Reflections on Worshiping with Passion

The purpose of worship is to encounter God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, so that God might heal us, change us, transform us, or encourage us. Worship is about connecting to the divine, of being attentive to the presence of God in our midst. And as Moses teaches us, when one is in the presence of God, that person is changed. Moses had a glow that was so bright, he had to wear a veil over his face when he came down from the mountain. By worshiping God, being in the presence of God, we anticipate that something will happen to us. We expect, in the act of worship, to be changed.
To be passionate means to express desire. To do something with passion means to do it with feeling, expressing something deep within. To do something with passion means to do it with soul rather than going through the motions or just being present. To be passionate is to give your all to the moment, with great focus and driven by the need to express yourself. You are fully engaged and caught up in whatever you are doing with passion.
So, passionate worship is being fully attentive, fully engaged, expressing a deep desire to encounter God. A person who is worshipping with passion is giving it their all, their heart and soul, completely caught up in the act of worship, out of a deep longing to connect with God. That deep desire to connect with God lies in all of us, because in that connection we are healed. We want that connection, and worshipping God with passion is what gets us there because we are totally focused and actively engaged in worshipping God.
There are four things that worship is not. First, worship is not a performance. Now, of course, there are some of us up front, exercising worship leadership: myself, the choir, the organist, the lay reader. But we are not performing for you. To perform would be like putting on a show, and you all would be the audience watching us and responding to what we are doing. Our intention as worship leaders is not to perform for you, but to assist you in your worship. To be worship leaders means to lead the congregation into worship. It is not a performance, it is the providing of content, the establishment of a context, the provoking of inspiration, so that the congregation can join us worship leaders in the worship of God. So, worship is not a performance, not the putting on of a show, not something done so that we can be seen and approved by others.
Second, worship is not forms and rituals. The structure of a worship service, the order of worship, the written responses and prayers, the rituals, the saying of the Lord’s Prayer, these are like musical notes on a page. They give structure, form, and content to the service so that everything is done in order and it’s not a wild free-for-all. It is critical to have forms and rituals in worship so that there is a shape, something that we all can work with. But, you know the difference between a musician playing the notes on one hand and making music on the other. There is a difference between a singer singing the notes and making the song come to life. Just singing the notes is not enough. You eventually have to know the notes so well that you don’t even have to look at them anymore. You’re then singing from your heart. Just so with the forms and rituals of our worship; we have to move past just saying the words and following the order so that the worship comes to life, so that we are saying the words and following the order by heart, so that it’s not rote and rigid, but living and vibrant because we have moved from reciting words to speaking them from the heart. That is where worship takes place, when we take the forms and rituals and sing them, breathe life into them, connect the words with our hearts.
Third, worship is not self-focused. Although I understand what people are saying when they judge the effectiveness of a worship service as to whether they have been “fed” or not, I cringe a little when I hear it. Now, of course, we worship God with the expectation that something will happen. We cannot stand in the presence of God and be unchanged. But the focus of Christian worship is God, and not one’s own needs. Yes, we come to worship with needs. We are broken people in need of healing and wholeness. But our healing does not come from focusing on our own wants, needs, and desires, what makes us feel good about ourselves. We don’t want to say we are worshipping God when really we are worshipping our own cultural values and preferences. Again, if we want our needs met in the worship experience, this happens when we forget about ourselves and worship God.
Fourth, worship is not automatic or accidental. It is not a formula, where you do this and this and expect a certain result. And worship is not something that just happens to you as a passive observer. No, to worship God requires preparation and intentionality. We have to prepare our hearts. We have to set aside our worldly cares and focus on God. We have to center ourselves in the worship space. We have to be intentional participants in the worship act and not passive observers hoping to catch something of the holy if we’re lucky. Worship takes effort, attention, and focus. When worship is over, you ought to leave here just a little tired because you have been putting forth some effort rather than sitting here and zoning out for an hour.
So, what is worship? It is an expression of your love and devotion to God. The degree to which you love God determines the intensity of your worship. If you have little love for God, worship of God is going to be a bit perfunctory. But if your love for God is deep and passionate, worship for you will have a bit more significance and intentionality. The intensity and seriousness of your worship experience can be a sign of the intensity of your love and devotion to God.
Worship is what breathes life into the community of faith. Primarily public worship on Sunday morning, what we are doing together gives life to us as a community. It is a common experience that shapes our identity as a unique congregation, a small part of the universal body of Christ. Public worship is the lungs and the heartbeat of our community of faith. In worship we encounter God, individually and as a community. We are shaped by God, individually but also as a community through the act of worship. When we worship together, something happens. As a community, we are given fuel which we need to function. We are filled up in worship so we have something to pour out through the week, until we come back to the well to be filled up again.
Of course, it must be said that worship can happen pretty much anywhere. Public worship typically happens in a sanctuary. But public worship can take place anywhere, when two or more gather in Christ’s name. And we must not neglect private worship. Public worship is an extension of private worship. Public worship typically only happens one hour a week. That is certainly not sufficient for a Christian. If worship was understood as dining on spiritual food, none of us would survive if we ate one meal a week. Our daily bread is received by daily worship. We worship privately every day, and come together one day a week, Sunday, in order to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and be encouraged by worshipping with fellow believers. So, since most of our worship life is private, it can certainly happen in places other than the sanctuary. The home, actually, should be considered the primary place of worship, not the church. But, you get the idea. God’s creation provides limitless inspiration for focusing on God and worshipping God’s goodness. So, we must not limit our worship to Sunday morning in the sanctuary. Public worship is an extension of our primary worship life, which is a private affair that likely takes place in your home. In fact, Jesus suggests that when you pray you should go into your closet and shut the door, doing it in secret. “And the Father, who sees what you do in secret, will reward you”, Jesus said.
Finally, worship is the context in which we most likely encounter God in our midst. We know God is always around us. We just don’t pay much attention to this reality because God is invisible and His voice tends to be a whisper in the midst of so much noise. Worship, then, filters out the noise so we can hear the quiet whisper of God within and around us. And when we hear the voice of God, or sense God’s presence, we are connecting to the holy, and that changes us, and heals us. The more we take time to focus on God through worship, the greater the opportunity God has to heal us and make us well.
Quickly, two things I want to share about what the practice of worship requires. First, worship requires effort on your part. Like I’ve said earlier, worship is something you do, not something that happens to you. Worship is the act of focusing on God that requires our intentionality. And the more passionately we focus on God and worship God, the better. Worship is work. It is a participatory activity, and the intensity of your participation relates directly to the effectiveness and fruitfulness of the activity. Like Jesus said, “Knock and the door will be opened.” If you don’t knock, the door won’t be opened. And perhaps a heavy banging may be more effective than a light tap.
Second, public worship requires flexibility and diversity to help people connect to God in different ways. How good it is to know that our worship is primarily a private activity. Privately, we can feel free to do what helps us best connect with God. Publicly, though, the needs of many have to be accommodated the best we can. And that’s where it gets tricky. As United Methodists, we have traditions that have been handed down to us. Traditions are good because they force us to get out of our own individuality and conform to a broader shared experience. Still, people have different tastes and can more easily connect with God in different ways. This is the main reason why we have a traditional worship service and a contemporary service. By offering this variety, we are utilizing the worship leadership we have to provide greater opportunity for people to connect with God than if we only offered one option. And in public worship, not every song and not every aspect of the service will resonate with you all the way through. Again, privately you can tailor your worship experience and utilize resources that resonate with you. But in a public setting, flexibility and generosity is required so that the maximum number of people can participate in some way. We need to be open to the diversity among us and be grateful that whatever part of the service that doesn’t really “work” for us does “work” for others. Again, worship is primarily an activity where we focus on God and not get caught up on the forms and rituals, or the style of music or quality of the singing, playing, and preaching. And remember, public worship must not be the only worship you do. It supplements your primary worship life, which is in private, where you can utilize whatever most effectively leads you into worship. You deprive yourself if your only experience of worship is one hour on Sunday morning.
The bottom line is this: passionate worship springs from an attitude and has little to do with styles or forms. What is done in worship, and the quality of what is done does have an impact. Styles and forms, and the execution of them, do matter. But for worship to be passionate, the key factor is not the quality of the worship leadership but the attitude of the worshipper. One who worships with passion is one who is deeply in love with God and wants to express that love. One who worships with passion is one who anticipates and longs to encounter God, knowing that God will bring healing into their lives. One who worships with passion is one who is putting forth the effort to be attentive and focused on God. Styles and forms only provide a framework and some inspiration for the primary activity, which is all of us actively focused on God and expressing to God our love for Him.
What is your attitude toward worship? What or who are you focused on? What level is your passion? A healthy, fruitful congregation is one where the majority of worshippers are worshipping with passion. Are you one of that number? Let us pray.
God of wonder, we do worship You. We long to be in Your presence. We desire to encounter You so that we can be healed and renewed. We know that You desire that we worship You in spirit and in truth. Give us grace, dear Lord, to worship You with greater passion and devotion, every day of our life. Help us to grow in our capacity to worship, so that when our time on earth comes to an end, we may more fully join with all the saints and the angels, gathered around Your throne, offering up a pure sacrifice of praise. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.