Educational Worship

First, allow me to apologize for getting a couple weeks behind. Life has been more than a little crazy with a lot of travelling, packing a house, looking for work and a new home, really big trees falling in my backyard, and the like. But one good thing is that I've been able to be inspired for a lot of good material that I'll be posting here over the next few weeks.

If there's one thing that will for certain cause division in the church, it's worship. Music is such a personal preference, and people usually carry those preferences over to the church. Sadly, it results in people valuing their personal preferences and agendas way ahead of glorifying God and allowing musicians and artists in the church to fully express their God-given creativity. My stomach turns every time I hear a church describe themselves with "contemporary worship" or "traditional worship" or having "blended worship." What the bible does mandate and encourage is to "sing a new song" (Psalm 40), praise God with every musical expression possible (Psalm 150), use different forms of music (pslams, hymns, spiritual songs; Ephesians 5), and finally, make a lot of noise while you do it (Psalm 47).

One thing that many churches, pastors, and worship pastors/directors miss when it comes to corporate musical worship is the element of education and teaching. We can learn so much through music and lyrics to songs. Because of the rhythm, the beat, and the rhyming usually involved, it just sticks with us better. Back when I was a kid in the 70's & 80's, I totally looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons because I knew that in the midst of the cartoons, I would be able to watch "Schoolhouse Rocks!". I was able to enjoy the animation, and through the music and lyrics I was able to learn about nouns, the Preamble, the solar system, and multiplying by 2's. One of my great joys as an adult was when my wife bought me the complete volume of Schoolhouse Rocks! for my birthday. Now my kids are able to be familiar with Interplanet Janet and seeing Bill become a Law.

This whole thought of Educational Worship began a few weeks ago with my 7 year old, Ellie. We had previously been doing some Bible study together as a family, and the topic of Jesus' deity and the Trinity came up (I know, I know, I'm turning my 7 & 8 years old into theologians...but I'll put my kids up against most bible college students any day). So, I expained the Trinity (like any can do that!) as best I could so their 7 & 8 year old minds could understand it. Then a day or so later, we were all in the van going somewhere and we were listening to a recording of "All Creatures of our God and King" (written by St. Francis of Assisi in 1225, yeah, 800 years ago!) and this verse came up:

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son; and praise the Spirit, three-in-one

Ellie about flipped out of her seat yelling "I've got to tell you all something! That song explains EVERYTHING about God! The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!" She was so excited, and so was I. Dawn and I just looked at each other and smiled and affirmed her learning.

We cannot afford to miss learning sound doctrine through worship music. The writers of hymns from hundreds of years ago really understood this. A lot of today's worship artists don't understand this. What I find most often in today's music is a very self-centered gospel that is designed to play on our emotions and cause us to "feel" close to God. Example:

Crucified, laid behind the stone; you lived to die, rejected and alone
Like a rose, cast upon the ground; you took the fall
And thought of me above all

This has been one of the most popular worship songs in the last 5-6 years, but the whole theme of the song is about us and not God. Jesus was not thinking of me above all; Jesus was thinking about obeying his Father's will above all. We cannot allow our feelings to dictate our relationship with God. We cannot allow the Gospel to be about us.

Be on your toes when it comes to worship. Understand the power it has to teach, and be sure to put yourself under sound doctrine in the worship you listen to and participate in. Worship isn't about warm fuzzy feelings, worship is about proclaiming the worth and glory of God, manifested through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. So let's look at worship music as a whole, not defined by what century or decade it was written, let's sing new songs, let's use every available instrument at our disposal, and let's make it LOUD!

Soli deo gloria,

Ryan