This I Believe

... that worship cannot be restricted to an hour or two on Sunday with one to several thousand fellow Christians present with you in a specially-constructed facility owned by a church.

... that worship involves everything a follower of Christ does to glorify God, and to draw himself/herself and others closer to God, any time of day, any day, in any place.

... that there cannot be anything right with imposing on anyone else an expression of worship which God accepts, but with which the other person disagrees.

... that there cannot be anything right with forbidding anyone else an expression of worship which God accepts and which that person craves with heart, soul, mind and strength.

... that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with/unscriptural about a cappella worship nor with instrumental worship nor with a combination of vocal and instrumental, as long as the hearts of the worshipers are fully intent on praising God and encouraging each other.

So I gotta tell you: when I am listening to a song of worship on contemporary Christian radio in my car and singing along with the vocalists and the instrumentalists at the top of my voice, I am not just participating in my own entertainment with a song that should be sung a cappella if I expect for God to forgive all of my other sins and take me to heaven some day.

I am worshiping.

Those songs may not speak to you - not all of them speak to me; and you won't catch me singing along with the sillier, sappier ones - but many of them speak the words and the music that is in my heart and it's pointed to God through His Son in His Spirit.

And my belief is that while the instruments may not carry the weight of the words of praise, they assist in the lifting of it musically - now, as surely as they did when David was king and as surely as they will when the trumpets sound and God gives us our harps.

I love the purity of a cappella worship. It has an inimitable place in the canon of praise, and nothing can match it for what it is and what it does to the human heart. It may well have been the expression of choice for a church of late century one, hiding in the catacombs of Rome and whispering their praise lest they be discovered and tried and tortured and murdered.

However, not every piece of music is meant for an a cappella arrangement. You can perform the "Hallelujah Chorus" a cappella, and it is a gorgeous work of choral praise. But it lacks, in my ears, the majesty of the accompanying orchestra with its fanfare of brass and thunder of drums and harmony of strings. Does God turn a deaf ear to the "Hallelujah Chorus" when the instruments are added? Does He say, "Well, that was nice entertainment - but it certainly wasn't praise"? Or does He just drink it in for what comes from the hearts, souls, minds and strengths of both the singers and the players?

We simply do not have a definitive answer to that question, like many others, in scripture.

To determine one requires more intense study, more flawless human logic, and more inspiration of the Holy Spirit than most of us are willing to participate in. I sure don't claim to have it.

I fully respect the positions of those who prefer a cappella praise or instrumental praise or praise consisting of both in their worship, and are willing to state it as a preference. My preferences have expanded over the years, and at present, include not forcing them on - or forbidding them from - anyone else.

Because I've had to ask myself ... and keep asking myself ... "Is this really about whether a certain expression of worship is right or wrong? Or whether I'm right or wrong?"

As a result, I have not become a big advocate for introducing an expression of worship in churches where a preponderance of members would consider it - not just a preference they don't like, but somehow wrong. To do so would be divisive and arrogant. Nor have I become a contender for forbidding an expression of worship in churches where the majority of members view it as - not just permissible, but somehow necessary. To do so would be contentious and headstrong.

But the real sin, to me, would be to miss that when we gather to worship or when we worship alone it should be about loving and respecting and exhorting each other while being united in our praise for God, 24/7 - in whatever expression He accepts and gifts us in expressing.

And so help me, if one more time I hear someone say how glorious it is that when the sun rises on the International Date Line on a Sunday morning, a great long chain of unbroken praise follows its light around the world among followers of Christ until the sun sets on that imaginary line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as if all of our worship and praise somehow dims and fades and winks out at the close of one 24-hour day at the beginning of the week, SO HELP ME I BELIEVE I AM GOING TO HAVE TO RESIST THE URGE TO THROW UP.

Yes.

That I believe.