Once again, my travels around town have proved to be fruitful for finding blogging material.   While heading down the highway, I saw this message on the sign in front of a church:
Services…Traditional.
True Worship Never Changes!
 
To understand the arrogance of this message, you need to put it into context.  Generally, churches (who meet in a building) have signs that announce the times and styles of the services they offer, such as “Traditional at 9am”, “Contemporary at 10am”, etc.  If they have space, they may add a verse of Scripture, a saying, or my favorite, the scare-you-into-church message, such as “Are you prepared to meet God?”   I always wonder if they know something about me that I don’t, like the exact day I will be departing earth…  Any way, this church boldly announced that it only offers one type of service—the traditional one.  And while that’s not my taste—of course neither is meeting in a building—I do not find that to be offensive.  But, they didn’t stop there.  As you already saw, they added the true worship never changes.  Well, I think they might be wrong.  And I’ll use a little history and Scripture to tell you why.
 
Let’s start with the Scripture part.  It is true that in the Old Testament God had folks worshipping in a particular place, at an appointed time, with a particular style.  But, that wasn’t the case in the New Testament.  “Church”, so to speak, was held wherever, whenever—outside, for example.  Jesus gave his most important message on a hill outside.  You may have heard of it—it’s called the Sermon on the Mount.  But people also met in homes for prayer and meals—the most basic form of worship there is.  We encounter this type of worship in the Book of Acts.  And worship was generally not formal—we are told of spontaneous worship upon hearing news from Peter and John in Acts.  They gave a report to their friends, and “they lifted their voices in a wonderful harmony in prayer” (The Message).  I really can’t think of a more basic way to worship than as one voice in prayer.  And Jesus himself defines what true worship is.  The book of John reports that Jesus met a woman at a well one day.  She asked him if the only true place to worship was in Jerusalem.  He told her that things have changed—what you are called and where you worship no longer matter.  “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God”, he explains  (The Message).  He continues that one must worship in sprit and in truth—in other words, that true worship must be life changing and engaging, and it must come from a place of adoration and love.
 
And now for the history.  My friend Tony the simple churches guy explains it this way: the early church met in homes, because they were, for the most part, persecuted.  They couldn’t just show up wherever they liked and have church.  So, church as we know it today really has it roots in Christian Rome.  When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, people started dressing up and building beautiful places to hold their church services.  But, this was not for God!  No, it was for the Emperor.  You see, now that the emperor was a Christian, there was a chance he may show up and join you for worship.  Well, better look your best and be in the finest building in town if you wanted to have him back!  And then, almost overnight, church went from being intimate, private, and probably casual to being big, “public”, and generally quite showy.
 
The point of my ranting on this topic is this: it’s quite audacious for someone to say they have cornered the market on true worship.  And it’s even more arrogant to say that how someone else chooses to worship God is wrong.  God is full of mystery and surprises.  What’s more, we’re cautioned against judging others, lest we be judged against our own standards.  I’m not trying to threaten; I’m just suggesting that God is far more open-minded about how he is praised than I believe we tend to be. And one more thing—the traditional, “true” worship service that church said it offers—well, it’s only traditional in a Roman sort of way…
 
 
 

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