Right off the bat, I know that I open myself up for criticism when I address a subject like praise and worship. I know that and yet, I feel compelled today to write about it anyway.
Let me share a brief personal history to provide a little context. I grew up as an Assembly of God PK (that is a Preacher’s Kid for those of you who do not know) and when I was 17, “surrendered” to the ministry as a young Southern Baptist Preacher Boy. I spent a total of 13 years in the ministry working primarily as a youth and family minister including my four years in college. I recall as a nearly 6 year old boy, experiencing something that Icould not explain. My family – mainly my mother – helped define it for me. They said that I had been “saved.” Now I must confess that I did not know what that meant because I could not fathom from what I needed to be saved. As I grew, I understood the implications of that fateful Sunday morning in 1958. I became aware that Ihad been saved from the raveges of sin. However, no matter how much I heard the perspective of others about that personal experiene I had way back then, I had a different perspective. From that day until this, I can honestly say that the only way for me to describe what happened to me is that some still, quiet part of me responded to a greater, still and quiet power that I did not understend then and honestly understand less and less the older I grow.
Because of my background, I’ve seen everything there is to see related to the promulgation of the Faith. I’ve seen the genuine and the fake. I’ve seen the sincere and the insincere. I’ve seen miraculous and the manufactured. I think I may have seen everything. I am currently working on a book that will chronicle my life experiences with Faith entitled Confessions of a Recovering Bapticostal. The primary focus will be on the “Recovering” part. I’m looking forward to finishing it. If nothing else, I’ll certainly benefit . . . Perhahps some of those who read it will as well.
There you have some of the background. Now to the subject of this post. When Praise and Worship Is Not Praise and Worship.
I often wonder what might happen if Jesus were to walk again among us in the flesh. I wonder if He would recognize the practice of what we call Christianity. I wonder.
I won’t pretend to have all the answers or pretend to know all the right questions even. I can only ask questions about what I observe. I can only work to make sense of what I see in others and the world around me.
Worship has evolved in my short time on this rock. It has always evolved through the years. Worship of God has always been and always will be influenced and shaped by the social and ideiolgical structures in which people live. Praise and Worship are the lynchpins of today’s version of the practice of Christianity. Bigger. Better. Flashier. More tech saavy. The most useful Praise and Worship experiences in today’s church appear to require buildings that rival expensive entertainment venues. Very rarely do I see the Still, the Small, the Quiet venerated in places of “Worship.” The Big, the Loud, the Bold take center stage more often than not.
Thus, my question about When Praise and Worship Is Not Praise and Worship. Here are a few of my thoughts and observations. Praise and Worship Is Not Praise and Worship when:
- We leave the Sanctuary exactly the same as we were when we entered.
- We seek emotional highs over the spiritual insights.
- We share messages of exculsion rather than messages of inclusion.
- We create frameworks of hate rather than frameworks of love.
- We show up to be seen rather than to serve.
- We have our biases and bigotry reinforced rather than challenged.
- We seek entertainment rather than enlightenment.
- We go into the world passing judgement rather than dispensing grace and mercy.
- We live life fearfully rather than circumspectly.
These are just a few of my thoughts about When Praise and Worship Is Not Praise and Worship. What are your thoughts?
Peace!
Mark E. Hundley
