Thoughts on Worship vs. Teaching
Background Note: Following are thoughts sparked by a Facebook conversation in which a few people expressed concern over some things that were occurring in our church’s worship services. The initial concern was over inappropriate behaviour such as texting and snacking. As the conversation continued, some people expressed discomfort with the use of movie clips during the service, and with the shift from the traditional liturgy to a less structured service, with the omission of the Psalter and Creeds, and similar changes.
I think that there is a difference between worship and teaching, and maybe this is where the confusion is coming in. I don’t think anyone is saying that we see no value in the various things we have identified as being inappropriate in a worship service. We are only saying that we feel that they are out of place. And if you draw a distinction between worship and teaching, and between the sacred and the secular, then our objections make sense.
Worship is focused on God Himself. It seeks to acknowledge, quantify, praise, and attend to all that is worthy, good, and admirable about God. It seeks to give Him honour, acknowledge His glory, and magnify Him with praise. It requires undivided attention to the Person of God.
Teaching is focused on learning ABOUT God. It is less concerned with praise and giving honour than with understanding who God is and how He wants us to act as His children or His followers.
While teaching has been a traditional part of the worship service since early times, it has represented only a small portion of the service. Much of the service has traditionally been centered around prayer, scripture and creeds, and music. Prayer in many modes: corporate, individual, pastoral; spontaneous, scripted, and liturgical. Scripture read by one person to the congregation. Scripture recited by the congregation. Responsive readings of Psalms and other scripture. Music also in many modes, both vocal and instrumental: corporate singing, soloists and small ensembles, call-and-response hymnody. Teaching, as homilies, sermons, or explanations of the scripture, has traditionally taken only a small portion of the worship service.
However, teaching has a large function in the church, and in non-worship gatherings of God’s people. Jesus’s ministry was focused on teaching. He taught people who God is and how we could be reconciled to Him. When we have Bible study, small group, Sunday school, and the like, we are following in the steps of Christ as teacher.
But when we worship, the focus is to be on God Himself. When people are granted an audience with the Pope or a reigning monarch, they exercise self-control: they wouldn’t dream of hauling in a bottle of water and a bag of chips, much less of texting someone else or taking a call on their cell phone while sitting there with the Pope or the Queen. It would be disrespectful. Irreverent.
How much more respect and reverence should God receive from us? If we understand the inappropriateness of texting or snacking while in the middle of a papal audience, why can we not understand that the sanctuary is God’s house and that the activities that take place there should be reverent and respectful of the Holiness that is God?
I recognize that God is also our Father, and, as such, we have a more personal relationship with Him that we can with the Pope. But there is still a place for reverence and respect, even when dealing with your dad.
There is a division between the secular and the sacred. Bringing the secular into the sacred realm causes deep discomfort for those who recognize this division. Worship is concerned with the sacred. Teaching seeks to find the common ground between the sacred and the secular. Movies, kids’ games, snacks, and the like are generally considered to be “secular.” Thus, they are appropriate for teaching venues, but not worship venues.
It should also be said that one expects adults to exercise a level of self-control that cannot be expected of children. I don’t mind a parents feeding his child Cheerios or providing a bottle or sippy-cup to keep the child quiet and amused during the service. But a teenager or adult who can’t last an hour without a snack …. that is going to raise concerns for me. Likewise, I have no problem with a child coloring, or playing with a quiet toy, during the service. But a teenager or adult needs to be focusing on the service, not on a video game, cell phone, or even a book.
Most middle class Americans tend to worship their work, to work at their play, and to play at their worship. (Gordon Dahl. Work, Play, and Worship in a Leisure-Oriented Society. )
If even the secular world can recognize that our observances are out of whack, can we not do so … and begin to set the dissonances right? It might mean both sides of the situation having to truly listen to each other. It might mean refusing to allow personal attacks and negative characterizations. It might mean people on both sides having to be humble enough to accept compromise. But I think it would be more in the spirit of “one holy catholic church” than the current, intermittent donnybrook is.
In Letters to Malcolm and Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis had some good thoughts on this topic. I will post them tomorrow, as today’s post is already 900 words long.