Why Worship?

For some of us, we go to church every week and participate in what the western world calls worship. To some, worship is the attendance at a weekly church gathering, the worship service. In the most general sense, worship service then means a meeting devoted to God and God’s Kingdom. And that devotion amounting to an hour or more of time then equals worship. To others, worship is the act of singing, but even this might seem odd to many who don’t attend church meetings regularly.

The only time the non-church goer sings to people in regular life would be at either a birthday party or mockingly at the fans of some opposing team sitting on the other side of some sports venue. Now, go back a generation or two and men would “croon” swooning love-songs to their ladies. Any and all of this is, well, to a degree worshipful singing, even if it is a bit plain, expected or antithetical. So why do churches continue to sing worshipful songs to God if society has lost the knack for this way of expressing oneself? I am going to propose that it is not lost, nor is the act of singing the actual worship element within the church-related worship experience. Hang on to get my meaning...

I am going to throw down a Bible verse here which I will take the liberty to transliterate into a modern context (bare with me):

Romans 12, 1-2. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Now the Steve version:

OK. People, in light of the fact that due to the mercy of God on a daily basis and in an effort to remind ourselves of that mercy in the face of some not-so-merciful world circumstances, dedicate your whole self to the idea and act of uniquely being aware that you are and can be a blessing back to God. In doing this you are remembering God’s mercy and your very life will become the spiritual definition of worship. Again dedicate yourself to being aware that you can be an actual blessing to God in life in practical ways, but do this by altering your typical life-rut by rebooting your head out of your mundane view of the way things are and will be. Only by making the view fresh and new, seeing life through God’s perspective will you then be able to see the difference between what God wants for you, which is good, pleasing to you and perfect for you, contrasting that with all of the other typical crap that makes the rut that is your life if you just keep grinding forward without relating to God in practical ways and on His terms.

IN OTHER WORDS: God would prefer our “worship”… our “happy birthday” song in celebration of His mercy be in the form of living a grateful life dedicated to being a living blessing to God, so that we can dodge the crap of life and see the difference between the crap and the good stuff God would want for us.

In a sense it seems God is saying that our lives, if lived as an act of worship toward Him, on His terms, will result in getting a clearer view so we can grab on to His best for us. The act of living worship becomes this revolving door of blessing. First, He is merciful, THEN we remember by living grateful transformed lives that become the definition of worship, NEXT He in turn helps us walk into more blessings, and THEN we live more worship, ect. (on and on)

The singing part is just amazing. Being a musician, I have bumped into wacky facts about music over the years. In the context of my thoughts on worship here, I thought I would share one. Most people may not be aware that it is far easier to memorize musical lyrics than it is to memorize the spoken word. Why? Because something about music opens up our long term memory. In other words, when we sing about (1) how merciful and great God is toward us, or (2) sing to Him about our dedication toward being a blessing, or (3) to one another to remember amazing things about God or about God’s character, we are actually assigning those thoughts to our long term memory. I can say honestly that I learned a few songs as a kid that I would give anything to forget (maybe you know what I am talking about… to this day I find the song “Hang down your head Tom Dooley” completely depressing), but the long term nature of music ensures that once it goes in, it is far easier to access later when we need it. And in all of heaven and earth, if ever there was a time to learn or remember about the mercy and faithfulness of God on nearly a daily basis, this is that time.

So, in a sense, the singing part is really more for us than it is for God. It helps us remember like that Bible verse says. The real worship is in the remembering. But let me encourage you further…

Do you remember how awesome you are? OK that is a silly question. Of course you do, but it is nice to hear isn’t it? It is also nice to remember it when you are needing to be awesome and not a jerk or a bump on a log. Remembering attributes is generic praise, and generic praise is also a kind of worship. Better yet is specific praise…

Do you remember that time we went to the moon and bought icecream cones and sat in a crator telling each other jokes all afternoon? Oh, that wasn’t you? My bad. Likewise, it is far better to “remember” your own real memories. Don’t always let someone elses song become your song. That is fine too, but like the Psalmist says, let your song be “new every morning.” Each day is filled with cool little situations we can sit back and chat with God about at the end of the day…

“… and remember when Chris told that stupid joke and the two of us laughed for about ten minutes. God, thanks for making laughter. I totally needed that.” The thing is that our lives are all cluttered with crap to the degree that we don’t even see the neat little stuff that God places in our paths everyday. We step on or over them all of the time mostly because we don’t see them. Don’t get me wrong. There is plenty of stuff in life to get cranky about and maybe we should let ourselves get upset about that stuff. BUT… not at the expense of losing our vision for the good stuff God intends for us. That totally isn't worth it, is it? It ought to be OK to get pissed about bad stuff AND get thankful for the good stuff. Worship opens us up to the good stuff, changes our minds, clears our vision, changes our perspective and helps to remind us that God is at work around us and toward us.

If you are not used to talking with God about the good stuff, then here is a simple exercise for you:

After work today, well before you go to bed, sit down in that rut you have worn into your favorite chair or bed or couch. Get comfortable, but not so comfortable that you fall asleep. Now, just begin to review the day. If the first few times you do this only crap come to mind (i.e. "And God, my boss totally pissed me off today. He doesn't see how hard I work. He only ever mentions the mistakes. I don't want to hate my job but today I am seriously close!") well, that is totally OK! Here is where the Bible is pretty cool. In another scripture it says "cast your cares upon the Lord, because He cares for you!" In other words, until you finally hit that groove of getting a renewed and transformed vision of the world around you, he is ready to take on the burden of what is on your heart and mind. Do this for at least 14 days. At first, take only a minimum of 5 minutes to do this. I promise you.... it will make a difference! I am offering a moneyback guarantee! But wait... there is more! If you can't hit that groove, then find someone who can. They will likely be willing to help you see God's mercy in your life! This is important stuff.