The Difference Between Worshiping God and Worshiping Worship

“Idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things.”  ~Tim Keller 

“One mark of Christian maturity is being easily blessed.”  ~Unknown

“Search me, O God, and know my heart.  Test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  ~Psalm 139:23-24

The following comparisons are convicting.  These observations have risen to the surface of the boiling pot of my own ministry, and I've probably got a story for every one of these.  (Half the time, the stories will be about me and my own wandering heart.)  You may not agree with all of them, but they certainly help get to the heart of the matter.  They convict me.  At one time or another, I have been guilty of crossing the line into all of these.  Truth be told, for followers of Jesus, “worshiping God” versus “worshiping worship” is less an issue of either/or and more an issue of both/and.  Christians who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them and yet still fight the "sin in our members” know that even our best praise is mixed with some idolatry.  May God continue to root it out and make us more wholeheartedly devoted to Him.  Lord, have mercy.

Worshipers of God prioritize God’s glory and pleasure in worship.
Worshipers of worship prioritize “being fed” in worship.

Worshipers of God care less about their personal preferences in worship.
Worshipers of worship care intensely about their personal preferences in worship.

Worshipers of God are more easily blessed in worship.
Worshipers of worship are more easily bothered in worship.

Worshipers of God approach worship as instruments and vessels.
Worshipers of worship approach worship as appraisers and evaluators.

Worshipers of God tend to approach their pastors and worship leaders more often with words of encouragement and thankfulness.
Worshipers of worship tend to approach their pastors and worship leaders more often with words of criticism and admonishment.

Worshipers of God more instinctively flex when elements are out of their comfort zone.
Worshipers of worship more instinctively bristle when elements are out of their comfort zone.

Worshipers of God are inspired by beautiful art to love God more.
Worshipers of worship are inspired by beautiful art to love beautiful art more.

Worshipers of God easily overlook and forget glitches and “errors” that happen in worship.
Worshipers of worship fixate on and can’t get past glitches and “errors” that happen in worship.

Worshipers of God tend to leave a “good” worship service loving God more.
Worshipers of worship tend to leave a “good” worship service loving worship services more.

Worshipers of God tend to leave a “bad” worship service loving God more.
Worshipers of worship tend to leave a “bad” worship service bothered.

Worshipers of God tend to leave worship with a renewed sense of awe and thanksgiving.
Worshipers of worship tend to leave worship ready to dialogue about what worked and what didn’t.*

*An important tweet from @iwsfla (Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies) clarifies that this distinction (and probably others above) may not pertain at all times to those who plan and lead worship.  Evaluation is, indeed, helpful for leading and planning worship.

Why Architecture Matters: Our Quest to Unify Organ and Drums for the Sake of the Gospel

Philosopher and liturgical theologian, Nicholas Wolterstorff, recently reminded listeners at the “Liturgy, Music, and Space” Conference hosted by Bifrost Arts this past spring that the architecture around and in your worship space makes theological statements whether you like it or not.  For instance, a tall, raised platform at the front the sanctuary with the Communion table positioned in the very back can make the theological statement that the Lord’s Table is so holy that its access must be limited and guarded.  Or, think of a worship space in which the seating is arranged in a circle or semicircle around the leaders in worship in the middle.  This can make a statement about the unity of the people of God in worship and the tearing down of sharp divisions between the congregation and the worship leaders.  Or, think about the warehouse with a huge stage and lighting structure.  It says, “we’re here to perform for you…sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.”  Architecture tells the story of your theology of and priorities in worship.  I want to share with you how we’ve chosen to let some recent changes to our sanctuary’s architecture inform our theology of worship. 

Click to read more ...

The State of Worship Music Today

Mike Cosper, Pastor of Worship at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY, is interviewed briefly by Bob Kauflin on the state of worship music today.  Note what this pastor-theologian-musician is and is not focused on.

Click to read more ...

Worship Leading, Ageism, and the Fear of Getting Old

Talk show host Dennis Prager is well-known for saying that his generation—the boomer generation—is the stupidest generation in American history. This comment, perhaps extreme, summarizes the multitudinous errors of that generation of young people that grew up and ushered in the large cultural changes in the United States in the 1960s.  One of those errors is the worship of youth.  The phrase “youth culture” would have been unintelligible prior to the 60s, but now it is common speak.  The glamorization of youthfulness affects everything from marketing and entertainment to presidential elections and local church ministry.  And obsession with youth culture has affected the ministry of worship, as well.

I had a recent phone conversation with a worship leader friend of mine who leads music on the other side of the country.  In a candid moment, we were both expressing concerns about the longevity of our jobs as local church music leaders.  We wondered whether, in ten to fifteen years, we would be viewed as out-of-date, irrelevant, washed up, and cheesy—one of those old guys trying to look and act young.  Ultimately, we questioned whether we would be as effective in doing our task once we started “looking old.”

No worship leader really voices it.  No congregation overtly acknowledges it.  But many of us think there is something lacking in a worship leader who has gray hair or smile lines.  He or she must not be truly “with it” and up on trends (another value exposed which needs to be challenged).  He or she wouldn’t be capable of authentically crafting and leading a musical style that is current and fresh.  They might be just fine in a traditional or blended worship environment, but if we want to “reach young people,” a forty-something at the helm is no good.

This is lamentable.  And (to make up a word) repentable.  That we were even having such a discussion tells us that culture’s obsession with youth has invaded the heart of the church.  What does the Bible have to say about being old?

Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? (Job 12:12)

I thought, “Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.” (Job 32:7)

At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house. (Proverbs 7:6-8)

The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. (Proverbs 20:29)

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.  Treat…older women as mothers. (1 Timothy 5:1, 2)

Prior to the 60s, the elderly were much more celebrated in culture.  Most native cultures—from Native Americans to native Hawaiians to native Africans—favor the aged as the source of knowledge and wisdom.  Such cultures actually look to the elderly for guidance for the future (imagine that!).  Nowadays in the West, the elderly are irrelevant cultural cast-offs.  They are the Dalit caste of modern America.  We quarantine them in homes.  In church meetings, we roll our eyes when old Mr. Jones stands up and wags his finger in the air.  And we worship leaders brush off their comments like dust on our feet.  And we move “forward.”

Though I’ve never heard it from a single one of them, I’d bet that every twenty-something who’s been a worship leader for more than a year has had the thought, “What happens when I get older?”  (Implication: I have to do something different, because this can’t work.)  I know a few forty- and fifty-something worship leaders who are currently looking for positions in churches, and I know that the market is tougher for them. 

This ageism is more than just bias and prejudice.  It’s sinful idolatry.  And I’m guilty myself of playing into the hands of these gods every time I entertain a fear of getting older or judge an “older” worship leader as irrelevant or out of touch.

The truth is: the more I’ve gotten to know the generations of worship leaders above me, the more I realize that the Bible is true.  With age comes wisdom.  Churches should desire older worship leaders.  Though youth should not be despised (1 Timothy 4:12), biblical wisdom reminds us that being young carries liabilities against which we need to be on guard.  I long for my generation of worship leaders to have open and honest conversation about this evil bubbling under the surface.  I long for us to confess it, to repent of it, and to seek its change.

Worship: Exchanging Hip for Intergenerational

Our church has been on an ongoing quest to integrate ministries and capitalize on one of the things many congregations don’t have—an age spread.  We’ve come to the conclusion that ministry to one another and to the world will only be as effective as we move to a ministry/mission model which is: (1) less program-driven and more people-centered; (2) less segregated and more integrated and intergenerational.

In a recent post, Pastor Tullian Tchividjian pointed out that their church opted for two blended services as opposed to a “traditional” and a “contemporary” service.  The reasoning (which I support 100%) was that the Gospel beckons us to both unity and self-sacrifice for the sake of others.

Yesterday, we sang the following songs in our worship service:

“How Firm a Foundation” (a new melody to a classic hymn, due out on our next album)
“O Worship the King” (traditional hymn-tune)
“Holy, Holy, Holy” (traditional hymn)
“Holy is the Lord” (Tomlin)
“I Surrender All” (traditional hymn...really got the Baptists going among us)
“From the Inside Out” (Hillsong…just a few years old)

So yesterday was actually weighted more toward the “traditional” than the “contemporary.”  In my worship philosophy, I don’t necessarily believe that one can achieve a perfect balance of old and new in every service (and whenever I’ve tried I’ve ended up pulling my hair out).  More often, I’m seeking a balance of old and new over weeks or even months. 

Seeking balance in worship is not necessarily the hip thing to do.  If you want to be hip, you’ll be more homogeneous in style and song-selection, and you’ll weight your selections toward that which resonates with the younger folk.

It’s certainly a lamentable travesty that our culture has so conditioned us to have preferences for the songs that we sing in worship.  (Our brothers and sisters in Ghana, with whom our church has an ongoing missional connection, know very little of being able to choose what one eats, much less what worship songs one gets to sing on Sunday.) It’s equally sad that preferences are often segregated along generational lines.  We certainly need the Gospel to massage these selfish tendencies out of us.  But in the meantime, when people often connect in worship with only a certain subset of material, I believe we need to choose the road less traveled and plan our worship in ways that connect to the hearts of multiple generations.  This means that we’ll be willing to not have every song be our “heart song.”  Even more than that, this means that we’ll still choose to participate in such songs, because the call of the Gospel and the glory of Christ are far more weighty to us than our own preferences.

Because of these realities, I believe that hip and intergenerational are at odds.  The above set didn’t win any hip awards.  I even received one comment yesterday (friendly, yet still a bit critical) that “worship was old school.”  But if the bottom line isn’t “attracting young people” but expressing physically how the Gospel brings very different types of people together around the cross, then our worship should look quite different from hip.

Personally, I think many churches—including my own—have a long way to go in this.   More grace for the journey, please. 

Hip-Hop Worship, Eschatology, and Aesthetics

This jazzes me on so many levels.  Check out this footage from a recent worship service at Sojourn Church in Louisville, KY. 

The rapper is Shai Linne, whose blog called "Lyrical Theology" shows that hip-hop and Christian thought/worship aren't antithetical.  These videos conjure several stream-of-consciousness observations:

• Check out the cool way the medium of rap allows for creative twist on a traditional "call and response"...that's ancient future liturgy at its finest!
• Check out how into it the whiteys are (hey, I'm a whitey...I can say it).  Hip-hop worship doesn't have to be only for the African-Americans.
• Check out the glimpse of the eschaton--when people of every tribe, tongue, and nation, will be gathered together worshiping around the throne.  Some people would look at that video and say that it's appalling, even blasphemous.  I say: that worship is more heavenly than a lot of the stuff out there.
• Check out the generous spirit of some seriously gifted artists.  In video #1, you've got an amazingly talented singer and artist, Brooks Ritter, on the far right on the stage.  That guy has a golden voice.  And yet, he's open enough to clap and dance and join in an art form from a different world than his own.  In video #2, the guy in the glasses in the back is Mike Cosper.  That guy is a phenomenal guitarist...and yet, he gives it up for Shai Linne.

As I was growing up, my dad always said (probably tongue in cheek) that rap wasn't music.  I disagreed then, and I disagree now.  Like any art form, you have to understand its rules and paradigms.  Then you discover, as is the case for a lot of things which people broad brush as "not art," that there are expressions within the art form that excel and expressions which fail.  There's good rock and bad rock.  There's good hip-hop and bad hip-hop.  There's good contrapuntal writing and bad contrapuntal writing.  Of course there are transcendent, objective aesthetic values rooted in the being of God, but we must also account for the fact that there is a "relativism" to aesthetics that bids us understand a piece of art within its context.  What are the "rules" of a given art form? And how does a given artist interact with those rules?  Those are the kinds of questions we must ask in our evaluation.  If we did, I think we might find a more generous church toward seemingly "deviant" expressions such as hip-hop in the context of worship.

Important Large Church Makes a Bold Move to Unify Worship Services

Tullian Tchividjian, Senior Pastor of well-known Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, gave reasoning on his blog behind the bold move toward unifying the worship at their church.  Coral Ridge will not be having services of different styles of music/liturgy/worship.  They will all be the same.  I applaud this effort wholeheartedly.  I think his reasons are sound and Gospel-driven.  They are a challenge to churches like mine that continue with services characterized by two different worship styles.  I can't imagine that the worship of eternity will be marked by services of different styles...that's unrealized eschatology.

Unified worship is a step toward Gospel-centered maturity, and perhaps Coral Ridge is ready and ripe for this.  I, for one, know that at the point when my church added a “contemporary” service (relatively late in the early 2000s), the thought of uniform, unified, "blended" worship would have driven a knife into the heart of our community.  The only way to move forward without totally killing the church was to do what we did.  The question still remains: Should we have done it?

Here’s a case of a stark difference between doing what is ideal (which Tullian argued well for) and doing what is wise.  Perhaps, for Coral Ridge, the former and the latter had arrived at a point of convergence.  For Cherry Creek in Denver, choosing the ideal would have been very unwise, as it would have been our demise.

I know that Coral Ridge went through a lot of wrestling to come to this conclusion.  However, as persuasively as Tullian argues, I still think there’s room for differing approaches.  One can be Gospel-centered and Gospel-driven with the split-service approach.  Perhaps, though, the stakes are higher, and a church needs to work a bit more intentionally to remain unified.  I attempt to argue along these lines in my essay, “Two Services: Why?”

If I'm honest, though, our split-service model is a burr under my saddle that has never quite stopped itching.  Bravo, Coral Ridge.  May God grant you success in your new step of faith.



Two Styles Don't Have to Mean Two Churches within a Church

Don Sweeting has recently left our church to become President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando.  On his way out, he has given some valuable reflections on how God shaped worship at our church during his tenure.  You can read his whole post, but here are some highlights:

In my current pastorate we have multiple services and mulitiple styles.  Our mission calls us to more than one direction stylistically...For our main services, currently we have what we call a classical service and a convergent service...

How does this work?  I’ll warn you that there are many pitfalls to doing this well.  Early on some said that two different services would divide the church.  But the truth is that even when you have two services that are stylistically the same, they still come out somewhat differently and can “divide” the church.

Here’s how it works.  A pastor directed philosophy of worship as well as the common ministry of Word and sacrament hold these services together.  There is an overriding vision with overriding values rooted in the Word and the gospel that drives everything.  A desire to be both rooted and relevant give us the ability to connect with people yet stay grounded.  Our music leaders are also cross trained team players.   They truly appreciate each other and help each other.  There is no elitism, but a servant heartedness that keeps them on the same page.

Is this always easy?  No.  Is it hard to find such people?  Yes.  But can it be done and used by God in a powerful way?  Absolutely.  In fact, such teamwork is a demonstration of the gospel itself.   Because we all know how easy it is for stylistic preference to divide the church.  But think of it.  If our music and worship leaders with all their diverse gifting can get along and serve each other, to the end of fulfilling Christ’s mission for the church, then it powerfully commends the reconciling power of Jesus who calls us not to just look out for our own interests, but also the interests of others.  When that happens, the gospel goes forward with new credibility and power.

If you're interested in how we at Cherry Creek unpack the what's and why's of having two services, check out my article: "Two Services: Why?"