The Skyliner

Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Opinion

Carrie Parker
Staff Writer

We get our priorities bent out of shape when it comes to worship.

In the American "church" we argue over the styles of songs, appropriate dress, and the building we choose to worship in. Yet God is more concerned with the integrity of the heart that worships.

True, genuine worship is what God meant to be our natural state - when we are experiencing a moment of connection. It is what God intended and created us to feel all the time.

One of the most important aspects - but not sole factor - of worship is music.

A few weeks ago, I went to Nashville, Tenn., for a Sleeping Giant concert, and it ended up being one of the most incredible worship experiences I have ever had.

The music was not praise and worship. It was not contemporary or traditional hymns. It was hardcore metal, and it spoke the word of God.

The room was dark and underground, and the kids were dirty and sweaty. As soon as the band got up to play, the lead singer shouted out prayers and Bible verses for everyone to hear.

People had their hands raised in worship. Prayers and songs filled the room. In between songs, Sleeping Giant lead singer Thom Green would preach to us, shouting the stories behind the lyrics and telling his testimony.

This was our church - our worship.

Many people cannot worship this way, and that is fine.

I like hardcore music. While it speaks to me, praise and worship music may be what speaks to the heart of someone else. Embracing and respecting those differences is what unites the Body of Christ.

This is the beauty of humanity. God made us all different, and the way we worship should be a personal expression of the song God has placed in us.

Real worship accepts individuality and allows large groups of people to be together in a room and feel a sense of oneness and connection, despite any preferential differences in worship styles.

Paul stressed this fact to the church in Ephesus when he wrote in Chapter 4 that we must build up the church until all members reach "unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

Another factor of authentic worship is the hearing of Scripture. Do we have to be in a church on Sunday morning to hear the word of God?

Fellowship with other believers is important. We should be a part of a bigger body. However, in the Bible, these kinds of experiences happened all over the place.

People worshipped on mountains, in deserts and on the ocean.

These occurrences were important enough to be included in the Bible, and they did not take place in a comfortable church pew on a Sunday morning.

We see our typical, traditional services as a favor to God. But in reality, we should strive to be like the underground churches in other parts of the world where Christianity is brutally persecuted. These Christians are fighting a battle for the Lord and worshipping with genuine passion without fear.

We should not focus on differences in music and sermon styles, allowing preference to control our hearts and preventing God's will to move in us.

True worship is about something so much bigger because Ephesians 4:6 reminds all Christians that we have "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

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