Disconnected During Worship:
An Alarming Experience for Many
by Max Frazier, Jr.

From the August 2008 Philogian

(Note: There is no authorial intention of targeting any one particular church or group of churches.  This article comes out of one particular experience the author had as well as the shared experiences many others have related over the past few years.  It is written with the intent of not being accusatory, but of offering a suggestion as to how the Church might help each believer become more connected with God during times of worship.  You may share your thoughts by e-mailing MaxPrincipal@aol.com.)

It was a bright Sunday morning in early summer as I entered through the doors of a church I had never before attended.  My son, grandson, and I had spent the weekend visiting the Lincoln Museum and other sites associated with our 16th President in Springfield, IL.  We entered the church with expectations of being warmly welcomed as guests, but those expectations were soon shattered.  The auditorium doors being closed, I went to open them so I could enter to prepare my heart for worship.  A woman quickly came over to admonish me that the doors were to remain closed until practice for worship was completed.  She never welcomed us or introduced herself to us.  She just said, “You can’t go in!”  It was the tone of her voice that bothered me.  When we finally were able to enter, we found the auditorium in a darkened condition with candles burning around the platform and loud music playing in the background.  The worship band came on stage to begin our time of worship.  We sang two songs whose themes were centered around “I” with one song including the phrase “I know who I am” sung dozens of times.  Not knowing the songs, we just stood there as did about 200 other people.  Less than one fourth of the people were doing any singing. 

The message was given by one of the church elders and was taken from 1 John 2.  The emphasis of the message was how we should all love each other and accept each other.  Then the speaker stated that the three-fold direction the church was taking focused upon three words: belonging – believing – becoming.  Some of you reading this article will immediately recognize those three words as being the driving purpose behind the Emergent Church. 

As we left the service, having been greeted by no one, the thought entered my heart: “God, why did I feel disconnected from You this morning?”  Why do so many people have a similar experience every Sunday morning?  Later that same day, I was sharing with a dear ministerial colleague of mine the experience I had had that morning.  His response was, “Max, I don’t know what is happening in the Church anymore.  It certainly is not the Church we grew up in.”  Sadly, I agreed with him. 

Why does the Church need to change?
A simple answer to that question is: The Church needs to change because life changes.  We are part of a society where changes occur so quickly that we are often dazed and confused wondering if the world will ever slow down.  For example, just look at the world of technology.  I remember in my high school math and science classes where the featured technology was a slide rule.  It was a great tool as long as you could remember your decimal places.  Then came those first calculators made by Texas Instruments (TI).  Only a few could afford their exorbitant price-tags, and we stood envious of those who had them.  Computers came next.  My first computer was 64K, and I thought I had reached the limits of technology.  Computers then became faster and with larger hard drives.  Then there were those flash drives, sort of a mini-storage device.  And, well you know where we are today in technology.  We even have phones that can do just about everything except cook your meal. 

People will rightfully say that the Church needs to keep up with the changes.  Historically the Church has often been on the cutting edge of using new technologies for the advancement of the message of Jesus.  But must everything in the Church change?  Cannot the Church become a refuge from the almost flood-like deluge of change happening in the world?  Is there not one place left where a person can find constancy? 

A Changing Message?
The watch-word of today’s gospel proclamations is “love.”  And one of the most familiar passages cited is the two great commandments of Jesus: Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Mathew 22:34-40).  Another familiar text is the new commandment Jesus gave to His disciples during the final Passover meal.  You might remember His words: A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). 

Yes, we are to love one another.  In the past couple of decades the Church has had to rediscover the foundations of a ministry of love.  But we have broadened that ministry to include tolerance and acceptance of all.  “There is truth in all religions” many would say.  That is only partially correct – there is some truth in all religions.  However, only in a relationship with Jesus Christ can a person know the truth and it is the knowledge of that truth that society today wants to deny.

I think we have failed to heed the second part of what Jesus said – “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  How did Jesus show love to His disciples?  First, His was a love that recognized those men for what they could become.  He saw Simon as becoming Peter, the Rock.  He saw James and John as being successful at fishing for men.  And through His love, Jesus gave enablement to those who followed Him to experience all that God had for them.  Second, because of His love Jesus often confronted His disciples when they erred.  He rebuked Peter when he took up the sword and began slashing at men there in the Garden.  He strongly rebuked James and John when they urged Jesus to call down fire from heaven when certain Samaritans refused to grant permission for Jesus to travel through their city.  And often Jesus cited the continued unbelief of His disciples.  To have been loved by Jesus meant more than mere acceptance.  It meant to have one’s life completely impacted by the presence of Christ.  It meant to experience a life-transforming change.

I think the Apostle Paul stated it well in his description of his congregation there in Corinth: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, emphasis added).  In love the Church confronted and challenged individuals until all experienced a life-change.  The Apostle Paul would grant no toleration for sinful behavior (read 1 Corinthians 5 and note his strong words).  He would grant no toleration for those who held to any belief other than what he had proclaimed (read Galatians 1 and note his strong language).     

This leads me to one of the fallacies of the Emergent Church movement.  I mentioned in the introduction to this article three words: belonging – believing – becoming.  In the hopes of making disciples, the Emergent Church encourages nonbelievers, known as seekers, to join the Church, in essence to belong.  As you then belong to the Church, you begin to experience faith resulting in your eventually becoming part of God’s family.  But, as Dr. D.A. Carson writes in his book, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, Christ created the Church to be a community of individuals who bear the marks of knowing Christ.  The believing community was entrusted with the responsibility of ministering to the world, helping individuals come to faith, and then welcoming them into belonging to the Church.  It seems that a more biblical word order would be: believing – becoming – belonging.  I become a member of a local church because I am already a member of the Body of Christ.    

Friends, the message that still causes lives to change is as simple as it was when Jesus first uttered it to Nicodemus: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).  Friends, we must never, never waver from this message.  Our times may change…but, praise God, the message never changes. 

A Changing Worship?
Will the worship wars never cease?  How long must the battle be waged between those who desire hymns and those who desire choruses?  Between those who relate to the majestic tones of an organ and those who relate more comfortably to the strumming of a guitar?  Why must we use such words as “traditional” and “contemporary” to describe our worship?  Is there an “olive branch” that can resolve such separations so that each of us can feel connected to God during our times of corporate worship?

Amazingly the answer is a resounding “yes!”  It is not found in the catchy phrase of a “blended service,” but in a return to a “biblical” service of worship.  Let me share with you these words from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16, emphasis added).  Can worship be any more plainly stated than that?  Let’s look at each element Paul alludes to in this passage.

First – psalms.  This has reference to the singing of the Book of Psalms.  It was really Scripture placed into a musical setting.  Today it might include the reading of Scripture, sometimes in a responsive way, while other times shared alone.

Second – hymns.  Dr. Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Colossians titled, Be Complete, writes: Hymns were songs of praise to God written by believers but not taken from the Psalms.  John MacArthur, in Living the Risen Life, further states: It is believed, by many scholars, that Colossians 1:15-20, Philippians 2:6-11, and other New Testament passages, were actually sung as hymns by the early church.  So, a hymn is a verbal celebration of God and His attributes.

Third – spiritual songs.  Again allow me to let Dr. Wiersbe say it best: Spiritual songs were expressions of Bible truth other than in psalms and hymns.  When we sing a hymn, we address the Lord; when we sing a spiritual song, we address each other.  Spiritual songs emphasized a person’s testimony of what God had done in their lives. 

Fourth – “and.”  That’s right.  Paul uses the word “and.”  He did not say, “Sing psalms, hymns, or spiritual songs.”  He said, “Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”  The problem in today’s Church is that we have declared that we either have hymns or spiritual songs.  The Apostle Paul would challenge us to use psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.  Friends, psalms connect our worship to the Word; hymns connect our worship to God; and spiritual songs connect our worship to one another.  In addition, with the singing of hymns we connect with the Church in its past.  When one sings such a grand old stately hymn as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” one connects with the countless throngs of believers who have sung that same hymn over the past nearly five centuries since Martin Luther wrote it.  When I sing a hymn I realize that I am part of something that is greater than the small pew in which I am worshiping.  And when I sing a spiritual song I join with others around me in affirming what God has done or will do in my life. 

When all we sing are hymns, then we miss the important connection we can have with each other in affirming what God is doing in our lives and in our world.  Conversely, when all we sing are spiritual songs, then we miss that critically important connection with the Almighty God Himself who is our refuge and strength. 

And, why can we not use all the various instruments in our worship?  It seems as one reads through the Psalms, God’s hymnal, that one sees a wide variety of instruments being used.  Organs and pianos – absolutely.  Drums and cymbals – why not!  Trumpets and saxophones – remember the archangel has a trumpet.  Guitars and basses – David played a harp, his version of a guitar.  Why should we practice exclusion when we should be practicing inclusion? 

Perhaps it is time that we stop trying to be either “traditional” or “contemporary” and start being “biblical.”  If that begins to happen, then many of us will not feel so disconnected from God and each other during our times of worship.

Conclusion
In these last days, one of the most potent ways Satan is trying to divert the energies of the Body of Christ is through “worship wars” and “diluted messages.”  With the former he keeps Christians battling one another; with the later he prevents the unsaved from hearing the Truth that has the power to set them free.  It is time that we ask ourselves two important questions.  First, is our worship biblical?  Second, is the message we proclaim based upon the unwavering conviction that the Bible is absolute truth?  How we address those questions will greatly impact how effective we are in reaching our community for Christ.   

 

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