When worship stops demanding anything,
it stops forming anyone” – Isaiah Evans
You should be able to tell right way that I intend in no way to speak about the little effort needed to worship God. Don’t confuse thanksgiving, which can be deep and heartfelt with little effort, with worship. Worship is offered up to the Lord. Sometimes it takes effort to really get anything out of it.
Learn to worship in the style that your church worships in. If you’re in a new church, make effort to learn the way things are done. Ask why it’s done a certain way. (I apologize in advance if they say they don’t know, it’s more common than is good). As a non musician, (musician, no excuses), you ought learn how to worship in the way that your congregation does. Here’s why.
The things you do form you.
They make you into the person you are. (#atomicHabits)
I spent years playing worship music at a small church. Marcos Witt, Popular Songs, ministry specific songs, Bill Gather, more Chris Tomlin than I care to admit, God’s not dead songs, before it was cool, and a ton of songs that just repeated over and over again. One of my favorites, and someone who actually inspired me to really go for it on the piano was Ruben Morgan. He had an independent album he released in like 2005. (World Through Your Eye – 2004). (Yes, I know what I just did there). And sadness, the track I’m talking about was only on a limited edition that I guess wasn’t uploaded.
He had a moment that just ran back and forth from the 4 to the 5 Chord. A moment suspended in time. Back and forth. Building on one idea, expounding, then moving on to another. That formed what I thought worship music should sound and feel like. And I began to emulate it. Simple ideas, expanded, compressed, sustained, released, weighted, tensioned, then released – and feelings of peace afterward.
It was nice to listen to, but to learn it… formed me.
At the same time I was studying classical music (for the first time). I started noticing that those longer interludes where people would just pray started to have more pizzaz, a more prolific sound. It didn’t sound like old me, but it wasn’t too far out either.
Example here.
I was formed by what I dedicated myself to.
The above quote says that if worship demands nothing of you, it doesn’t form you – which is true… but it’s also missing a little something. Let me help it.
When worship demands nothing of you, it forms you into a lazy Christian.
The way that modern worship is thought of is that you show up and feel something. And modern standards for how to get that going have come a long way. When I was a wee lad we had to work to get into it. Dancing, singing loud, clapping – there was some work put into getting those feelings. But now, you just show up and let it happen to you. I’m not gonna lie, I love those tingly’s too.
I’ll never forget a worship conference I attended with the popular Worship Leader magazine people. (Is it still a thing?) Rick Muchow of Saddleback (gone to be with the Lord) said that we shouldn’t judge how worship went by the way that people looked out in the crowd. And we all thought, cool, yeah, we shouldn’t let ourselves get bogged down by that. Then he gave his explanation –
[Paraphrasing] “You shouldn’t judge how it went by the look on their faces. Have you ever watched someone watching TV? Their looks might be blank, but afterward they’re thinking… ‘yeah, that was great’!”.
Think for a moment what kind of a worshipper is being formed? The “blank faces” made absolutely no effort other than to pay attention at something that is substantially louder than the inner voice, with flashing lights and smoke and lasers to rapture you in an experience you made absolutely no effort to have.
This should trouble you more.
Showing up to worship in a church is a responsibility and duty for the worshipper. David said that he would not offer God something that cost him nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). He did not take lightly what he was about to offer to God. He understood that there was a cost involved. He understood that he was being offered a gift. But David knew that this is not how you approach God.
The duty, the effort of learning the hymns before service, or of setting alarms so that you get there on time, or making sure you have an offering ready if you intend to give by hand – it’s all for our benefit. Because it forms us. It forms the habit of making worship great again. MWGA. (how did you just pronounce that?)
So, I wonder, how do you approach God in worship? Do you go expecting that you’ll have good feelings? Are you willing to put some effort into fully participating? Do you think you should show up and feel good? Care to comment?
How is your worship forming you? What habits are you learning? How is your pastor encouraging you to engage?
House Astorga 
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