Worship Realignment Has Me Out of Joint

When Pastor Steve asked me how I like the worship realignment, I told him I don’t like it at all. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m not sure what to do on Sunday without music. Probably a lot of you feel the same way. But before I explain why I think we should give the whole thing a chance, let me tell you the story of our dog.

My son begged and begged for a dog. We said no after no. We weren’t dog people. We had never had a dog and didn’t know how to raise one. A dog would tear up the furniture. The entire concept of dog ownership was so overwhelming, I would not consider it. Finally, after about the 100th time my son tried to convince me he needed a dog, I said, mostly in exasperation, “If you really want a dog, you need to ask Jesus to change our minds, because that’s the only way it’s going to happen.”

About a week later, my husband said, “I’ve completely changed my mind about getting a dog. I think we should adopt one.” My son and I looked at each other in astonishment. His dad didn’t know he was praying we would change our minds, and in that moment, when I saw my son’s faith in Jesus’ love for him become cemented in his heart, I knew the Holy Spirit had spoken. We were getting a dog. That Saturday, we adopted an eight-week-old puppy.

That was two years ago. Now, my husband and I laugh at how apprehensive we were about dog ownership. Most of our fears were never realized. We learned to incorporate our dog into our family and adjusted to his needs. We love our dog more than we ever thought possible. For us, the reality of dog ownership makes our notion of what it would be like pretty ridiculous.

At times, our conceptions of what we are going to appreciate or enjoy are entirely wrong. We miss a lot being resistant to change. You have to adopt the dog to love it.

Church, we need to adopt this worship experience. I say that not just because it invades my own comfort zone. You only had to be there last Sunday to realize how inexperienced we are initiating spontaneous worship.

Twenty people were invited to stand and recite the names of God. Did it sound to you as it did to me more like an exercise in reading than an exercise in worship? Weren’t you waiting for some people to realize we were extolling the names of God, to drop their decorum, and to say those names like they really meant them? It’s true, we were doing what we were told to do, but doesn’t that exemplify the status quo? And that says to me that we do need to break the mold, that we need to learn how to be priests and worshippers ourselves instead of waiting for the appointed leader to take us into the Holy of Holies.

I suggest we don’t waste any more time before figuring out what our heart of worship looks like. And if that means we have to journey through our dissatisfaction, or fear, or criticism, or self-righteousness or just plain stubbornness, let’s do it.

Then, perhaps at the end of these 40 days, we’ll get another crack at that list of God’s names. Will anyone be able to say “I am your Savior” without weeping? Or, “He is the Lion of Judah” without a melody? And maybe someone will shout this in wild abandon: “THE one who heals me! The ONE who heals me! The one who HEALS me! The one who heals ME! I KNOW THAT GOD!!”

When we can do that, we would have gotten the message.

“Sing God a brand-new song! … worship God!
Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea,
Take the news of his glory to the lost,
News of his wonders to one and all!
For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs. …
Bravo, God, Bravo! …
Bring gifts and celebrate,
Bow before the beauty of God,
Then to your knees – everyone worship!
From Psalm 96 (The Message Bible)