Worship Meditations

In the "Bible Church," the worship service generally has two main elements: the music and the sermon. The music part of the service is important, but then again, it isn't.

Music is important because it's often the only part of the worship service people genuinely "enjoy" in an entertainment sense (other than the occasional story or joke from the pastor); in fact, many people will (consciously or otherwise) make their decision whether or not to attend a church based on its musical style. A church can have a great missions program, a wonderful children's ministry, great preaching and nice people, but if the drums are too loud (or even if drums are present), or not enough hymns are sung, or there are too many "campfire songs" — some people will find another place more fitting with their musical tastes. Musical style can go a long way toward determining the demographic of a local church. This is not right, but it is reality.

But then, music isn't important to the local church — at least not in many of the churches I've been associated with. Many times music in a church serves only to bookend the sermon, introducing it before and responding to it afterwards. A church can have a titular "worship leader," but many times the pastor is the real worship leader. "OK, Bill, here's the sermon topic: The Woman At The Well. Do whatever you want with the rest (long as it doesn't exceed fifteen minutes), but I need a song to lead into the sermon and one to respond to it. And then something nice for the offertory."

So where's the balance? Since I am a musician, naturally music will always be a big part of worship for me. But I want to find out what it is to lead a congregation of believers into a deeper, more participatory, more life-altering worship experience beyond singing songs by rote and passively listening to a sermon.

A major concern regarding music is one of balance. Too many worship leaders — being musicians themselves, often former or frustrated stage performers — elevate music in worship to the point that it becomes too performance-oriented and turns into a variety show or rock concert. On the other hand, too many pastors choke off worship by stifling the creative processes in their worship leaders — processes that can lead to deeper worship — because they are too concerned about making sure the sermon is the hub around which everything else revolves.

Why are so many traditional denominational churches adding "contemporary" or "casual" worship services to their agendas? Some of it has to do with young people's aversion to dresses and ties, but my educated guess is that it's mostly music-related. Musical tastes are changing across the U.S., as well as many other parts of the world, and the large denominations are playing catch-up, thinking that if they play to a younger musical demographic, play more upbeat contemporary songs and kick up the old hymns a notch or two, maybe their slide into obsolescence will slow or stop. Might it not make better sense to teach people what it really means to worship God? Maybe what people are really looking for deep down isn't so much a more upbeat musical style as a deeper encounter with the Person of God. Maybe if people knew how to genuinely worship God, then whether the instrument is a pump organ or a Stratocaster wouldn't make as big a difference.

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