Someone has written about the difference in worship styles in story form, using a bit of humor: “An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. ‘Well,’ said the farmer, ‘It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise songs instead of hymns.’ ‘Praise songs,’ said his wife, ‘What are those?’ ‘Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,’ said the farmer. ‘Well, what’s the difference?’ asked his wife. The farmer said, ‘Well it’s like this — If I were to say to you: “Martha, the cows are in the corn,” well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you: “Martha Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN,” then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise song.’
“Next Sunday a young, new Christian went to a small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. ‘Well,’ said the young man, ‘It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.’ ‘Hymns,’ said his wife, ‘What are those?’ ‘Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,’ said the young man. ‘Well, what’s the difference?’ asked his wife. The young man said, ‘Well it’s like this — If I were to say to you, “Martha, the cows are in the corn,” Well that would be a regular praise song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
‘Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.’
Then, if I were to sing only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”
Unfortunately, people’s differences in worship styles are not always met with that same kind of humor. Being people of habit, we think worship should happen in only one way — which just happens to be our way. I have been fortunate enough to have experienced a wide variety of worship styles in my lifetime. I have been in very formal Episcopal and Roman Catholic services and enjoyed them very much. When I went to England we worshiped in the majestic and historic Church of England where there is not only formality, but carefully staged pomp and circumstance which added to the aura of worship. While I was in seminary I pastored four little Methodist churches in the mountains of northern Kentucky. In one church the people sat on wooden benches and clapped their hands and stomped their feet to the hymns. I have been in black churches, Pentecostal churches, large independent churches and small country churches and felt the presence of God in each of them. Some of them still stand out in my mind as some of the most moving experiences I have had in worship. When I go to the Abbey of the Genesee, I attend the services there. The simplicity of the Trappist monk’s service with quiet solitude and the reading of Scripture is very meaningful. I have also been in prayer meetings with former drug addicts who shout their thanksgiving to God and speak in tongues. Each of these worship experiences has enriched my spiritual life and I have experienced the presence of God in new ways in each of those settings.
We want to ask the question this morning: What is worship, and why do we need it? The first response is: We need to get in touch with our Creator. Our thoughts are so often filled with ourselves and our needs that we need to take time to focus on something besides ourselves. By understanding who God is, we understand who we are. We are a part of God’s divine creation. He has made us and our lives belong to him. He has given us life, and it is our privilege to give our lives back to him. The Bible says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1). We offer ourselves to God as an act of worship. We don’t just give our money, or our words of praise, we give ourselves. Just as the Old Testament priests laid the lambs as offerings to God on the altar, so we lay ourselves before God and offer ourselves to him.
We celebrate the fact that we were made in God’s image, which means that our lives have meaning and purpose. God is involved in our lives. We are not alone. And we are not our own. The Psalmist exulted: “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:2-3). This is what keeps us from living as though we only have to think about ourselves and what we want. It delivers us from leading self-centered lives. We stop focusing on ourselves and remember who God is.
It is impossible to worship without humility. Worship means that I recognize that I am not the primary person of the universe. There is someone who is above me. I must humble myself to worship. The Lord has said, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). We humble ourselves when we come to worship just wanting to be in his presence.
Stuart Sacks tells this interesting story: “When I was a missionary in Paraguay, a Maka Indian named Rafael came and sat on my porch. I went out to see what he wanted. He responded, “Ham, henek met.” I asked what I could do for him, but the answer was the same: “I don’t want anything; I have just come near.” I understood what he was saying, but not its significance. A veteran missionary explained that Rafael was honoring me. He only wanted to sit on my porch. He found satisfaction and pleasure being near me. ‘What brings you here, my child?’ the Lord asks us. Can we say, ‘Ham, henek met’?” We are not here to impress God, to rack up points with him or get something from him. We have just come near. We want to be in his wonderful presence. We want to soak in his presence like a sponge. We want to drink living water and eat the bread of life. We want to express our love to him and experience his love.
The second reason we need to worship is that: We need to get in touch with eternity. Here’s the thing. If you just go about your life and never take time to worship, you forget that there is more to life than what you see and presently experience. We forget that this world is not all there is. We fail to develop an eternal perspective. Life gets increasingly small as we think about our health, our eventual death, our finances, our relationships and our pleasures. The Bible says, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). Is there any wonder that people are depressed and in a bad mood? Is it any wonder that there is so much anger and rage in the world? I would be irritable too if I felt there was no God, no heaven, no eternal meaning to life and nothing beyond what life brings us here.
Friends of ours who are missionaries to Asia recently wrote in one of their newsletters: “We recall an Easter Sunday in Chung Shan, China. Friendly greeters at the church entrance were handing out the customary red-dyed hard-boiled eggs to all the worshipers. Seeing some young passersby watching quizzically, we asked if they had ever heard about Easter (fu-hwo — return to life). Their negative response prompted us to invite them to come inside with us to hear the resurrection message. Like all churches in China the building was not heated. The pews were not padded. The sound system was far from state-of-the-art (in most churches such equipment is non-existent). There were no trained musicians — also a rarity — and the service was predictably long. Strange then, that in spite of these ‘deficiencies’ (to the Western mind), one can hardly find an empty seat any Sunday in the churches in China. We were thrilled to be among these faithful believers for their fervent worship. Many had paid a high price. Many know the road ahead is fraught with danger. Still they seek Him with all their hearts. Comfort and worship, rarely synonymous in Chinese churches, is of little concern.”
Their lives could be full of fear and gloom, because of the persecution they suffer. Loved ones are imprisoned or beaten. Some lose their lives. Others lose their homes and all their belongings, but they worship with joy because they realize that this world is not their home; they are just passing through. That is the frame of mind that we need as well, even though life is so much better for us. The Bible tells us that we are to think of ourselves as aliens and strangers in this world. The writer of Hebrews says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13).
What is it that gives us the ability to put up with all these gloomy days of winter? It is the knowledge that Spring is coming. We can think about warm earth, robins, daffodils and warm evenings. Our minds turn to picnics and swimming, and we can laugh at the winter because we know it cannot last. Likewise, when life turns difficult our minds turn to heaven where there will be laughter and warmth and eternal joy. This world cannot last. Isaiah the prophet put it like this: “The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 35:10).
This leads to the third reason we need to worship: We need to get in touch with hope. Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University Medical Center has written that as a result of his patient studies over a long period of time that, “a lack of religious involvement has an effect on mortality that is equivalent to 40 years of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day.” The New Republic reports that, “Another new study, conducted mainly by researchers at the University of Texas, found that those who regularly attended worship services lived an average of seven years longer than those who never attended.” I believe that the reason is that people of faith are people of hope. They have a positive outlook on life. Life does not throw them like it does others. They experience a joy that goes beyond their present circumstances. They see beyond this world.
Coleman Coates tells this story: “In 1958, a U.S. soldier wandered the streets of Berlin to see the sights. Despite the bustling new life in parts of the city, reminders remained of the destruction of World War II. Walking through a residential area one evening, across the cobblestone street he saw an open space edged with flowers. In the center stood the stone front of what had been a church. The building was no longer there, but the rubble had been cleared away in an attempt to fill the empty space with a little park. The former church’s main door was shaped in a Gothic arch, and over it was carved into the stone in German: ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’ As he stepped through the arch where the doors had once been, of course he wasn’t inside anything. What was once a place of worship had been reduced to a patch of stone pavement and open sky.”
When the church building is reduced to rubble, the words of Christ and the hope they bring still remain. When the world is over and history has written its last line, we will be living in the reality of our hope. This is the truth worship gets us in contact with. The Bible says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28). God’s kingdom cannot be shaken and therefore neither can we. That is why we have hope. Through worship we understand that God is in control so we don’t have to be. It is through worship that we gain the courage to face life. We gain the confidence to live life expectantly. Worship gets us in touch with the joy of our salvation. It helps us to live life with gratitude. It is in worship that we celebrate our wonderful God and anticipate our heavenly home. It is here where we experience the embrace of God.
Brother Lawrence, the monk who wrote Practicing the Presence of God said, “All spiritual life consists of practicing God’s presence, and that anyone who practices it correctly will soon attain spiritual fulfillment. To accomplish this, it is necessary for the heart to be emptied of everything that would offend God. He wants to possess your heart completely. Before any work can be done in your soul, God must be totally in control.”
Worship is not just something we do here on Sunday morning, it is a lifestyle. We worship when we awake. We worship when we eat. We worship when we walk and observe the wonder of a loving and creative God who made such a good world. We worship when we are weary. We worship when we are troubled and perplexed. We worship when we have lost and when we have gained. We live with an attitude of adoring God for who he is. Worship is a love affair we carry on with our Creator.
Rodney J. Buchanan
February 23, 2003
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
Experiencing the Joy of Worship
Questions for February 23, 2003
1. What style of worship do you prefer? Which do you least appreciate?
2. What is the most meaningful part of worship for you? The least meaningful?
3. What is the ultimate purpose of worship?
4. Why is it important for us to focus on God? What does it do for us?
5. Read Romans 12:1. What are the implications of this verse?
6. Read John 4:19-24. How are we to worship according to these verses?
7. Read 1 Peter 2:11. Since we are “aliens” how does that affect the way we worship?
8. How does worship increase our joy? What are the things we are celebrating?
9. We were created to worship. If we do not worship God, what/who do we worship?
10. What do people do who do not have the experience of worship? What do you believe this does to their attitudes and emotions?
