Woship: Neither Disco Pub nor Cemetery
There has been a trend among today’s churches to gear worship towards pleasing the worshiper more than pleasing God. The more sensitive ones among us shrink with disgust at seeing various religious groups turn a place of worship into a disco pub, or even a circus. The problem is not change itself, for we desire certain changes in our system of worship where they are needed; rather, the trouble is in unscriptural changes in worship that attempt to fit into the emotional demands and harmful philosophies of people.
Writing for a Christian magazine, David Sain has hit the problem on the head so well when he penned:
“… we are in an age when everything is designed to appeal to our emotions and to entertain us rather than appeal to our intellect… We are part of a consumer driven/entertainment culture, with television being the dominant influence…
“In such a culture, Christians are influenced to think that the church must keep pace and present worship in the fast-moving entertaining style and format to which people are accustomed. We are told that we must be clever and brief if we are able to attract and hold the attention of people, especially the young people.”
But while we strive to avoid the excesses of contemporary religion, we must not be blind to the fact that worship is not purely an intellectual activity — it is an emotional process as well. Worshiping “in spirit” means emotional involvement too.
True, we do not aim at purely entertainment in worship, but we must ensure that worship is “done in a proper and orderly way” (I Corinthians 14:40, TEV).
Sometimes, the greater question is not, “Have we gone through the five-fold avenues of worship (i.e. singing, scripture studies, communion, praying, giving)?” But, “Have we led, served and fellowshipped as Christians should and thus helped create a ‘worshipful’ atmosphere?”
ALL must work towards making each formal worship one which leaves each worshiper fully fed with God’s Word, edified in the fellowship of brethren, and challenged to put on his working gloves (cf. Psalms 122:1).
Prayer leaders must pray sincerely. More than that, they must pray intelligibly. More than that, they must pray audibly!
The church must also sing with understanding; to paraphrase a journalistic quote, they must sing what they mean and mean what they sing! (see I Corinthians 14:15; Colossians 3:16).
Preachers must, as someone said, “Preach what they live and live what they preach”! They must strive, whenever possible, to make every sermon the good fruit of their labor!
Givers must not forget that the widow gave with all her mite! (Mark 12:42-44, excuse the pun).
Finally, brethren, let us always remember that Christ did not die on a Sunday; the worship hall is neither a disco pub nor a circus, but neither is it a cemetery — it is a house of praise!
