems. Stories (personal or fictional or Biblical, etc.) Skits. Get out of the building and go have a campfire or sit in the park.
That would be a start.
But overall we need to start reaching people in their heads. Reach their intelligence. Make them THINK as well as (or instead of) feel.
And that is not easy, especially if we’re talking about an established congregation that has been using the formula for years, or possibly decades. Folks like that think the formula is “as it should be” and aren’t interested in their brains (as well as their hearts) being engaged. Many churches have died when leaders have tried to change it.
But I think it’s worth trying. I think it’s worth the effort to try to shake it up.
If we are to be real, true followers of God, we need to do it with our whole being. With our brains above all. God doesn’t want sheep that only love of fear Him. He wants us to use the gifts he gave us to follow and serve him and that, above all, is our brains.
I’ll stop ranting now. But I’d love to hear what the 10 of you think. Comment here or on Facebook or Twitter.
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