01 July 2005

What are we seeking

In an article submitted to a newspaper in Indiana about a church of the same denomination I'm a member of described it in these words: "(the church) remains an accommodating structure to anyone seeking blended traditional/contemporary styles worship."

Is this what the ancients were concerned with, is this how the psalmist formed his prayers; O great worship, I come into your presence seeking drums. O great worship, I can only feel like I've been to church if I hear the organ piping out Bach.

When Isaiah, Jeremiah, David came before God they didn't come seeking a "style of worship" - they came seeking a God who could save them from looming disaster. They came before a Holy God wearing sackcloth and ashes. They came in joy for the great salvation of God. They longed for God, not for worship.

I fear that "styles of worship" has become the new serpent on the pole of Moses. The multifarious approaches are little more than the many altars that were constructed all around Israel that every King, who was considered "good," would eventually tear down.

It is no wonder we see less and less of God doing the things God longs to do. As a culture, as a church we aren't coming to houses of worship to meet with God, we're coming for a Turkish delight (C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe), we're coming for something that pleases us.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

This is what it means to create god in our image.

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