Three Choices

Every day you and I are faced with three cultures from which to choose:

   a) the culture of current world trends,

   b) the culture of (church) tradition, and

   c) the culture of the Bible.

This is true in virtually every area of life. But nowhere is it more true than in our approach to worship.

I had two delightful experiences a few years ago that led me to think about that in a different way.

Experience #1 was with a couple of highly respected older men in a church I served for a long time. They invited me to lunch for an opportunity to share some of their thoughts about worship styles as “seasoned citizens” and a longing they had for unity in our congregation. I learned much from their thoughts and their perspective.

Experience #2 was at a worship concert with one of today’s biggest names in the world of Christian worship, Chris Tomlin. It was there that I joined my (retired age) friend Martha in learning to “dance in the river.” It was a grand experience and I worshipped with every song, those I liked and those I didn't like as much.

So is it a leap from these two experiences to making choices in “worship culture?” I don’t think so. Allow me to explain.

First, the two gentlemen were sharing with me their perception that a more contemporary worship style lacks reverence. I agree that modern worship tends to be less formal, subdued, and quiet than that evangelical gatherings of the last 50 years. And there's no doubt that the culture of our world is increasingly irreverent. That’s why it is essential that we do as the Psalmist declares and “…bow down [and] kneel before the Lord…” Unlike the observations of those two men, though, my experience with contemporary church services is that they do, indeed, have beautiful moments of quietude, of reverence. This is good and healthy.

Second, at the Chris Tomlin worship concert there was a great deal of borrowing from the culture of rock–n-roll. There was shouting and dancing and raising hands, much like the experience of any rock concert. But then I had to ask myself, is that is really the culture of the world or has rock music actually stolen it away from the culture of the Bible. After much consideration I believe we need to take another look into the recounting of worship in the Old Testament, and specifically the hymnbook that Jesus used. (the Psalms) As uncomfortable as my upbringing may have made me with “raising hands” in worship, it is biblical. Again, we choose, is it from the culture of the world, the church, or the Bible? I certainly think shouting is foreign to our tradition, but how many Psalms can you find that say we are to “Shout to the Lord?”

So my conclusion after these two beautiful events is simply this: Let’s work to leave behind the culture of tradition (not tradition itself; just its culture).  And let’s work to engage our world, to be “in it but not of it” so that we do not embrace the culture of the world, but we speak through it and work with Jesus to redeem it. And let’s work most intentionally toward embracing and adopting the culture of our Bible where we are instructed to:

…sing for joy to the Lord;

…shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation

AND

…bow down in worship

…kneel before the Lord our Maker.

What do you think? Leave a comment and I'll gladly respond.