WORSHIP (again...)
"FEED ME!"

How many books, articles, devotionals, bulletin inserts, blog posts, workshops, seminars, Sunday School classes, sermon series, experiential teachings, discussions, and arguments have I read, written, taught, created, led, attended, and engaged in over these past 30 years that I have been a minister of music/worship pastor/associate pastor here at Hilmar Covenant? And what has been the #1 point that I have always driven home in my speaking, writing, and modeling regarding worship?

WORSHIP IS ALL ABOUT GOD AND NOT ABOUT US! We are never the focus of worship. It is not something for us to observe or “enjoy,” to get warm fuzzy feelings from or make us content. It is not something we consume, like entertainment, to satisfy ourselves. Worship is not about what we like or don’t like, and it is NEVER about “meeting my needs!”

This is nothing new. And I am not going to rehash what I’ve been over so many times before. I do believe that people “get it” intellectually (that worship is all about God and not about me). We understand it, and most of us who think about these things from time to time do agree with this truth regarding worship.

But when it comes to the practice of worship, the vocabulary we use in describing worship services, the expectations we have on any given Sunday as we walk into the sanctuary or worship center or whatever we call the gathering space, I’m afraid our best understandings and intentions vanish in a moment. As soon as we hit the parking lot, open the doors and enter the church building, our all-too-human habits and expectations rise up within us and worship once again is about what we want, what makes us happy and content, what is meaningful/familiar/ comfortable to us, and so once again worship actually does become much more (if not 100%) about US.

We might not want it to be this way. Our intentions may, in fact, be very right and true. We really do desire to make the entire time of worship all about GOD; to give everything of ourselves completely to Him during that time. But then, well...”There’s that song again--I just can’t stand it! And why can’t that person reading Scripture dress better--it’s Sunday, after all. Why doesn’t the power point person change the words faster? Wow, that choir anthem sure was a dirge...(or) Wow, that choir anthem sure gave me chills! Whew, this sermon sure isn’t feeding...oops! Don’t go there... But why does the offering take so long? And why do we have to keep standing up...?

You get the picture. We’ve all been there. Because for many of us in our American culture (or at least those of us 40 and older), “good” or “meaningful” or “effective” worship means a smooth, well ordered, carefully crafted event that unfolds the same way an excellent movie or concert or play does: in a timely fashion, without mishaps or mistakes, completely engaging us and striking all of the right chords within us. More on this in a moment. But first...

I bring up this theme of worship again because of something I came across recently--something we need to be continually reminded of regarding worship--and the very humorous response it brought forth in me:

Worship should never be pursued as a means to achieving something other than worship. Worship is never a step on our way to any other experience. It is not a door through which we pass to get anywhere. It is the end point, the goal. (John Piper)

I read this quote while I was eating breakfast, and it was a good, bracing jolt of reality for me again. Piper is essentially saying what I’ve been advocating for 30 years.


But as I reflected on Pipers words--probably because I was taking my morning nourishment--a crazy image came to mind.


It was of that huge ugly plant, Audrey Two, from “Little Shop Of Horrors” booming out: “FEED ME!”


Can’t you just see that enormous, hideous mouth, opening and closing, needing more and more nourishment to satisfy its ever-increasing needs?


Then I superimposed this image over that of worship, and I got this hilarious picture of an entire church full of little “Audrey Twos” sitting in pews, demanding: “FEED ME!”


Pretty funny, don’t you think? Especially if you’ve seen “Little Shop Of Horrors...”

But what if this is how it looks to God, peering down on His people in church: Yikes! A “Little Shop Of Horrors”--week after week!

(Once again, let me be clear to those who are missing the point and starting to take offense: I am being humorous here! Not specifically criticizing anyone or any one church. I’m ust trying to help us be reflective, to challenge ourselves and our relationship with God. I am not being negative or haranguing...)

So what’s the point here? What does all this say about our worship, particularly as Americans with a strong Western cultural perspective? Picking up where I left off earlier...

Through my study and involvement in global missions, I know that we humans view everything in life through a set of cultural lenses--including our religious values and beliefs. Also, culture is so elemental to being human that we are rarely conscious of it, nor of how all the things we do, say, value, expect, and assume in life are filtered through the cultural reality we live in. Like fish in water, where the water provides everything that fish need to live, but the fish have no conscious awareness of the water, we humans are not conscious of the ways our culture affects and touches every aspect of our live--including our religious values and beliefs. Thus, there is no “pure” Christianity; no completely unadulterated pristine Christian faith unaffected and untouched by the many world views held by people around the globe. For there is no “faith” apart from its lived out expression and context--which by necessity occurs in and through a particular people’s culture. (Ooo! There’s another interesting topic to blog about...) This is precisely the reason why missionaries spend so many years and strive so hard to get inside the cultural world view of the people they seek to reach with the gospel.

Two of the most highly esteemed values held by us in America are individualism and consumerism, and I strongly agree with the many writers who have articulated the many ways Christians have unknowingly embraced and allowed these cultural values to infect, influence and shape every aspect of our faith in America. In oh-so-subtle ways over time, we have allowed our particular Christianity to be co-opted by these priorities. We clearly see these two values at work in the individualistic consumer-driven expectations, attitudes, understandings, and approaches to worship that I described above. Volumes have been written elsewhere and more extensively about all of this, as well as about how individualism and consumerism have shaped the way we in the West read Scripture, organize ministry, prioritize moral values, pray, understand “faith,” manage our assets, interpret Christ’s teachings, and so forth.

I wonder: why haven’t we in the American Church rejected these two values in relation to our faith? Instead of allowing individualism and consumerism to invade and affect our Christianity, why don’t we strive to transform these values in ways that would better reflect Kingdom values in the world today?

John Piper’s words challenged me to think again about the many ways I have unknowingly contributed to this process of allowing individualism and consumerism to contaminate my Christian life and faith. I recognize this has happened in ways that I have talked about faith, managed my ministry responsibilities, understood “success” in our church, counseled individuals, etc. And I know there is a bit of Audrey Two in me too!

But hopefully just a small part--like, maybe just the size of the plant in the coffee can...

Lord, help all of us to listen to Your voice and leading, to live with Your values and perspective, and to better discern the influences and forces that drive our lives each day. May we not fall into the trap of letting the world’s priorites infect our thoughts and actions and be totally unconscious to the subtle ways these values manifest themselves in everyday life. Amen.