Have you heard this ‘proverb’ before? “It’s not the form of worship (service) that matters, it’s what you bring to the service/’worship’ time”? I have, and even though it ‘sounds’ good…I wonder… It’s an easy thing to say when you’re the one privileged to go to your preferred style of worship service, but the person you’re saying this to, doesn’t enjoy the same privilege!
In my experience, the people who say this are usually contemporary worship enthusiasts and they only apply this ‘proverb’ to others but not themselves! They’ll say this to traditionalists in what seems to be an attempt to shame the traditionalist into accepting the contemporary and putting on a good face as they’re subjected to the contemporary…. But the same people struggle to participate well or bring a good attitude to a traditional service/worship! They might tolerate it for a few minutes or a song or two, but they clearly do not want to do it that way very often, nor do they try to enjoy it.
In other words, they too prefer only one ‘form’ (the contemporary), and believe it matters more – regardless of what they might ‘bring’. They seem to believe their form is superior and most efficacious at producing the effect they seek from it. (This is where the condescension is most annoying…) They absolutely prefer and participate in contemporary worship for what it gives them, not what they bring to it! Past and present, contemporary worship’s main appeal is the emotional energizing effect it gives to people! That’s why people love it! It doesn’t run on what people ‘bring’ to it… its whole reason for existing the last 30-40yrs is what people get from it! To imply, in an accusatory way, that traditionalists just want to ‘get’ instead of bring something to worship is hilariously ironic… Historically the contemporary crowd is far and away the most concerned about ‘getting’ vs ‘bringing’…
But let’s think about this part of the ‘proverb’ a little more. “It’s what you bring to the worship time…” Is this even a Biblically supported idea? Where does this notion that I need to bring some kind of acceptable disposition to the house of worship beforehand come from? I don’t know… From a big picture of the Biblical narrative, across OT and NT, I see empty, broken, sinful people going to the house of God and encountering God, where they are cleansed, filled, renewed and discipled. I’m not sure God asks us to ‘bring’ some general right feeling or state of being before worship… There is mention of making things right with our brother… confessing sin after self-examination before the worship of communion. I guess these things could be construed as things we ‘bring’ to worship, but that’s not the sense I get when I’ve been told the ‘proverb’ that headlines this post. To me it seems to be saying, ‘bring a good attitude about our style…”
To close, I’d like to pose a question that I think is better than the individualistic focused, “what do I bring to the service?” I think we should instead ask; What does the worship service or style disciple in us? How is it forming us, or what is it forming in us? Is it forming humility and awe and trust in God’s provision, or is it forming a trust in emotional highs? Is it forming endurance and real faith/trust and resilience or just good feelings? And what is the long-term fruit of my preferred worship style? I wonder if we shouldn’t ask those questions instead of worrying about what “we” bring to it…
The Persistent K.o.G. 