Dr. Ben Witherington, blogger and New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, describes a scene from John Updike’s newest book Terrorist. Witherington calls his post A Moslem observes Christian worship.
The central character is a young Muslim teenager named Ahmad. He attends a Christian worship service for the first time at the invitation of a high school friend, and describes it this way:
“The mosque was a domain of men; here women in their spring shimmer…dominate…. The black man hands Ahmad a folded sheet of tinted paper and leads him forward, up the center aisle to the front pews. The church is nearly full, and none but the front pews, apparently the less desirable, are empty. Accustomed to worshippers squatting and kneeling on a floor [for prayer], emphasizing God’s height above them, Ahmad feels, even seated, dizzily, blasphemously tall. The Christian attitude of lazily sitting erect as at an entertainment suggests that God is an entertainer who, when He ceases to entertain, can be removed from the stage, and another act brought on.” (p. 50).
Witherington observes:
What is striking about this passage is how accurately it depicts the casual demeanor of much of Christian worship, as if one were cozying up to an old pal….
I am reminded of Paul’s call for orderliness in worship and a sense of reverence before God when he scolds his Corinthians who are all too eager to put their spiritual gifts on display in egotistic fashion. He reminds them, showing his sensitivity to how worship appears to the outsider. “If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers… enter, will they not say you are out of your mind?” (1 Cor. 14.23). Worship as it turns out is not just for insiders, it is also meant to have a prophetic or positive evangelistic impact on outsiders as well.
If worship is for outsiders as well as believers, are there aspects of our modern worship that convey the wrong things to the seekers among us?
In my own church, we’ve developed the habit of applauding after we sing. It’s meant as an act of praise, but I can’t bring myself to do it. It seems flippant, like we’re putting our worship of God on the same level as our enjoyment of a U2 concert.
What about our daily Christian lives? What sort of ideas are we conveying to the people we work with? It helps to look at ourselves, and our practices, through the eyes of outsiders. What do we look like? Are we giving them the wrong impressions about what it means to be a Christian?
Loading ...
August 9, 2006 at 06:00
But then again, Jesus has told us that God is our Heavenly father who is loving , kind , forgiving , and personal to us. If this is so, why can’t Christians approach God as a loving child and feel comfortable and at ease when near to him ? How are we supposed to behave in front of our earthly father ?
August 9, 2006 at 12:07
My first visit to a “full-evangelical” church many years ago was very unnerving. They had a band in front, complete with electric guitars and a drummer. When they sang, many raised their hands and waved them like they were at a rock concert. The man sitting next to me started speaking in tongues (and I heard no interpretation). Coming from a very traditional background, it was alien to my way of thinking worship should be, and I couldn’t wait for the service to be over. I never went back, either.
I suppose that if I had been a flower child or more of a “free-spirited” type it might not have been quite as traumatic. Even if I had known what to expect, it could have made a difference. But I had gone at the invitation of a girl I knew, and I was not even able to locate her before, during or after the service. Now, I prefer attending contemporary services. But I can understand how the young Muslim boy in the story could feel.
Still, I’m not sure we should be thinking too much about what “outsiders” would feel about our style of worship. We go to church to worship God. We are not going there to appease or appeal to visitors. Do we want visitors? Sure. But they are not going to feel comfortable the moment they walk through the door no matter what religion they may be. The official church service is merely one of 168 hours in a week. Can we not take that time to worship as we see fit and use one or more of the other hours to talk with visitors if they have questions about why we worship the way we do?
One more point then I’ll shut up. One of the main reasons I switched from the traditional to contemporary service was because everything, it seemed to me, was rote. We all rattled off the Creeds like we were reading a list of ingredients on a box of corn flakes. There was no meaning to the words, they were just words. And most of us knew them by heart so we didn’t even have to look at the little “folded paper.” It seemed that if God was alive in there, He must have been sleeping next to the guy in the other pew. I will now accept criticism of this view.
August 11, 2006 at 06:24
To me, worship is between me and God. It doesnt really matter how you wanna worship Him. Sitting, standing, kneeling. Hands lifted up, hands pressed to your heart, or even just just standing still. There is really no fixed way to worship God.
And God, being our heavenly Father, would want us to approach Him boldly and freely, don’t you think? Would you want your child to kneel before you every time he comes to you? I’m sure you would want him to come with songs of love and with joy.
Worship is like that. Coming as you are and just soak in His love.