When spiritual people decide where to worship, or when leaders strategize about how to worship, much of the talk is about style: what sort of music, technology, attire, and décor will be most effective? or will reach people we aren't reaching? Do we trash robes for shirt-collars? or litanies for skits? or the organ for a rock band? But doesn't all the hoopla about style tempt us to lose our bearings and dilute the content? Who rules? Style? or content?
Of course: content must be the driving force. Style can mis-speak or throw a cloak over the content; a service can feed people's self-indulgence, trying to "suit" their "tastes" without drawing them out of themselves, and toward God. The challenge is voiced in a book by Marva Dawn: Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down.
Yet style is not unimportant. Bare content can be bone-dry, lifeless, unconnected to life. What is "style" anyway? An expression of my self, a delightful manifestation of the way God made me, letting others peek into the heart of who I am. But "style" can be bogus, too. Hopefully, my "style" is genuine, emanating from who I really am on the inside; but "style" can be phony, geared to cover up who I am, pretending to be who I wish I were. Is our worship style consistent with who we really are? and what our faith is about? Does our style deepen? or pretend? Are we pasting something hip or stiff on the outside - and there's nothing in there anyway?
Here's a peculiar twist: in worship, it's not about me and my style; rather, I am part of a community, a Body. A worship style can't be packaged like advertising to appeal to me solo in a sea of consumers. Worship style is about me being part of a larger family, where together we find ourselves lost in wonder, love and praise. Parents may love the Rolling Stones or Chopin, but they also listen to Raffi or Anna Nalick; families diversify. And in Church, should we always get the style we prefer in the rest of life? or is it wise to expect a style very different, since the Gospel isn't exactly business as usual? If worship mirrors the rest of my life, have I been ushered out of a crazed world and into the corridors of God?
Jesus suggested that we worship "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23). Truth: the goal of worship is not to please me. It is about God, and the truth is counter-cultural, a jolt to my system after living all week in a world that thinks nothing of God. Worship is not an entertainment venue. And yet spirit matters; people need to be able to connect. I might have difficulty worshipping if the service were in a foreign language, or if the leaders all wore Mickey Mouse ears. But then worship is like learning a foreign language, and some of our customs will look silly to outsiders.
How do we test the intersection of content and style? Does the service express the truth about God? Does it comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable? Do we over-simplify? Does it titillate me like TV? or does it lure me to be still, to lengthen my attention span and learn to pray? Is it "show"? or is it something the people labor joyfully over together?
James
james@mpumc.org
Coming up:
eWorship6 - Symbols and Technology
eWorship7 - Worship space
eWorship8 - Teach us to Worship
Sunday's sermon on Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3) may be heard if you click here.
The complete eWorship series may be found on our web site.
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