Reverence vs. Relationship
About a week ago one of my teammates was in a Christian worship band concert. We had invited our students and because one of their teachers was performing, about fifteen or so showed up! While this was exciting, I was incredibly curious about what must be going through their heads as they sat there and listened to this rock music about Jesus. I thought of myself and what my reaction may have been. But I could not imagine. I have grown up surrounded by a church community and truly have no capability of removing my experience from my frame of reference.
At a break in the music I went over to where some of my students were sitting and asked them what they thought.
“It’s so loud!” One student commented.
“I don’t know . . . I like the music, but I don’t understand the words. Why are they singing like this to Jesus?” another student asked. “In my church we have a lot of respect for Jesus. No one sits or even speaks hardly; God is too important.”
This comment caused me to stop and consider what we were doing. Were we worshiping Christ, or merely performing? When I sing, I cry out the words and hold them close to my heart, passionately experiencing the emotion of the music and power of the songs deep inside. As the beat rings in my chest, I am overwhelmed with the wonder of God and His majesty over each one of us. I am reminded of His love and sacrifice and gift of grace. But am I giving Him respect? Am I enjoying the music more than I am enjoying my God?
God desires a real relationship with each one of us, but He also is King above all things and deserves our humble reverence. I don’t think that I am forgetting to revere Christ when my heart cries out in worship, but I do think that we need to be careful not to forget that it is God who gave us the voice to sing to Him. May we not get so caught up in our music that we forget to humble ourselves before Him. It is not about us and our performance; it is about Him. Maybe we need to stop every once in a while and be quiet before our King. Maybe the quiet and stillness are exactly what we need to bring us to the place of repentance.
There is a lot I appreciate about the Orthodox faith. One of which is their commitment to pay due respect to the Father. I want to be careful not to assume that just because my students are not Protestant, that they do not have Jesus Christ living inside of them. While many who claim to be Christians are only culturally Orthodox, who am I to say that that means they don’t know Jesus? God is not bound to my Protestant faith. He is God of the whole Church, the one holy Catholic (all-embracing) Church.
However we choose to worship our God, may we remember that the only thing He desires from us is our entire life. Amazing Grace!
At a break in the music I went over to where some of my students were sitting and asked them what they thought.
“It’s so loud!” One student commented.
“I don’t know . . . I like the music, but I don’t understand the words. Why are they singing like this to Jesus?” another student asked. “In my church we have a lot of respect for Jesus. No one sits or even speaks hardly; God is too important.”
This comment caused me to stop and consider what we were doing. Were we worshiping Christ, or merely performing? When I sing, I cry out the words and hold them close to my heart, passionately experiencing the emotion of the music and power of the songs deep inside. As the beat rings in my chest, I am overwhelmed with the wonder of God and His majesty over each one of us. I am reminded of His love and sacrifice and gift of grace. But am I giving Him respect? Am I enjoying the music more than I am enjoying my God?
God desires a real relationship with each one of us, but He also is King above all things and deserves our humble reverence. I don’t think that I am forgetting to revere Christ when my heart cries out in worship, but I do think that we need to be careful not to forget that it is God who gave us the voice to sing to Him. May we not get so caught up in our music that we forget to humble ourselves before Him. It is not about us and our performance; it is about Him. Maybe we need to stop every once in a while and be quiet before our King. Maybe the quiet and stillness are exactly what we need to bring us to the place of repentance.
There is a lot I appreciate about the Orthodox faith. One of which is their commitment to pay due respect to the Father. I want to be careful not to assume that just because my students are not Protestant, that they do not have Jesus Christ living inside of them. While many who claim to be Christians are only culturally Orthodox, who am I to say that that means they don’t know Jesus? God is not bound to my Protestant faith. He is God of the whole Church, the one holy Catholic (all-embracing) Church.
However we choose to worship our God, may we remember that the only thing He desires from us is our entire life. Amazing Grace!
posted by Emily Spencer and Tim Stewart @ 12:59 PM
9 Comments:
At 10:30 AM,
Anonymous said…
The reference to respect in relation to how our culture worships the Lord reminds me of how crucial it is to have balance in our lives. I completely agree that while we worship, sing, pray, do anything before the Lord, our hearts have to be humbly placed before the Lord. Sometimes I wonder if our tech-savvy, rock style worship with 3 guitars, 24 piece drum set and Korg pedal effects are just merely a distraction to the underlying root of worship. Are these things really necessary, or are they just means to tickle us out of boredom? There are many different ways to worship the Lord as we can see in our world today. It is quite beautiful to see the many creative expressions we humans come up with. Like Revereand N.T. Wright said...we must worship our Lord with everything we have and in everything we do. Our creativity is a gift and a gift we can utilize to bring honor to our loving God. With that said I think the answer comes back to our intentions and our hearts of worship...our longing to truly want to be closer to our Lord and be in an intimate place with Him (or Her...haha). Em, hope all is well. Sounds like you're having an amazing time and learning tons. Lata!
At 11:44 AM,
Jeffrey Jones said…
Interesting comments you got from your students. I got a couple that were quite different. I pray God uses it as He pleases.
At 12:22 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hey Em, I am glad that you are taking the leaps of faith with your students. From what I see you are doing amazing work in the lives of these students. I am so glad that they are very receptive to your questions, even if they don't know what's going on. Initiating the converastions is half the battle. I just learned that my TA for anatomy is a christian. I learned this when i told him my car got hit at church. I can tell you more about THAT story later. He asked me what church i went to and i told him, Calvary, and then that sparked an entire conversation. Now if I only had the courage to talk like that to a non-christian. The comfort zone is well...comfortable. But I know God wants to stretch me in new ways. It's gonna be interesting to see what happens next. I love reading your blog entries. i'll email you soon with the latest news.
At 1:22 PM,
Alicia said…
Great observations, Em. I think the question boils down to this: whose church is it? If it’s Christ’s church, then He is the King. This means we don’t worship however we choose. We listen to Him, we obey Him, and we come to Him in ways that He Himself has prescribed, in ways that are appropriate according to His word. This means He is in charge of the music, the dress code, the liturgy, the architecture—all of it. If we are His Church, then He is the King.
On the other hand, if it’s our church, then we can play whatever music we want, dress however we want, and read whatever readings we want to read when we get together. If it’s our church (nobly organized for Him), we can worship however we choose. I fear too many gatherings of Christians are of this type, rather than the former. People get together to give three cheers for Jesus, to sing about Him, talk about Him, and think about Him, without ever considering if this is the way He would have us conduct ourselves in His presence. When this happens, it’s no longer His Church; it’s a religious fan club.
Cain was rebuked because He didn’t worship God the way God Himself had told him to. It wasn’t that he wasn’t coming to God. It was the way he was coming that earned him the rebuke. I fear too many “Christian” gatherings are open to this same rebuke. This is bad news. We need to take a step back and examine how we are functioning. We say it’s all for Him, but in practice, is it really? Are we acting like we’re His Church, or are we acting like a Jesus club?
At 9:03 PM,
donnjohnson said…
Dear Emily;
Great exegesis of culture and faith. It really is the balance some of your readers commented on between the eternal God and the temporal location and expression. As a pastor, it's always a tender juggling act between that which is immutable and that which is very flexible. Great observations!
At 9:03 PM,
donnjohnson said…
Dear Emily;
Great exegesis of culture and faith. It really is the balance some of your readers commented on between the eternal God and the temporal location and expression. As a pastor, it's always a tender juggling act between that which is immutable and that which is very flexible. Great observations!
At 3:37 AM,
Anonymous said…
I like your balanced understanding of this, Emily.
This reminds me of conversations I used to have with my younger brother, who leads worship music. "Reverence" used to be an unattractive word to him.
But how many times does the bible command us to fear God? How many times does it commend those who do?
If we actually believe that God is Who He says He is, then He is to be feared and revered. What He says matters. What He does is meaningful and irresistable.
I'd say that we always either fear God, or fear the world.
Yet we can have joy and confidence because of Christ's sacrifice, which has opened the way for us to intimacy with Him (Hebrews 10).
Yet, how can we have joy without fear, first? How can we praise Him if we do not truly know what we've been saved from? Conviction and forgiveness of sin should be both humbling and joy-giving.
"Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, both small and great!" - Rev. 19:5
At 4:39 AM,
Jeffrey Jones said…
I know this post has been up for a while, but I just found a great article by John Piper that speaks to this topic. Check it out sometime and let me know what you think. Thoughts on Worship and Culture
At 6:40 PM,
Anonymous said…
Emily, it is so obvious to me that the Father is guiding you through all these questions to be a worshipper of Him in spirit and in truth. Here's my addition:
Whatever the style, the place, the emotion, the elements involved, it is Christ's holy spirit that teaches us how to worship him in ways that please him. He's the one who shows us the Father! And we desperately need him to show us how, in heart, mind, and action to respond to him in worship. How can we worship what we do not know?
Therefore, the emphasis is not just on how we feel about a loud contemporary worship song, or a slow-moving hymn, or the silence in Orthodox liturgy. Rather, it is about asking of the Father, "What are you teaching me in this moment?" He speaks, and we go from there.
Thus, as Alicia said so well: "We come to him in ways that he himself prescribed, in ways that are appropriate according to his word." And he's a Good and Faithful Shepherd.
I miss you! I think of you often! I took a ballet class today and it was SO fun. I've been so excited all day, I haven't even taken off my dance pants yet (it's 6:30 pm). Talk to you in another capacity soon.
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