Who We Worship

Are we self-focused or God focused when we worship?

Our church has just moved into a new building, well, new to us. It was built some time in the sixties and was in need of extensive renovation. God blessed us with the funds and the resources to renovate and remodel and it looks like a brand new church. The sanctuary even has beautiful new gray carpet.

The question has now been raised, if it’s okay to post a sign in the fellowship hall asking the people who worship there not to bring food and drink into the sanctuary.

Predictably, the responses have been on both sides, ranging from, “Of course we can’t eat and drink on that new carpet;” to, “Visitors may be turned off if they can’t bring their coffee with them to worship.”

Personally, I think there’s a deeper issue that’s going on here.

In the past couple of decades, churches have done a lot of changing to accommodate young believers who were leaving the church and to draw in the masses of unchurched.

The music has changed. Many churches offer what comes very close to a rock concert complete with a light show. The dress code has relaxed. Blue jeans and shorts are completely acceptable at many churches. Video screens are sometimes employed to show movie clips or sometimes the entire sermon. Some churches have even changed their doctrine as well, going along with what society thinks at the moment.

Yet, a recent Pew Poll from last May, shows that from 2007 to 2014,  Americans who call themselves Christians, have dropped from 78.4% to 70.6%.

Could the church’s quest to remain relevant be backfiring?

The definition of worship is: to show reverence and adoration for a deity, honor with religious rites.

It seems that worship has shifted from focusing on God to focusing on self. We ask questions like; “What do I get out of the sermon?” But, if worship is supposed to be God focused. Shouldn’t the question be, “What can I learn about God?” or “How can I demonstrate my adoration of God?”

Was worship ever supposed to be centered on what I can learn about me?

If the worship service is God focused, shouldn’t the question be, “Is the music pleasing to God?” rather than, “Is the music pleasing to me?”

If the hour of worship is God focused, shouldn’t we be emptying our minds of all distractions and opening our hearts and souls up to the Holy Spirit? Is it acceptable to God, for us to balance a coffee cup and have a snack during the sacred time of prayer?

Is it considered out of line or judgemental to ask those who worship to fast for sixty minutes a week, on Sunday mornings?

While this little debate rages on in many churches, the answer may need to come from the heart. The answer should have nothing to do with the color or condition of the carpet in the sanctuary.

Perhaps the answer should simply be, “What is pleasing and acceptable to God?” Does anything else really matter?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂