Clean Feet or Dirty Hands?
I'm visiting my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in Illinois this week. My brother-in-law is a worship leader in a small rural community church, and I am sitting in and watching their rehearsal this evening. It was a throw-back for me to my childhood church days....lots of songs I've not sung in over 15 years. It never ceases to amaze me how “worship styles” and “musical styles” vary from one part of the country to another. More amazing is how often the “Church” (universal) places such emphasis on music and style in this country, often using it as the basis for whether or not we even participate in worshiping our Lord. But, I digress.
Recently, I listened in on a discussion between several worship leaders and volunteers from a church in Australia. The topic of discussion was about how they were going to curb the “Americanized” worship culture in their churches. Their fear that the current direction their local fellowship is headed may eventually lead to division and a shift in paradigm from true worship to consumerist selfishness, similar to that which we are experiencing in the USA. It's painful to think that our western hemisphere “worship wars” have infiltrated other countries and are now threatening to cause problems in those parts of the world. But again, I digress.
Truth is, the universal church in capitalistic nations as a whole is digressing with its "mission for me" mentality. A growing number of people every year becomes more comfortable with the idea that humble, compassionate, Christian service is "what the church is supposed to be doing," rather than the more introspective, "what I AM SUPPOSED TO BE DOING!" I've been accused of many things, but holding punches is not one of them when it comes to the truth of the gospel...and my thought? Foot washing for many of God's people today is all about how clean my feet are, and not how dirty my hands are. Once again, I must digress...
I struggle with a lot of these issues, regularly, and were it not for Eugene Peterson, I'm not sure where I might have landed on the issue. It was a copy of his paraphrase of the Bible that changed my whole perception of such chaos and disorder. When Jesus talks to the woman at the well in verses 22-24 of John 4, (in The Message paraphrase), he enlightens us to a better definition of worship. Shockingly, for the American public, Jesus' primary emphasis in this passage isn't even about collective gatherings of worship...it's about REAL worship; the kind of worship that occurs daily in the life of the true believer.
A life of worship is not one that seeks out weak brothers and sisters in Christ and tries to find a lack of humble service in order to exhort them to a better way; but a life of worship is one that constantly strives to offer itself as a LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY AND PLEASING TO GOD.
To a certain extent, what we do collectively in worship on Sunday mornings is almost insignificant in comparison...and yet, we seem to put SO MUCH selfish emphasis on what happens for that brief hour or two each week; sometimes even placing more emphasis on what we receive and how good we feel during a worship service rather than how much we exert ourselves for Him. What would it take to get our focus redirected...our paradigm shifted to worrying about our OWN humble service to those around us who need to know the God we serve? Do you think the church here in America will ever change in time to avoid more painful division and dissension? What can we do NOW?
Your thoughts?...
Recently, I listened in on a discussion between several worship leaders and volunteers from a church in Australia. The topic of discussion was about how they were going to curb the “Americanized” worship culture in their churches. Their fear that the current direction their local fellowship is headed may eventually lead to division and a shift in paradigm from true worship to consumerist selfishness, similar to that which we are experiencing in the USA. It's painful to think that our western hemisphere “worship wars” have infiltrated other countries and are now threatening to cause problems in those parts of the world. But again, I digress.
Truth is, the universal church in capitalistic nations as a whole is digressing with its "mission for me" mentality. A growing number of people every year becomes more comfortable with the idea that humble, compassionate, Christian service is "what the church is supposed to be doing," rather than the more introspective, "what I AM SUPPOSED TO BE DOING!" I've been accused of many things, but holding punches is not one of them when it comes to the truth of the gospel...and my thought? Foot washing for many of God's people today is all about how clean my feet are, and not how dirty my hands are. Once again, I must digress...
I struggle with a lot of these issues, regularly, and were it not for Eugene Peterson, I'm not sure where I might have landed on the issue. It was a copy of his paraphrase of the Bible that changed my whole perception of such chaos and disorder. When Jesus talks to the woman at the well in verses 22-24 of John 4, (in The Message paraphrase), he enlightens us to a better definition of worship. Shockingly, for the American public, Jesus' primary emphasis in this passage isn't even about collective gatherings of worship...it's about REAL worship; the kind of worship that occurs daily in the life of the true believer.
A life of worship is not one that seeks out weak brothers and sisters in Christ and tries to find a lack of humble service in order to exhort them to a better way; but a life of worship is one that constantly strives to offer itself as a LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY AND PLEASING TO GOD.
To a certain extent, what we do collectively in worship on Sunday mornings is almost insignificant in comparison...and yet, we seem to put SO MUCH selfish emphasis on what happens for that brief hour or two each week; sometimes even placing more emphasis on what we receive and how good we feel during a worship service rather than how much we exert ourselves for Him. What would it take to get our focus redirected...our paradigm shifted to worrying about our OWN humble service to those around us who need to know the God we serve? Do you think the church here in America will ever change in time to avoid more painful division and dissension? What can we do NOW?
Your thoughts?...
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