Psalm 114
I am afraid that a mistake is made by many of us when thinking of worship. The first is that for most, worship is merely a Sunday morning event; worship is something you attend. Whether or not it was "good" depends upon your subjective opinion concerning the level to which the music or preaching or service as a whole was enjoyable. We have adopted an entertainment mentality when it comes to worship, and if the desired goal is not attained--namely, a pleasurable sense of involvement (a good feeling)--then worship must not have taken place. (Never mind that we call our Sunday event a worship service, implying the sacrificial responsibility of attendees.)
Last night, Rachelle and I went to see Mission Impossible III. It was our last evening in North Carolina and without the kids, and our only free day all week long. We spent all day in Old Salem (which was wonderful. I'll speak sometime about all I learned about this Moravian village. I spent about an hour just in their church which was founded in 1777, learning about their ecclessiastical practices. We could learn much from them.) Last night we saw the movie. We really liked the first two Mission Impossible flicks. We had great expectations about this one. Lots of explosions and high-adrenaline action--bring it on!
All of our great anticipation, however, remained unmatched. It was alright, just a bit of a let-down. We think it may have had more to do with all the personal weirdness Tom Cruise has revealed recently than the actual production. But, we left feeling let down, like we hadn't been fed, like our expectations were ignored by the makers and entertainers responsibile for this movie event. "They didn't have my preferences in mind."
Church is the same. We leave let-down when we were not fed our preferences. You see, we have turned worship into an entertainment event rather than a living, daily relationship.
I submit to you this: on our part, worship is less what we "get out of it." Oh, we get something out of it, but it's not what you think. After reflecting on this Psalm this morning, I think (which I would appreciate your dialogue on, because what I think is neither here nor there) that what we should "get out of it" the most is a healthy and trembling fear before God. How dare we take the God described in this Psalm and use Him to make us feel entertained. He entertains us all week by the beauty of His creation, by His never-ending patience, by His more than sufficient grace and mercy, by His blessings materially (food to eat, roof over our head), physically (even every breath), mentally, spiritually, geneologically (our families), et cetera, ad infinitum. Our worship corporately on the Lord's Day is the coming together of the saints and the overflow of our individual lives in chorus to lift up and proclaim how great our God is. When we look around and see God at work in each life present, reminded that we are His body and His sanctuary, and in us is His dominion manifested, we must not limit Almighty God to entertainment value but tremble before His throne.
It is enough to tremble before Him. That is the evidence that you and I have received all we really needed to "get out of it."
