Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Rejoice
Mark Roberts quotes one of the speakers at Laity Lodge, which he now runs.
"You have to worship, and this is genuine worship." Now, what is most insidious is that by "genuine worship" generally mean worship that evokes in them (no, that's not the least bit subjective, he said sarcastically) the emotional responses that Mark here points out are not even really a part of the equation.
See, lying at the heart of all this is that worship is not a state, it is something we do, an act. The act does not have "meaning" or lack "meaning" based on our emotional state - it is the act itself that matters - it is obedience.
In this sense, any obedient act is worship, for in obeying God we place Him as Lord of our lives, we acknowledge His kingship, which is what lies at the heart of worship.
Many people that get into this whole "meaningful" worship thing go about seeking this emotional evocation through a variety of sensory experience, but then live the rest of their lives with little regard for the object of their worship - or worse they paste a label proclaiming the rest of what they do as a part of the object of their worship without any real change in what it is.
Now, here is the real question - if worship is holding up God as God, and yet we pursue worship as emotional evocation, do we not them place our emotions on the throne?
Maybe those guys that spent all those years figuring out things like "Order of Worship" and litanies and liturgies and responsive readings were a little smarter than we give them credit for. Those things may be dry and a bit stale and seeming devoid of emotional evocation, but they do place the Holy One of the Throne of the Universe - at least if we bother to pay attention to them.
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I won’t summarize Gordon Fee’s teaching here. But I do want to mention something he said almost as an aside. He was dealing with Philippians 3:1, which says, “Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.” Gordon explained that this is not a command to feel happy feelings. Paul is not saying, “Rev yourself up and be joyful.” Rather, this is a command to praise the Lord, to worship God. It may well be that when we do this, we will feel joy. But that’s not the main point. Paul is repeating in Philippians what can be found throughout the Psalms: calls to praise God through joyful expression.Now, I happen to agree with this interpretation of the Philippians passage completely, and Mark's comments on it, but I have seen this abused as much as properly understood. It is rare in my experience, though I understand common in many circles, to be told we have to be happy, as Mark discusses here. But what I have experienced, in far more abundance than I wish, is people that graft to this command a worship style and then tell me I am commanded to worship in the style that matches their taste.
Gordon Fee has nothing against feeling happy, I’m quite sure. But his take on Philippians is a helpful one. Perhaps you have wondered how you’re supposed to make yourself feel joyful when your down in the dumps. It can almost seem as if Paul is telling us to do the impossible. But when we understand that he is calling us to praise God, then we’re released from the task of having to make ourselves feel a certain way, a task that often leads to denial and pretending.
"You have to worship, and this is genuine worship." Now, what is most insidious is that by "genuine worship" generally mean worship that evokes in them (no, that's not the least bit subjective, he said sarcastically) the emotional responses that Mark here points out are not even really a part of the equation.
See, lying at the heart of all this is that worship is not a state, it is something we do, an act. The act does not have "meaning" or lack "meaning" based on our emotional state - it is the act itself that matters - it is obedience.
In this sense, any obedient act is worship, for in obeying God we place Him as Lord of our lives, we acknowledge His kingship, which is what lies at the heart of worship.
Many people that get into this whole "meaningful" worship thing go about seeking this emotional evocation through a variety of sensory experience, but then live the rest of their lives with little regard for the object of their worship - or worse they paste a label proclaiming the rest of what they do as a part of the object of their worship without any real change in what it is.
Now, here is the real question - if worship is holding up God as God, and yet we pursue worship as emotional evocation, do we not them place our emotions on the throne?
Maybe those guys that spent all those years figuring out things like "Order of Worship" and litanies and liturgies and responsive readings were a little smarter than we give them credit for. Those things may be dry and a bit stale and seeming devoid of emotional evocation, but they do place the Holy One of the Throne of the Universe - at least if we bother to pay attention to them.
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