An unexpected experience with God

For the anthem last Sunday, our chancel choir sang, “I Love To Tell the Story.” As I was singing with them, I looked out over the congregation and noticed that a number of people were mouthing the words along with us. Clearly, it was a favorite of many, however old-fashioned it was. So, as we got down to the final chorus, God led me to just invite the congregation to sing along and they did with such gusto that they clapped at the end!

Our congregation often claps or says “Amen” when a piece is particularly moving to them. It’s a way they praise God and express appreciation to the musicians for helping them draw closer to God through music. This time, however, they clapped after they, themselves sang. It was a spontaneous sound of joy coming from folks’ hearts. It was a time of worshiping in spirit and in truth.

In reflecting on that joyful time, I first asked myself: “Why would worshipers feel the need to be given permission to sing with the choir — especially when they already were singing in their hearts, anyway?” It’s likely because this was the “anthem” and they wouldn’t want to be improper in worship or impolite to the choir. Then that brought up the questions, “What is proper?” and “Why is the choir there?”

The word, “proper,” means “correct.” There are proper table manners, the proper way to dance the tango and so forth. When it comes to worship, however, the word “proper” can make us nervous. We don’t want to commit a faux pas. It’s not that scary, though. Jesus told the woman at the well (John 4) that “proper” worship was in spirit and in truth. This will take different forms with different people.

I love drawing closer to God through any means possible. I love the way high-church formal liturgical services demonstrate God’s holy mysteries. Repeating liturgies that have been prayed for 1,500 years make me awesomely aware that I’m among the communion of the saints. The gestures of kneeling and bowing also make my heart kneel and bow before the Lord. I love big, bone-rattling organ music, but I also love worshiping to contemporary music. Clapping my hands and swaying to the beat helps me think of what the words of the song mean and align my heart with the Lord.

Free-form prayer that comes from our innermost souls can be as unifying with the saints as the ancient liturgies. Worshiping in meditation opens my soul’s ears to listening for God’s voice. It’s all beautiful because God is beautiful. There are some music genres that I don’t prefer, but when the Holy Spirit is leading, the genre makes no difference to me. When I’m at worship, I’m a child of God, not an audience member.

The key to worship in spirit and truth is the willingness of the worshipers to exalt the Lord, to put him first — above preachers, choir, and musicians. This leads me to the second question, “Why is the choir there?” (or “Why is the praise band there?”) For that matter, why is the preacher there and what purpose do lay leaders serve in worship? They are there to encourage people, as Bruce Leafblad says, “To love, adore, to enjoy, to honor, to exalt, to magnify, to glorify, (and) to praise the Lord.”

George Barna says in a recent essay that, based on his research “... the driving motivation behind the worship-event attendance of millions of adults is to have a pleasing experience. For most Americans worship is to satisfy or please them, not to honor or please God (and) ... a substantially larger percentage of attenders claim that attending worship services is something that they do for personal benefit and pleasure.” Later in the same essay, he says, “...American Christians do not have a heart that is thirsting for an experience with God ...”

This is sad. The congregation gathered last Sunday at Bethany UMC did “have a heart that (was) thirsting for an experience with God.” I saw it in their faces and in their actions and seeing this drew my own heart a little closer to God and took a little more of my own will out of the way.

“I Love to Tell the Story” is a bit old-fashioned, but God’s presence while we sang it was as contemporary as can be; he was right there, right then.

This Sunday, let’s worship God by giving ourselves over to him and demonstrating that he alone is worthy.

Sally Oakes is pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church, 607 Rivers Road, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Phone: 770-964-6999 or 770-964-6992, or e-mail bethanymnc@bellsouth.net.