And so we keep going…there’s just so much to say on the subject of worship. (Links to the previous posts are found at the end of this one.)
I have been a big fan of corporate worship. By corporate worship I do not mean worshiping corporations. 🙂 I mean the act of coming together as a people to worship God–as a people, in one accord. I still like that dynamic when it happens, and I think God does, too. Looking through the Bible, and through history, it seems like God has a tendency to manifest Himself when people come together with the common purpose of seeking Him. (Pentecost is just one example of many.)
HOWEVER…that’s not all there is to worship, either.
When our home church first began exploring this idea of re-thinking and re-shaping our worship, one question I laid on the table for discussion was this: “How do you think you receive most from God–through instruction, through discussion, or through reflection?” Now, we don’t have a large group of post-moderns; most of us are recovering institutional churchgoers. And so most people answered, “Discussion,” which is how most of our gatherings are structured.
Surprisingly, almost no one (initially) answered, “Reflection.” (One person came to realize she receieved through reflection when she said that everyday things, nature, etc. spoke to her about God.) And yet–everyone admitted that reflection is a good way to connect with God.
So…why don’t we do it more?
As I said before, corporate worship is still important. But perhaps an unfortunate byproduct of focusing only on the pulpit/pew, center-stage, worship-leader method of doing corporate worship is that we have programmed ourselves to be entertained. It’s as if we have dumbed down our own spirituality so that we must be led by the hand into the Holy presence of God rather than take the initiative ourselves. Our culture has somehow lost the art of reflection.
What do I mean by reflection? I mean to quiet our heart before God, to ponder, to look, to listen, to meditate. Reflecting upon the aspects of God, like His beauty, His goodness, His love–rather than having someone tell us about Him through a message or a song per se. We don’t do that too much anymore. We have been conditioned to wait for our cue from the stage to know what we ought to do. In fact, many of us are so conditioned this way that we start squirming when things get too quiet. Many times, even while leading corporate worship, I’ve felt drawn to bring the music down, or end the music completely, allowing the group to go into a time of quiet or silent reflection. Most times, it didn’t last more than a few minutes. People (including me, the worship leader) start squirming and feel like we need to move on. We have lost the art of reflection.
It seems that in some circles, there is a trend now toward what is being called “ambient worship.” Rather than have a leader “rally the troops” in corporate singing, the musicians will create a musical environment, allowing people to seek God for themselves–to reflect. Sometimes there won’t even be live music–just a recording. Sometimes there are prayer stations, art, or other things to stimulate reflection. But the remarkable thing is that there is very little direction given, and people are encouraged to seek God out for themselves in that environment. And for the postmodern crowd, it seems to be a strong point of connection for them.
Looking back, I realize I’ve touched on this element of reflective worship without realizing what I was doing–not only in the quiet worship times I described, but in some of the other things we’ve explored recently. We did prayer stations once in our living room, but didn’t repeat it because our folks didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Another time we had an “art night” during a night of public worship, encouraging people to draw or paint during the worship. The band sang songs, but also did a lot of spontaneous instrumental stuff, and didn’t urge people to sing along. It was more like a coffee house feel–except we didn’t have any coffee. That ended up being a pretty powerful time of connecting with God–even without the coffee. 🙂
I guess I’m realizing that this art of reflection, even though culturally we may feel alien to it sometimes, is something we need to rediscover. I’m convinced that there is so much that God says to us that we miss because we aren’t “tuned in”. We only listen to Him on a couple of channels, so to speak. But He speaks to us in other ways than through sermons and Bible verses. He speaks through music; He speaks through art; He speaks through sunsets; He speaks through the wind in the trees. (Not trying to go new-agey here–He just does.) Sometimes, if we’ll stop and just take the time to look around us, and reflect upon Him, we might find a stirring of our soul that will cause us to respond in worship in new and fresh ways.
All through Scripture there are references to reflecting on Him, meditating on Him, pondering. And through the history of the church, reflection has been part of worship. I think it’s only been fairly recently that this art has been lost. I think whatever our worship is going to look like in days to come…this element needs to be part of it.
Read the previous posts:
Wayward Son
Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo.
I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
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I don’t know, I’m not sure you can connect with God without coffee 🙂
I used to be on a worship team and was told by a member of the congregation that we weren’t doing a good enough job of “leading me to worship”, and I remember thinking, “It’s your responsibility to prepare your heart and worship.” I’ve also tried to have a period of reflection during corporate worship and you could just feel the tension in the room.
We have forgotten how to be silent and reflect on who God is.
Jeff,
Excellent blog. No need for a preface to your ongoing series on Worship. I am personally really enjoying reading the posts. They have been very thought and heart-provoking pieces.
I apologize as I must have missed your earlier question of your posed question about Instruction, Discussion, or Reflection being ways in which we express worship.
In (a belated) answer to this, I’d say a definite intertwining of both discussion and reflection for me. I’ve really been noticing that it’s important for both, but it’s in the quiet times of reflection, that I hear God impress and reveal His cherished Love and Truths to me. And in these times, when I exude much worship of my relationship with Him.
I love what you wrote here: “But perhaps an unfortunate byproduct of focusing only on the pulpit/pew, center-stage, worship-leader method of doing corporate worship is that we have programmed ourselves to be entertained. It’s as if we have dumbed down our own spirituality so that we must be led by the hand into the Holy presence of God rather than take the initiative ourselves. Our culture has somehow lost the art of reflection.” -Jeff
Sadly, so true.
“He speaks through music; He speaks through art; He speaks through sunsets; He speaks through the wind in the trees….if we’ll stop and just take the time to look around us, and reflect upon Him, we might find a stirring of our soul that will cause us to respond in worship in new and fresh ways.” – Jeff
Amen! These ways, in particular, I have noticed Papa revealing Himself to me, much, much more. Had you asked me two years ago if He could speak to me as equally (or more?) deeply in these way, and I certainly would have chuckled and said, “I doubt it.” Yet, it makes much sense to me, b/c of my personal childhood background, WHY Papa would choose to speak more to me during these times of peace, rather tha the “typical/traditional” ways Religion espouses how we are “suppossed” to hear from him mostly.
It’s been incredibly beautiful for me that I truly believe Papa “speaks” to each of us so uniquely different, and often in ways that “fit” each of us due to who we are, our giftings, our backgrounds, etc.
Blessings,
~Amy 🙂
http://amyiswalkinginthespirit.blogspot.com
I am currently wondering when we ever had the art of reflection. I am currently teaching the “senior Christians” (ages 60 to 90) at my church about spiritual disciplines like meditation and solitude, and they are struggling with it. Many of them have never had these ideas introduced to them on anything more than a cursory level.
Jeff, did you ever get involved in anything called Harp and Bowl? It was a way of worship that came out of Mike Bickle’s church in Kansas City. Although I have since distanced myself from much of what they teach I still remember with fondness when we had that kind of worship time in my CLB.
Basically the name was taken from the scriptures around the throne of God in heaven.
Practically it was a time where the muscians would play and sing – either something scripted – as in a song that had already been written – or in free form where the song just was improvised there on the spot.
Sometimes we would have a whole ‘band’ full of musicians, other times just one or two. The style would range as to the strength of the musicians.
Others attending would pray, or sit, or sing along or draw, write or even study.
They would try to keep the mike open so that anyone could participate. Also musicians would come and go through the night.
It was in such meetings like this that I truly believed that we corporately worshiped using music and the arts. I do miss this more contemplative way of worship with other believers.
Co-heir,
I dunno, man. I don’t drink coffee. Does that mean I haven’t been connecting with God? OMG! 🙂
Amen to your other remarks.
Amy,
You didn’t miss anything. That question was not asked of my blog audience. I posed that question in our house church gathering, and I was simply relaying their response in this post. Sorry for any confusion, but thanks for your remarks. 🙂
Jim,
Overall, I think you’d have to go back a bit farther than the previous generation to find reflection widespread through the church. Various forms of reflection were practiced and encouraged by many of the church fathers through the centuries. These days, probably the last visages of it can be found in Quaker meetings, some monastic orders and a few liturgical churches. Also, I believe the harp-and-bowl method of worship is also attempting to recover this art.
Barb,
I am familiar with harp-and-bowl, but never felt a leading to move in that direction. I was always a lot more hands-on in my approach to corporate worship. However, while I still don’t think I’ll subscribe to that particular stream, I can acknowledge now that there is merit to their more contemplative approach.
I have really enjoyed this series of thoughts greatly and have used many of your thoughts to help cement many of my own ideas. You have in many ways helped the Fellowship of which I am a part for I have translated many of your reflections and ideas here at the Bridge.
I have appreciated your leading.
Shalom
Mork,
You said that almost like you were saying goodbye. 🙂 (Hope not.)
Tongue out of cheek…your comment was greatly encouraging. Thank you. I’m glad my ramblings have been of benefit.
P.S. I get a lot out of your blog, too. 🙂