Worship!

Although I wrote this article on July 31, 2001, it still rings true today:

There are many terms in the English language that are very difficult to grasp. This is especially true regarding the theological terms we so frequently use. Try these on as examples: love, hope, faith, justification, grace, mercy, forgiveness, repentance, sanctification, Eucharist, sacrament, joy and peace. Consequently, there are times when I wish we used New Testament Greek rather than English as our primary language. At least, we would all understand the meanings of the words we use because each word would have a clearly defined meaning. As it is, effective communication is very difficult. We speak or write words having certain meanings in mind that are heard or read by people who have completely different meanings in mind. Although I did not mention it in the above list, worship is one of these words.

There are almost as many different meanings of the word worship as there are people who worship because each Christian has his or her own idea of how worship is defined. There is reformed worship, liturgical worship, charismatic worship, blended worship, contemporary worship, traditional worship, Spirit-led worship, fusion worship, informal worship, formal worship, individual worship, congregational worship and, of course, true worship. With all of these, there is no wonder we struggle as worshipers!

Unfortunately, most of these ideas of worship are the fruit of our efforts to attract people to our churches. We want to reach everyone and we want everyone we reach to be comfortable. God forbid that anyone would be uncomfortable in a worship service! As a result, many churches schedule several services each Sunday for the sole purpose of offering something that will attract everyone. The mind-set goes something like this: If formal worship does not happen to be your cup of tea, then by all means attend our contemporary service. If that one proves to be distasteful, try our blended worship service. If all else fails, try our true worship service!

MY PERSPECTIVE: It never dawns on us that what we attract them with is what we attract them to, and when whatever that is gone, they are gone. Consequently, most of what we call evangelism today is nothing more or less than Christians moving from one church to another in search of their soul’s deepest longing—intimacy with Jesus—only to find another disappointment.