On Worship: Innovations

The past 2 weeks at Southern Hills, we have played a short video to kick off the worship (technically just before starting, if you consider worship to have a definitive start and end time). I would imagine that some would consider this an "innovation" and not appropriate  I have only talked to a couple of people about it and have not heard much positive or negative (other than the poor image quality from our current and soon to be replaced projector).

Much of the consternation over changes in the worship centers around "innovations." Things that are added to the way the current worship is performed can be labeled innovations and thus bad (not authorized). Anything not authorized directly by scripture is an innovation... except for the things that we label as expedients, meaning those things that are necessary to get the job done. Musical instruments are innovations but song books, microphones, and pitch pipes are expedients. Praise teams, choral groups, drama, and solos are innovations but 4-part harmony is an expedient. Every good church of Christ member is taught the difference between expedient and innovation, addition and aid from the time they are in cradle roll. But things are changing (as they always do). Today, some churches of Christ use instruments in some or all of their worship services. Many have praise teams, show videos (often with instruments), perform dramas, hold Saturday evening services, etc. There is certainly a lot of innovation going on in our worship. Innovation in the business world is a great thing. Innovation in churches? Well the judges are split on this one (often literally).

So rather than trying to figure out what is an innovation vs. expedient, I want to reframe the debate. I will assert that there are innovations going on in our worship. But I would like to think about whether that is really such a bad thing. Could there be someone we should look to in order to see what innovations might be appropriate for churches in their worship? Hmmmmm....

How about Jesus?

Jesus participated in and validated even at least 3 "innovations" that the Jews added to their worship practices. The Jews are famous for adding traditions and rituals around what God prescribed in the Torah. When Jesus came along, did he slam them for perverting the worship? No. He slammed them for exploiting the poor (clearing the temple, offering corban). Jesus condemned the traditions of men when they were burdensome or used as a power play by the rulers. When the rituals aided in the remembrance or introspection, Jesus upheld, approved and even appropriated them. Let's take a look.

1) In Luke 4 we find Jesus worshiping in the Synagogue on the Sabbath as was his custom. When was worship in the synagogue was proscribed by God? Oh that's right, it wasn't. The synagogue was added by the Jews during the Babylonian captivity after the temple was no longer accessible. And it continued even after the Temple was rebuilt into Jesus' time. Apparently, Jesus participated in it regularly. Nowhere do we read anything about God approving or disapproving of the synagogue worship directly. And yet when God came to earth, he went to that innovative place to worship with his community.

2) In Luke 22, we read one of the accounts of Jesus taking the Passover feast in the upper room with his disciples. Here he instituted what we call the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, or Communion. He takes the cup filled with wine and makes that the symbol of his blood that is about to be shed for the forgiveness of us all. But wait, where was the fruit of the vine specified as part of the Passover feast?

Look at Exodus 12 and Numbers 9 and you will find no mention of any form of drink. The unleavened bread is specified. The Passover lamb is specified. There is dipping of hyssop in blood. But there is nothing about what to drink. Some articles I read said that in the wilderness the Jews would not have had easy access to any wine or much more than water and so early Passovers may have been taken with water as the drink. Then when they settled into the promised land and had time to grow some grapes and engage in commerce, wine would have been more available and at some point came to be used. It became part of the Jewish customs and Jesus validated it as part of the meal using it along with the bread to reshape the Jewish Passover into the Christian Communion. Not only did he validate it, he appropriated it.

3) This past Sunday, we talked about baptism. In Matthew 3, we read that John came baptizing for the forgiveness of sins and Jesus came to him to be baptized. John's innovation in baptism was that it was a 2 person affair. The baptism the Jews were used to was a solo event for the proselyte. Again, the act of immersion was added by the Jews. Nowhere do we find God proscribing this as the appropriate method for conversion to Judaism. And again, Jesus appropriated this ritual for conversion to his new community.

The heart of the matter seems to be the remembrance and the worship rather than the particular form of the rituals or the place and time of worship. The heart of the matter seems to be... the heart. As we talked about Sunday night, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8 In at least these 3 cases, when the Jews brought what they had in worship to God, he approved even though everything was not just as he laid out for them.

My worship is acceptable to God, not because I get everything right, but because I have the right heart. I trust in his grace to cover me in my weakness.

P.S.

I have been listening to some recordings of recent Harding University and Abilene Christian University lectures dealing with worship. I am always on the lookout for new ideas and resources for planning worship services to try to do the best job I can of leading those assembled to the throne of God. If you do much reading or listening on worship or if you have been around a while, you know that the past decade (and the ones before) has been rife with changes in worship within the religious tribe knows as churches of Christ. Worship is a hotly debated topic and the cause for many fights and splits throughout the years. I was listening to some lectures from West Virginia School of Preaching and one of them was on unity. I was in agreement with nearly all of what he said. He finished with the statement his only caveats to unity were when it came to salvation and when the worship is perverted (that's a paraphrase). At first, I wondered where Jesus had put those caveats in his prayer for unity in John 17. Then I wondered what "perverting" the worship would entail. Based on my experience and reading I can imagine a few things, but not wanting to put words in his mouth I will move on.

The More Better Church

Thinking about the perfect church.

If I am to assume that the church I am at is imperfect is it not reasonable to assume that I should look for one closer to perfection. Given that, which church would meet the criteria of being closer to perfection? What is the measure of the perfect church? Is there one around that might be perfect?

Absent answer to these questions, does it really matter which building or which group I associate with on a regular basis? The fact that this church is more better than that one in this area but less better in some other area causes a conundrum. I am left to judge which areas are most important to be better at.

When asked what was the most important thing to be better at, Jesus said (2 things) "love God, love everyone else." So the more better church would be the one that practiced these 2 things as most important.

How many times when looking for a group to associate with have I looked to these 2 standards? Do these people love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength? Do these people love their neighbors as themselves? And if I am to live out those 2 things, then does associating with a single group to the exclusion of others even make sense?

More Than I Am

This was the devotional thought I gave tonight with much trepidation. I was worried I might be boo'd off the podium. But apparently it made some sense and wasn't too ranty.

You may not like what I’m going to say tonight. I don’t like some of it. Recently I’ve been feeling that there’s a lot more to this Christian Life than what I’ve been living. Is this all God has called us to be? In our often works centered Christianity we talk about the need to DO more. But what Christ has for us is to BE more.

He doesn’t call us not to steal. He calls us not to want to steal.

He doesn’t call us to refrain from impure actions. He calls us to refrain from impure thoughts.

He doesn’t call us not to kill. He calls us to not insult and hate and look down on.

He doesn’t call us to worship Him. He calls us to be pulled so strongly to him that we can’t help but worship Him.

He doesn’t call us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, heal the sick. He calls us to be filled with compassion so great that we can’t help but serve those around us.

What keeps us from being more? I can tell you that for me it is:  Fear. Insecurity. Complacency. Laziness. I’m perfectly comfortable in my life. Good family, good job, plenty of stuff.

And doesn’t Jesus accept us just as we are? We just sang “Just as I Am.” Yes, he does, in all our sin and imperfections, he welcomes anyone into his kingdom. But once there, we are not done. The new addition to the body is just beginning the journey, she has not arrived. The destination is being transformed to be like Jesus. That’s a long way to go.

What else holds me back? I am burdened by legalism. I am burdened by traditions held up as law that do not permit growth or change. I truly appreciate Jim’s lessons on Dependable Doctrine. As much for what he has not said than what he has said (though he’s not done yet). And his lessons on the Spirit, calling us to broaden our horizons and let the power of the Spirit live in and work through us. I am burdened when I want to be more, but those around me are just fine where they are. We have been complacent too long. Our heritage of restoring the New Testament church is done; somewhere along the way we figured we got close enough.

I’m burdened when I see our young people leaving the church in such great numbers. I worry for my own sons. Am I leading them in the right way? Our youth are not leaving because we’re not teaching them the right lists or memory verses. They’re not leaving because we didn’t pray enough before dinner, because we let them watch too much TV or play too many video games. They’re not leaving because they don’t know the stories. They’re leaving because they’re not part of the story. They’re leaving because when they ask the tough questions, we have nothing beyond trite sayings, traditions, and doctrine to offer them. They’re leaving because they see the church as an organization rather than an organism. They see a religion based on rules rather than a relationship. They see groups of people treated as second class citizens of the kingdom. They see a call to uniformity rather than unity. They see “Just As I Am” to mean “Just As Long As You’re Like Us”.

I want to be more… and yet I don’t. I don’t seem to want to take the steps necessary to be more. At least I haven’t taken those steps yet. Change is hard. Growth is hard. Snakes shed their skin. Butterflies leave the warmth of their cocoon. Birds fly out of their mother’s nest. What Christ has called us to be is hard. And sometimes we have to leave the warm (or extra chilly) confines of this building, to make it so.

I heard a statement recently that has stuck with me. “God didn’t give the church a mission. He gave the mission a church.” God put all of you here to help me be who he wants me to be. More than what I want, more than what I am. As a community, what are you doing to help me be more than what I am now? What are we doing for our young people, for the deaf, for the ladies, for the people of this community to help us all be more?

Samaritans

Since listening to some recent sermons by Patrick Mead I have been thinking a lot about John 4 and the question "Who are my Samaritans?" Who are the types of people in my life that I look at and judge without getting to know them? Who are the people that I tend to stay away from and look down upon?

The poor, homosexuals, smokers, people who curse a lot, people with bad grammar on Facebook posts, people who correct people with bad grammar on Facebook posts...

The list could go on and on. Jesus looked at the lowest of the low and saw someone who needed comfort, a friend, but most of all needed salvation. What if I were to look at people with Jesus' eyes?

The story of the woman at the well has so much to tell us about how we treat people. Just because I'm not treating someone badly does not mean that I am treating them as Jesus would. This video brings the woman to life 2000 years later.

Dare I pray that God give me an encounter with my Samaritans so that I might overcome my prejudices?

The Importance of Doctrinal Purity

How much time did Jesus spend teaching doctrines concerning religious rituals (aka worship)? He spent his time working on the heart of people concerning their morality, not their doctrinal purity. The epistles are the same way. Morality is stressed. Relationships among believers are stressed. Where there is doctrinal teaching it is most often to address problems among the members, stop infighting, get them to accept, love, and show concern for their brothers and sister. Or it is teaching against the doctrines of men that are being imposed.

Most of what we call the "pattern of worship" is taken from a few examples here and there, not direct commands. And just because a church did something that way once or twice does not mean that it must be done that way for all time.

James says that true religion is taking care of those in need and keeping ourselves pure from the corruption of the world. He is not talking about doctrinal purity. He is talking about morality and action and treating people right. How do I know? Because that's what he talked about in the rest of his letter.

Jesus mentioned 2 ways that the world will know we belong to him: 1) love each other, 2) obey his commandments. How many doctrinal commands did Jesus give? How many moral and relational commands did he give?