Why Do We Worship?

All my life I’ve gone to church not only because I felt it was the “right” thing to do, but also because I thought I could get a lot out of it. I just assumed I was worshipping God when I went to church.

But there may be a whole lot more to this story.

Of course going to church to worship God is the right thing to do. But it’s quite another question as to whether or not the worship of God was occurring when I went to church.

I’m discovering a wealth of wisdom from Marva Dawn’s book, Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down (see past post). Here’s an example: one shouldn’t go to church for “what one can get out of it.” According to her, the valid reason one goes to church is to worship God (with a complete and total focus on Him as both the object of worship and the subject of worship).

According to Dawn, what “I get out of it” is of little importance and may reflect a cultural distortion. Ouch! That’s like getting slapped in the face with a cold, wet mop. You need to hear her out, however, before you pass judgement. She’s likely right on point.

We live in a society that is on information-overload. In our genre, if it’s not new, it’s not interesting. Further, we live in a television “news-bite,” entertainment-oriented, self-centered world that is full of virtually unlimited choices. Our senses (mostly the visual) are titillated daily with more than they can process. Computers and the internet only compound the issue.

Unfortunately, points out Ms Dawn, when we try to find a church that might be right for us, we use these same, overloaded and possibly aberrated senses, looking for a similar kind of satisfaction. This is antithetical, she believes.

However, it’s no wonder so many churches have gone to an entertainment and/or a “feel good” format to attract worshippers. The apparent success of mega-churches who encourage and practice “contemporary” worship and include massive doses of I/me-oriented “praise songs” is indicative of and a natural evolvement in our self-gratifying society.

But do these phenomenon reflect true worship? Ms Dawn thinks not, but the title of her book offers that true worship is and can be possible without acquiescing to society’s tentacles.

She goes on to discuss and document (from the Bible, church history and tradition) what true worship is. She reminds us that true worship is totally focused on GOD. True worship does not involve how we feel about it. We are simply the worshipper. She incisively questions the current attempts to substantively alter forms of liturgy, music and sermons to accommodate the personal tastes of boomers, Xers or others, for the purpose of "attracting people".

Instead, she suggests, we should worship in the way God has ordained, which serves as a true reflection of who God is, rather than as a "package of entertainment" that might be popular but grossly distorted.

As I near the finish of her book, I’ve learned that God created us in His image so that true worship of Him is not only natural, but also it is the unique way by which we get to really know Him. We have a Biblical record that outlines these worship elements and an enlightening tradition as to how they have been practiced.

What Marva Dawn is afraid of, however, is that we’ve allowed our ego-centric cultural compulsions to seep into the church and consequently into our worship.

I’ve also learned that what God desires in worship are actions and attitudes that focus totally on Him and that have little to do with how it makes me feel (good or otherwise) or what I might think about them. The church (or true worship, for that matter) cannot be altered by the changing whims of society. (Does this mean that a “seeker-sensitive” approach is by definition NOT worship? It’s certainly excellent food for thought and could very well be so.)

Of course not all mega-churches are lacking. And not all contemporary services are wont. But the ones that are authentic have found a formula that includes what God requires, regardless of our individualistic desires and feelings. That’s where I want to be.