Reflections on a Sunday's Worship Experience

I have never been a "Lone Ranger" Christian, forging a path on my own, and thus each Sunday usually finds my wife and I settled into a pew in a local church.  I don't necessarily like it, but there is something inside of me that says, for better or worse, that salvation is a communal experience and it is worked out within the body of Christ.  But every Sunday is instructive because of the questions it raises within me.  I used to be quite dogmatic, and quite comfortable with fixed forms that never vary.  Suffice it to say that neither of those descriptions fits me quite well.  So here are the thoughts that played inside my mind during this past Sunday's worship experience.

Worship versus Music:  There are certain people in our church that love to sing.  They always bring their instruments when invited anywhere and they would be more than happy to spend the entire church service singing.  They also dominate our praise team and spiritual life committee.   I noted this again when we began ten minutes late because they could not quite end the "pre-music" on time.  This in itself was only a minor bump in the road, but this Sunday was also one of those Sundays in which we have an organist present.  Did I mention that this particular organist has been exploring all of the nooks and crannies of our pew hymnal, resulting sometimes in songs that only she can play and that our pastor can sing.  What all of that confluence of musical preference worked in me was reuminating on the proper use of music in church services.  If we are trying to foster a heart of worship, a sense of awe in God's presence, and our active participation in acknowledging His great works on our behalf, shouldn't we be more in tune with the congregation in the pews rather than our own preferences and practices?  No matter how good a hymn may be in terms of the message it conveys, if no one can sing it, why play it?  Or if people tune out of the pre-music when it starts to run over its alloted time and go beyond its intended purpose, what is accomplished when you finally do come to the real music of worship?  There is a place for "special music" or solos, but I instinctively feel they have to be the exception, not the rule.  There are already too many things in church services that make us spectators rather than participants, music should not be added to the list.

Holy Spirit:  We sing a lot of songs about revival and letting the fire of heaven fall on us, but I often wonder what would happen if it really did?  We want the Spirit of God to be present but the scripture clearly states that He moves where He wills, just like the wind.  And that movement of wind is a vivid picture.  When I think on it I feel it speaks of action, of movement.  The Spirit of God moving as a wind is not intended to be a breeze that makes us comfortable, but as a driving wind that moves us much as a ship moves under sail.  Now it is possible to move contrary to the wind, sailing close to the wind they call it, but it is much easier to generally move in the direction the wind wants to move.  It seems like a no brainer, but we spend much time asking to be moved rather than just gauging the wind and throwing ourselves into it.

Christian Concepts:  We say a lot of things as Christians (things like the joy of the Lord is my strength), but what do we really mean by that or even more importantly what do we experience by it?  We use words like joy, love of God, fellowship, unity, forgiveness, worship, and grace almost every Sunday but there seems little evidence that any of those things are really present and active in us.  They remain just concepts that have little power to change anything until they can really be expressed in application.  The usual response is to quote a scripture or two that seems to promise them or endow them on us, but I confess that I rarely feel joyful, I have a hard time understanding what God wants of me in worship, and many times there is no deep feeling of love that constrains me in church either towards God or my fellow congregants.  I think sometimes we enjoy expounding concepts because it appears to lift us out of the mundane existence of the world, but what is wrong with just being yourself, being present, and participating at that point where your faith is capable of touching God?  I think our gatherings would be much more authentic if we stopped being so evangelically correct in our practices.