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Foolish Worship
by
Cadet Peter Hobbs
April Fools day… I don’t know about you but I
love it, playing practical jokes on each other is something I
look forward to. Seeing someone fooled in fun is priceless,
one of my favourite jokes is leaving a note telling someone
that Mr Lyon rang then giving them the number for the local
zoo… the response is priceless, try it to see what happens.
Fooling people in this way in jest and in a spirit of fun for
one morning of the year is a blast. However most of us go on
to get fooled and deceived throughout the rest of the year,
especially spiritually, and so often we don’t realise it’s
happened, and that’s certainly not funny.
Satan is constantly roaming around like a lion looking for
someone to devour, deceive, and ultimately destroy and
obviously his prime target is his enemy, “Christ Followers”. I
have been thinking a lot about this lately in relation to the
issue of Worship. A very touchy subject, which has been the
heart of corps splits, relationship breakdowns and ultimately
souls lost for the Kingdom of God.
Unfortunately the issue of worship has been watered down in
many cases simply to music styles, and the Army is very good
at music, we even have music departments, but like the rest of
the church satan has got us to believe that through the use of
music we can reach God. By making worship about music we’ve
come to believe that it’s a feeling that takes us into God’s
presence… Vaughan Roberts in his book True Worship says “many
people believe the buzz we get from the music is an encounter
with God which is True Worship…” (Roberts 2002:88).
Millions of Generation X’s and Y’s, including myself, have
grown up in this environment and to me it’s no wonder we go to
Christian meetings looking for an experience… If the spine
tingles and the hairs on the back of your neck prickle then
they go home satisfied we’ve had a good time of worship and
‘met with God’, but have we?
I’m an old music scholar, been a bandmaster, solo cornet
player and now a drummer in a contemporary group and I have a
great appreciation of good music. I have played Army brass
music where I have been overwhelmed with emotion, similarly
playing Army cornet solos I have been overcome with emotion,
and also drumming in contemporary groups the same kind of
emotional experience. However there have been many kinds of
“secular” music which have deeply moved me emotionally, from
the theme tune of Schindler’s List, Handel’s Largo in G, and
even Australian artist Vanessa Amorissi’s song Heroes Live
Forever.. But do I call this an encounter with God?
I find it interesting when the older generation of
Salvationist criticizes the younger one by saying the new type
of worship music is “playing on kids emotions”. When the same
could be said for Army song’s such as I’ll not turn back or
Share my Yolk.. some might say these songs play also on our
emotions? You see we have turned worship into music.. Some
might say that’s Idolatry.
I love this quote from Vaughan as it really got me thinking
“The Bible never teaches us that a feeling can take us into
the presence of God. If that had been possible God would have
sent us a musician rather than a saviour” (Roberts 2002: 88).
Now some of you may be thinking that I am a heretic and being
a bit extreme in my views, but all I am simply trying to do is
make the point that worship is not primarily about music. By
making worship about music we water down the Gospel, we put
culture first and God last. Church culture usually becomes
stale and traditional and society’s culture is more about man
than God, without knowing God’s culture/his heart then all we
do is foolishness.
This is not an article about post modern worship versus modern
worship. I’m not concerned with the pros and cons of praise
choruses versus Salvation Army songs… These issues are not my
focus but what is the focus is that it’s obvious The Salvation
Army like most western churches have been fooled, deceived by
the master of lies. He has got us to water down worship so
much that it has been limited to 20 minutes before the
message… a lifestyle of worship seems somewhat foreign to
most.
We spend more time arguing about styles of music than how many
prostitutes did we rescue this week. We spend more time
rehearsing our songs than we do in Bible study. You can see
the two subjects are poles apart, yet we spend so much time on
music and because of that our worship has become far too
“Safe”. “Wilderness? Exodus? Exile? Incarnation? Crucifixition?
Taking up your cross? These elements of a biblical narrative
suggest that God does not prize comfort.”(Labberton 2007: 57)
God is not calling us to be comfortable in worship he’s
calling us to respond to him and do whatever that leads to, he
does not want us to be entertained in church he wants us to
meet with him 24/7 and then go out and share what you’ve
discovered.
We’ve turned worship into consumption rather than an offering,
and it’s become an expression of human taste – not a longing
to reflect God’s glory. Mark Labberton says in his book The
Dangerous Act of worship “Our worship practices are separated
from our call to justice, and worst foster the self-indulgent
tendencies of our culture rather than nurturing the self
sacrificing life of the Kingdom of God. We are asleep” (Labberton
2007:23).
When our worship and don’t connect with God, and we’re not
being driven by God to love our neighbour and serve suffering
humanity then our worship is false, and it leads to a
frustrated and often failed mission. The Army, along with the
majority of western churches can bear testament to this fact
and because of it are dying.
I always thought that the main point of worship was to
encounter God and respond with our lives, no matter when and
wherever we are. If we are truly worshipping God, journeying
towards God, connecting with God then the world is meant to
know something about God through our lives and actions. It’s
not rocket science. As we live our lives of faith and
demonstrate in character and action the life of the one we
worship, then they see God.
“Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another” (John 13:35).
The Salvation Army like all other Christian churches will only
expand its territory and influence on the world when its
members literally encounter God through worship. When we
engage in a Christ centered, refocused life and live it out in
the passions and purposes of God then we’ll be worshippers. If
we don’t become Christ centered worshippers and see sharing
our faith, doing justice, and loving kindness as the very
essence of our lives then we are obviously not encountering
God in worship and living a meaningless “safe” existence here
on earth, and obviously that’s very foolish.
Bibliography
Holy Bible, NIV, International Bible Society, Zondervan, USA,
1994
Labberton, Mark, The Dangerous Act of Worship, InterVarsity
Press, 2007
Roberts, Vaughan, True Worship, Authentic Lifestyle, UK, 2002
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