The Art of Worshiping God

My highest goal in worship planning is that our worship at Grandview proclaim God's greatness ... while reflecting our gifts from God. This goal can be difficult road to travel, causing disappointment on many sides. Some folks prefer worship to reflect the gifts and tastes of previous generations, without taking our own gifts into account. Other folks prefer the "new" church, which winds up being a somewhat generic, church-in-a-box, nothing-but-beat, just-do-what-the-cool-church-does model that ignores as much of the past as possible.

Lost in the discussion, from my standpoint anyway, is that worship is an offering of ourselves. Ourselves. Not just yourself. Not just myself. Not just the selves of those who have come before, though we walk on their shoulders (not stand, not sit).

My goal is to avoid cookie-cutter worship, be it ancient or post-modern. Those categories aren't theologically wrong, especially if we're doing our best. I want to avoid cookie-cutter worship because it is like ordering gift cake from a catalog. It may be a very good cake, but if you have the talent to bake one for your friends or family then homemade is a greater gift.

All of that is backdrop for why I'm excited about Tom Root's pending contribution to Grandview's worship. Benefactors (thanks, benefactors!) at Grandview have given money to begin a series of paintings to be placed in the Grandview Room during worship services there. The series hasn't been named yet, but will focus on the church being the church. I'm hoping for a minimum of three paintings, but I'd prefer five (it will all depend on money and gifts, of course).

When we began discussing the paintings I told Tom that I wanted them to reflect Appalachia, Grandview, and his gifts as an artist. I didn't want him simply to reproduce another artist's work. I wanted it to be uniquely "us."

I love where he has begun taking the project. He decided he wanted to draw from the well of the 19th century French artist, Puvis de Chavannes. 19th Century France and Appalachia. That's art moving forward without forgetting the past. That's fusion, baby!

The first painting (the only one we have the money for at this time) is an experience of prayer. Below is an early sketch of the direction Tom is heading. When I saw this I immediately thought of Jesus in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. For me, any way, the woman praying suggests the church taking its place alongside Jesus in that role (if you click on the picture it should get bigger).
The following sketch (and I'm not sure sketch is the right word) is Tom's preliminary work on baptism; a work that recalls crossing the Jordan as well as the Red Sea. The figures on our right are burdened travelers, preparing to cross the river. Other figures are in the light and the water both.
The sketch on worship reflects the ancient practice of singing and making music before the Lord, but with instruments that suggest Appalachia.
I like this art because it is good and because it comes from "us." That's why I like our communion table, designed for this space by our own Garry Smith, crafted by our own Roger Allman. It captures the lines of the sanctuary and it suggests (for me, any way) the manger.
Garry and Roger are responsible for the pulpit and lecturn as well.
Not everybody notices or appreciates such things, least of all visitors. We walk a fine line there. Our worship isn't for the visitors, it's for God. Hopefully we can get people to worship with us long enough to focus on God, not our worship style. Often they don't.

Betty Taber designed and crafted the stained glass windows in the sanctuary.
It's hard for me to imagine our worship space without these touches of "love offerings".
Betty didn't just do windows all by herself. She also led (and is leading) the youth in crafting stained glass windows for the youth area. She is sharing her gifts with God and with others. Below is one of the stained glass windows the youth made under her direction.
Use your gifts for God today. If you can create beautiful things, do that. It's one of the highest functions of being human ... and of worshiping God.

"Relevant" Worship

You can't be around discussions of the nature of Christian worship for long without hearing the word relevant batted around. Relevant is a word with baggage, however. Relevant is shorthand for "cool music that the highest percentage of people like"--which means it is a code word for style.

There is a place for discussion of style, but I'm fairly ambivalent about style. Styles of music change constantly and each has advantages and disadvantages in its own way. Bach's style accomplishes things that Chris Tomlin's style cannot, and vice verse. You won't find any scriptural commands about style, nor will you find any discussion of the style of music used in the early church.

The music of the early church would, I'm sure, be so foreign to us as to be distracting in worship. When I was in the Middle East in 1994 every song I heard sounded exactly the same to my ears. I thought there was just one song endlessly droning throughout the region. I could almost hear the radio announcer saying, "And the number one song for the one billionth week in a row..."

I guess that means that the Spirit of God is absent in their music. After all, if I don't feel the Spirit then the Spirit must be absent. Right? Can I get a witness? Somebody? (insert cricket noises here)

When the church battles over style and calls it a battle over relevance, then we've fallen into a very shallow trap. There is a relevance we should be more diligent to insure, the relevance substance. The reason we're less likely to do battle here is that relevant substance can be a real downer (a definite no-no if we're going to reach masses of people who want to pretend everything is wonderful).

I was reminded of that yesterday morning when I heard the news out of Baghdad that the insurgents used two children to get past a military checkpoint, then (with the two children still in the back seat) the two adults scrambled away from the car just before it blew up--two innocent children gone.

That's just one story. How many other tragic, senseless, stories of suffering are a part of the news today? And, yet, on Sunday morning many churches will only sing songs of celebration. Shiny happy people singing songs.

John Wesley wrote (and, yes, I'm at a Methodist school right now, reading Wesley's works) that people who never grieve don’t understand reality and are not distraught over the evils in the world. But it wasn't just Wesley who made it clear that mourning should be a part of the religious life. Jesus made it clear to the masses that the ones who mourn will be blessed, be comforted.

But for many churches, grieving is a downer. Mourning is irrelevant . Someone sitting near you may have lost a job, may have just realized that his or her marriage is on the rocks, may have a child struggling with addictions, may have a daughter in Iraq, may have always wanted a family but never found the right person to marry--may be rearing children on her own after losing her husband. But the worship leader will say "GooooooooodMooooorrning!" and if the congregation doesn't respond with enough vigor then the worship leader will accuse the people of being poor worshipers of God. Disappointed in the response, the worship leader will then play a song that is relevant because it has a kickin' bass line.

I'm not saying we should start letting Tim Burton design our worship services or that we should hire My Chemical Romance to be the worship band--the church does need to make celebration of God's ultimate victory the center of the service--but if we're going to be authentic (relevant) we also need space for people to grieve.