Enjoying Worship

Phil's note: This was kindly published here, with some additions and alterations. Check it out for a version I'm happier with, but still not really complete!

At music rehearsal on Monday night, we had quite a discussion about what our expectations were when we come to play at a service. It was an interesting exchange of ideas. Concurrently, and totally unrelated, another interesting discussion has been going on in ChurchBass about Performance vs Worship. (I need to read more of that thread!) Here are a few ideas.

Worship is not about you. It's about God.
How many times have you said, or heard said, "I got a lot of the worship today", or "The worship didn't feel that great today"? Sorry, but that's entirely the wrong attitude! Worship is for God - to proclaim Him as God. Its not about getting a nice, warm fuzzy feeling. Its about putting God in his rightful place, regardless of how we feel about it.

Sometime I think that we expect the order of events to be:

Worship -> Good Feelings -> Presence of God

That is, if through our worship we get good feelings, and deduce that we have sensed the presence of God. I think this is the wrong way around. What is the purpose of worship? To raise up another, not yourself. Do you cheer on a football team to feel good about yourself, or to encourage and raise up the team? So:

Worship -> Presence of God -> Good Feelings

That is, our worship should remind us and instill in us the presence of God, out of which flow the good feelings.

Compare this with James' theology of faith and works.

NOT: works-> salvation -> faith
BUT: faith -> salvation -> works

By our faith in Christ we are saved. God himself came to us. It is out of our salvation that good works come. The works are our response to God, they do not justify us to God.

So I think it is with worship. The goal of worship shouldn't be the nice feelings, it should be putting God in His rightful place. However, out of that adoration of God good feelings may come. But if they don't, that's ok, because our feelings are not what worship is all about. We are secondary. God must be put in his rightful place.

This has a couple of ramifications:

Worship is not just music!
This first point is very important. Anything that puts God in his rightful place in our lives is worship. So often we've (I've!) restricted the idea of worship to just music, or even a particular style of music. But if worship is about God, then its more than what we do, or how we do what we do.

Style becomes irrelevant, and may even be an hindrance!
Me, I'm a jazz / funk man, myself. I get great enjoyment through playing and listening to that kind of music. Worshipping through that style is great fun for me. However, in doing so, I can actually focus more on the music, and less God. Hence, my worship becomes of the music - not God. Any music, or dance, or reading, or anything, that puts God above all, where He belongs, is worship.

Worship is much more varied than I have ever experienced!
The last point I want to make is this: Any way that I can put God first in my life is worship. It doesn't have to be singing. It doesn't have to be in a Church, or in a service, or even amongst other believers. I can worship God by remembering His attributes whilst driving. I can worship by evaluating a sitcom on TV, and reflecting on how it matches up with His plan for my life. I can worship by stopping writing in my blog, and getting back to doing some work!

Explore different ways of worship, and let me know how you get on.
pk