DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS ON WORSHIPPING OUR LORD
“ I will praise you. O Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell
of all your wonders.
I will be glad and
rejoice in you;
I will sing
praise to your name, O most High.” Psalm
9: 1-2
Rick Warren in his thought-provoking book, “The Purpose
Driven Life” uses the term ‘bunny believers’ to describe people who hop around
from one church to another without any identity or commitment. Since my wife and I spend a considerable
portion of our time traveling, I guess we would qualify as part-time church
bunnies.
Our travels presents opportunities to visit churches in
various parts of our country and since
we do not feel compelled to only seek out mainline churches, we have
encountered a variety of methods of worship.
We were often amazed at the great variance of “spirit” among the
churches. Some are so half-hearted and
dry that one wonders if one of the tasks of the ushers might be to check the
pulse of the participants to see if anyone has passed away during the
service! Our Lord seems to be confined
to the Book and never seems able to reach the hearts and minds of the
worshipers.
On the other extreme it was not unusual in some churches
for congregants to dance in place, clap their hands in time with the music, and
to express their enthusiasm in a variety of ways. While we would probably feel more comfortable
with less demonstrative worship, surely much can be said about their active
participation in the worship of our Lord and attempting to bring Him back into
the service as a live participant and not just part of a creed. Perhaps, the lack of life in some mainline
churches is due to the intellectualization of the Gospel. The incarnation, resurrection, ascension, and
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit have become theological concepts without
letting them grip one’s emotions. And
the wonder of God actually knowing, loving, and caring for us seem to lost its
vibrancy. The spiritual condition of
some of the worship service seems to reflect those of
Another contrast between some of the mainline churches we
visited and their charismatic counterparts is the age of their
participants. It was rare to find
younger or middle-age members in the mainline churches,
almost all had graying or balding heads.
Whereas, their opposite’s members were mainly young.
One wonders, unless there is a surge of new recruits, who take over as the
older members of the mainline churches depart this world?
Conversations with members of the charismatic congregations
revealed that most of them had no prior formal religion training or had
abandoned the religion of their parents at an earlier age. They became part of their church because they
felt they were being fulfilled spiritually.
One could question whether their enthusiasm will survive as they mature
and the movement is still too new to predict its longevity but in the meanwhile
no ushers are needed to check their pulse.