Worship: Beyond the Hymnbook

A Communication Specialist Looks at Worship

Charles H. Kraft

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781625648693
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630878733
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

What is worship? Are the things we do in worship mere ritual, or do they have meaning? Why do we do these things, anyway? Worship is one of our most important acts, and it serves several purposes. In worship, we honor the God who has done so much for us. We communicate to him that we are on his side. We educate our children, leading them into a deeper relationship with Jesus. And we communicate to Satan that we're on God's side, for worship is both an act of solidarity and an act of war. But how best to communicate in worship? Traditional singing is often simply a transition to another part of the service, and for some worshippers, the songs' very familiarity can be deadening. Into this context of familiarity comes contemporary worship with guitars and drums--as well as the new life found in new appreciation for a contemporary understanding of God. New music spawns renewal of our excitement, our appreciation of our relationship with Jesus, and our involvement in his program. We can no longer sit, heads down, as we read old thoughts in old hymnals. He is alive, and so are we.

1

Shouldn’t We Be Teaching People How to Worship?

Teaching Jimmy, Part 1

“Worship at 11:00,” the sign said. Five-year-old Jimmy was just learning to read and had been able to pronounce the words on the sign outside the church. “What’s worship, Mommy?” he asked. “That’s what we do in church,” she answered. But Jimmy had never been allowed to stay through “big people’s church.” So his mother’s answer didn’t satisfy him. “Could I stay to see?” he asked. “If you’ll be quiet,” she replied.

An important part of Christian faith and practice depends on what we communicate to the next generation. Jimmy wanted to find out what worship is. So his mother let him stay. But what did he learn?

What is worship?

Jimmy found what he saw and heard to be quite interesting. Various people stood up on the platform and talked. Was this worship? Jimmy soon found out that it wasn’t okay for him to talk, though, even to ask what was going on. Because everybody else seemed to be quiet, Jimmy decided a person apparently had to be quiet to worship. Every once in a while, though, all the people stood up to sing. And once, a group of people sitting on the platform sang. Was the singing worship? Sometimes everyone bowed their heads and prayed. Was that worship? And toward the end, the pastor stood up and talked for a long time. Was that the worship part? Or was all of it worship?

We might chuckle at the way what we call a “worship service” looks to a five-year-old. But how is Jimmy going to find out what this part of life is all about? Perhaps on the way home Jimmy would ask his mother if everything that went on in church was worship. How would his mother answer him? Would she even know?

The sermon was the central part of the service. Yet not one of the 800 or more references to worship in Scripture equates preaching with worship. And worship is mentioned about three times as often as preaching. Indeed, in the Scriptures we find that though preaching is for now, worship is forever. We say we are following the Bible. But are we? Will Jimmy be able to learn what the Bible means by worship and how important worship is by observing what we do on Sunday morning? Would Jimmy’s mother be able to define worship?

Preaching is for now, worship is forever.

I’m afraid most of those attending our “worship services” would be hard put to come up with an adequate scriptural definition of worship. Instead, we tend to assume that everyone understands what worship is. And people seldom talk about what everyone assumes. Worship, therefore, is seldom talked about and seldom taught on. I doubt, for example, that I have heard three sermons on worship (I can’t remember one) in more than sixty years of churchgoing. The church I presently attend is probably ahead of most, however, in that it has scheduled one seminar and one Sunday school class on the topic in the past twenty-five years.

Since we know that meanings are assigned by the receivers of messages on the basis of their experience, it is likely that most of our people assume that what we do in church is what God wants us to do. They probably think worship-less meetings like that observed by Jimmy are what worship services are supposed to be.

But how will they learn anything different? Where are people taught how to worship? Is learning to worship supposed to be a “do-it-yourself” project? Or can people be taught?

We should teach what worship is.

I believe worship should be talked about. If worship is important to God, pastors ought to preach on it fairly often, and Sunday school teachers should teach on it. There should be much attention given in church to worship attitudes, rituals, times, places, and styles. And people should be led to practice. How can we expect people to know what worship is all about if it is not communicated to them?

What to Teach

Worship is primarily about allegiance and relationship. When people do what they do to express worship, they are demonstrating their commitment to whomever or whatever they are worshipping. Wherever Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob went, they built altars at which they expressed their allegiance to the Lord (Gen 12ff). Moses was told to lead Israel out of Egypt so they could demonstrate their commitment to God without Egyptian interference (Exod 7ff). The Sabbath was to be honored by setting it aside for worship (Lev 23:3). The tabernacle, and later the temple, were to be places of worship, where the people expressed their allegiance to God, exhibiting their relationship with God.

In Daniel’s day, the people were commanded to bow down in worship before the image of gold that had been made by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 3:1–7). Isaiah saw flaming creatures surrounding God’s throne calling out “Holy, holy, holy,” and worshipped in response (Isa 6:1–4). In the book of Revelation, John records several examples of worship (e.g., Rev 4:6–11; 5:8–14; 7:10–12; 11:16–17, etc.). Several times in Jesus’ ministry Scripture records that people whom he had healed expressed their allegiance to him by worshipping him (e.g., Luke 8:35; John 9:38).

In such examples, we hear words of commitment and honor spoken, songs of praise sung, and postures of reverence adopted. The holiness and worthiness of the Lord is proclaimed in word and song. People and angels kneel and prostrate themselves. In the pictures of heaven, the heavenly beings seem to spend long periods at worship. Expressions of adoration and gratefulness are prominent, with the worshippers losing themselves in the process.

Worship in Scripture often seems to be noisy, as in Isaiah when “the sound of their voices made the foundation of the Temple shake” (6:4). On that occasion, the worship even involved smoke. On other occasions, it involved in...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Shouldn’t We Be Teaching People How to Worship?
• Chapter 2: Teaching Jimmy, Part 2
• Chapter 3: Teaching Jimmy, Part 3
• Chapter 4: Worship As Warfare, Part 1
• Chapter 5: Worship as Warfare, Part 2
• Chapter 6: Hymns Versus Praise Songs: Which Shall We Sing
• Chapter 7: Worship: Tradition, or Just “Follow the Leader?”
• Chapter 8: Traditions Too Often Lose Meaning Over Time
• Chapter 9: Who Do We Sing To?
• Chapter 10: Singing into the Universe
• Chapter 11: Some Say Worship Isn’t Very Important
• Chapter 12: Organs, Guitars, and the Incarnation
• Chapter 13: Organs, Guitars, and Context
• Chapter 14: Worship and Relationship
• Chapter 15: Source or Receptor Orientation?
• Chapter 16: Information Versus Stimulus
• Chapter 17: Where Is Meaning?
• Chapter 18: The Rule that Breaks all Other Rules
• Chapter 19: Participation Requires Familiarity
• Chapter 20: Do We Depend Too Much on Our Worship Leaders?
• Chapter 21: How Our Worldview Affects the Way We Worship
• Chapter 22: Is the Wiggle in the Drama or Is the Stage Shaky?
• Chapter 23: Expression or Communication?
• Chapter 24: Worship and Church Growth
• Chapter 25: Media Are to Serve, Not to Be Served
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C