So I was thinking of what other forms worship could take and I think my conclusion was that the list was almost endless! Having said that worship is a (possibly unique) expression of who we are before our Lord and Dad, then that must mean that anything that is expressive can be used in worship. Amongst the obvious would be music, dance, drama, also then poetry, artwork, photography… and that’s me speaking as a scientist, I’m sure anyone with a more artistic bent could think of many, many more expressive and creative forms of worship. Could it almost be considered a challenge within each church to push individual members of the congregation to really experiment and explore and find how they most readily overflow in praise and adoration for their creator. Maybe it would even bring a smile to God’s face, seeing his children all striving to find something that truly expresses themselves to offe
r back to Him.
I have also been musing over ways to encourage people to take that bold first step and try something new. I have found in my own experience that I quite often don’t have the bottle to freely express myself when surrounded by people I know within the church (though I would obviously never be so proud as to let others opinions influence my actions… hmm…) and yet when I get to a big event or different location I am quite often more free. One thing I have found particularly liberating is loud music and darkness, there is definitely something to be said for the thought (illusion?) that no-one else can hear or see you. At the other end of the spectrum though, there are times when constantly having good (I’m not going to touch on what defines “good” music here, or discuss different musical styles, I am more musing over the big picture) and loud music can draw more attention to the music than to God and so stripping it all back to possibly just a small acoustic set is more liberating in focusing solely on God and worship of Him. Or maybe the challenge is to have a mix and balance between the two extremes.
There is no doubt a risk that by constantly pursuing an “individualised worship style” some of the power and necessity of worshipping corporately, and as a united body, will be lost and I do not think that that would be beneficial to anyone in the long run. I see all the above musings and challenges through the lens of maintaining the group based focus common to most churches. I believe there is a tension that must be found between acknowledging the differences in worship styles between each individual member of the body yet also remembering that they are all still a part of the same united body.
I was reading a brilliant book, Enter the Worship Circle by Ben Pasley recently where a worship evening is described. (This is all as far as I remember, apologies for any errors in relation to the book!) At the front there was a band playing, in one area a big sheet with loads of paints, in one corner some clay and a potters wheel, in another area sheets of paper and pens and crayons. During the evening the band worshiped musically whilst others danced in front or engaged with each of the different areas set up. Every now and again they would come together for a song together, or someone would come forward and share some of what they’d been doing somewhere in the room. It all sounded so random and crazy yet somehow ordered. It was corporate in the sense that everyone was there worshiping the same God within the same framework and they all came together every now and again, yet at the same time it was very individualised, a personal expression of each creation expressing themselves before their creator. Maybe this is a way of keeping all the ideas mentioned above in tension?
I suppose that by enlarging these ideas slightly one would also find that each church (in a local sense) would also have a unique way of worshiping, depending on their congregation, area, history, corporate relationship with God. This is about as far as I’ve got at the moment, and I am well aware that I still have a lot to learn. I don’t think I will ever have “the answer” (is there one?) when it comes to how to worship but I’ve realised I love thinking about it and experimenting. Please feel free to leave a wee comment with what you think/how you worship/if you’ve ever tried experimenting on a personal/church level, I’d be interesting to hear other perspectives.
