Elements

Worship.

I told you earlier in the week that a friend and I were having a conversation about worship and what should be a part of worship services. Specifically, we were comparing and contrasting what we like against what we'd seen done when we were younger as well as what we're seeing now--across the board--in churches young and old.

I had some hot sports opinions about it, too. I read all these books that tell me that teenagers are deeply passionate creatures who aspire--whether they verbalize it or not--to be a part of something transcendant and mysterious and awe-inspiring. They visit other places or go to some youth function and tell me all about their experience. Most of the time their verbalizing sounds a lot like they're settling for smoke & mirrors.

And then people say that I'm against emotion. That I focus so much on transforming "the mind" that I have no heart. They don't say it so many words, but most of their verbalizing sounds a lot like they want me to hold my hands upward and weep--as if those actions would signify that I was "there." Then I would "get it." Then they would be happy for me. What I'm against is emotional manipulation in all it's forms...and believe me, I work with teenagers. If I really wanted to manipulate, I could have them all weeping and wailing in pretty short order. I don't think adults like that, either.

Then there is the myriad of worship styles from old-time Gospel hours to seminary hymns to stadiums full of people singing "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" to candles to kneelers to incense to electric guitar solos to goateed guys in long-sleeve black t-shirts to...

...well...

...it all starts to make my head spin.

So, I read a Psalm this morning (after it was the text for the devotional I was involved in last night). Reading a Psalm usually helps to stop my head from spinning. I re-read Psalm 100:

"Shout joyful to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know thtat the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations."

And it seems to me that you can find the elements that would make up a pretty good worship service (or gathering, if you're under 30, or community, or worship community, or community gathering--however you want to label it, I'm pretty good with whatever). They're found in the verbs.

Shout. Joyfully is operative there. For some reason when I put "shout" and "joyfully" together I picture that scene in Animal House where Otis Day & The Knights are playing the Delta house during the toga party. They're singing one of the all time fun songs "Shout." You know...you make me wanna (SHOUT!)...kick my heels up and (SHOUT!)...

...all the while when you say "shout" you put your hands in the air like a touchdown. Then, at some point you'll be echoing the lead singer trying to discover how many syllables you can make while singing the word "hey."

Seems to me that we have the atmosphere at weddings or frat parties or sporting events or concerts where that kind of joyful shouting is not only accepted...it's encouraged and rewarded. Same should be true in our services, if you're asking.

Come: with joyful singing. That very Psalm I quoted I have memorized because we sang it every Sunday in church. For some reason, in my high liturgical upbringing, we sang it dirge-like. It's like when my friends in the band Lost and Found sing "Angels We Have Heard On High" in concert they sing it lighting fast, full-throated and pretty much off-key with the in excelsis Deo and gloria parts.

I sincerely asked them one day why they seemed to be taking that hymn so irreverently...and their response was terribly interesting. They told me a story about the shepherds and how exciting it would've been to hear the announcement on that hillside and that if any hymn should be song with urgency and speed (picture the shepherds running, they told me) and with disregard for musical rules, that one was it. Same should be true in our services, if you're asking.

Know: In this case, that the Lord is God. Basically, that he is God and we aren't Him. Interesting to me that you'll see that part of worship is based on the intellect. The knowledge of something. Or Someone. What we KNOW actually leads us to worship. I really don't think you can make a case for using emotion and/or manipulation to LEAD us to experience. I think the mind leads our emotions in the correct way. Same should be true in our services, if you're asking.

Enter: With thankful hearts. With praise. I know most of you detest it when I use the Auburn football experience to illustrate these types of things...but there's some truth to it. See, people come from all over the southeast to a small town to watch a football game. They make a day of it. They come with the unifying reality that we all pretty much attended that university and had the same experiences and same responses. We're glad to come back. We're excited. We tailgate. It really isn't about the game, but rather the experience of what unifies the Auburn family. We pass these joys onto our children, and secretly wouldn't mind if they happened to follow in our footsteps. There's a reason that Jordan-Hare Stadium becomes the fifth largest city in Alabama when it's full:

It's because the people that come come with expectation and joy and that sense of community is enhanced because we have reason--bigger than any one of us, but enhanced by even the smallest among us--to joyfully get together and celebrate what we share in common. Seems to me that each individual has a response to make before they ever show up...which will have a lot to do with "living life together in community" outside the four walls of a church building--and that should be a major part of any worship service, if you're asking.

Give: It doesn't say money...although that would be a part of the deal. We should simply take the time to say "thank you" because God is indeed good to us, and He will never leave us or forsake us.

Funny, but my daughter will write thank-you notes on occasion and in one case, I had a friend that seemed to throw a lot of tickets to sporting events my way. She'd been the beneficiary of some of those tickets and would write these child-like thank-you's that always seemed to mention specific details of the games we went to. I was telling that story to a mutual friend and the guy that gave us the tickets said, "I've saved every one of those." This was years ago. He still had them.

Saying thank-you means something. It implies a genuine gratefulness. And I think there should be opportunities here and there to talk about them or make them known.

So, while I don't have any formal proposal today about what that would "flesh out" to look like in a worship gathering community service thing, I feel pretty confident that those are the elements of the deal. I don't know that I've ever used this forum to spell that out...

...and I'd be curious to know what you think.