Caffeinated Worship

Caffeinated Worship

By Teri Ong

Yesterday I spent the best part of five hours praying with a group of serious-minded ladies who had all gathered for a day of learning to pray more effectively during difficult situations. The group was congenial and decidedly not grim, but during the time we were together there was very little, if any, idle chatter or silly giggling (even though some of the ladies were still in their teens). We didn’t play any games or do any “ice breakers.” I’ll admit we ate some good food and some of us drank a little coffee, but the kind of “good time” we had was not based on those things.

I would describe the atmosphere in our meeting as reflective and sober-minded. No one came expecting boisterous fun and games. We came expecting to meet with the Lord, and I believe we all did. We might have had more ladies in attendance if we had advertised some fun and frivolity, but then we would have had an oil-and-water gathering which would not have been conducive to the unity of Spirit that God says makes for a good prayer meeting.

I am thinking deeply about some of these issues because my husband has been working on a book about evangelism and the evangelical tendency to resort to humanistic and worldly methodologies to bolster the numbers in churches. The two of us have discussed for hours without end if particular methods are sinful or merely ill-advised, if certain accepted practices constitute fluff or poison, and at what point our appeal to the world makes us an enemy of God. There was nothing in our ladies’ prayer meeting that would appeal to the world at all, and I am as sure as I can humanly be that there was nothing in it that didn’t appeal to God.

Our day of prayer was in stark contrast to the advertisements I saw awhile ago for “Friday Night Liquid Worship” at a Baptist church in a neighboring town. Why “liquid”? The poster explained; liquids flow over and around everything, they are hard to keep in a box, and they don’t keep a defined shape. Presumably, a group of people were going to get together and (based on the depiction) participate in a rock concert and let “worship” happen to them.

There is too much of a semantic connection in my mind between “liquid worship” and the old phrase “liquid courage” for me to be comfortable with the terminology. But that objection aside, my understanding of “Biblical worship” is that it is well-defined (not amorphous or squishy); we are to bow our knees in submission to Jehovah and declare by our actions that He is worthy of all honor and praise. I cannot see how this understanding of Biblical worship can be set as equivalent to the “liquid” worship as advertised. I can, however, see how “liquid worship” would be more appealing to more people. After all, the first mention of worship in the oldest book of the Bible, Job, does not make worship sound particularly “fun.” Thoughts of a warm bubble bath or jacuzi are much more appealing than thoughts of sackcloth and ashes. And didn’t Mother always say you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar?

In my college literature class this semester, we have discussed on several occasions the prevailing zeitgeist of our age, expressed so well by that aged pop icon, Obi wan Kenobi, “reach out with your feelings.” Our society in general has been taught not to believe in the existence of any sort of objective truth. If there is no trustworthy external source of truth, this one thing we know, we have feelings. The basis of life, including any approach we might have to Christianity, is the “objective reality” of highly subjective feelings.

For some people, the ultimate goal in life is to feel “good” and to avoid feeling “bad.” For some, the goal is to feel good by having a rush of adrenaline by doing something extreme. Some seek the vicarious thrills of spectator sports, movies, and video games. Some seek the artificial thrills of various types of chemicals. Some are so jaded in their outlook on life that they are satisfied just to feel anything, even the pain of a knife on their skin.

Think about the proliferation of chemical “enhancements” in our society. There are purportedly 8000 “medical marijuana” workers in Colorado alone. These are not the users; these are just the ones who produce the plants, bake the brownies, and run the dispensaries. Think about “meth” use that is so out of control that we now have to be assaulted with hideous graphic billboards to try and discourage new users. Think about Red Bull, Rock Star, and Five-hour Energy Drink. I could make a much longer list.

Talk show host Dennis Prager once described certain types of rock and roll music as not being music at all, but as being pure energy. Maybe this is one of the reasons rock (along with caffeine) has become a popular feature in evangelical churches. If we cannot get people to come in and think rationally about their sin in the face of a holy God (which might make them feel bad), perhaps we can get them to come in to church and feel energized in an atmosphere that is somewhat more wholesome than a nightclub or a tavern.

The problem is that our feelings are often unreliable witnesses, especially as regards the objective truth of God’s created and revealed order. We very often feel good about things that are bad for us and feel bad about good things. C. S. Lewis maintained that it was our Christian duty to bring our emotions into conformity with reality. “When a witness has once been proved unreliable, turn him out of the court. It is a mere waste of time to go sneaking back to his evidence and thinking ‘After all’ and ‘He did say’. If immediate feeling has shown itself quite worthless in this matter, then let us never listen to immediate feeling again.” (1)

The Bible-believing church in the 21st century needs to be more concerned with getting people to be quiet and contemplate the seriousness of their spiritual condition in light of eternity than in getting them to feel artificially good or energized about the wrong things. I had occasion to visit with a person who is not a Christian not long ago. This person talked almost incessantly. The gush of words may have been the result of loneliness, but I had a sense that it was to prevent me from saying much because the words I would have put in edgewise weren’t ones the person wanted to hear.

Likewise, the torrent of noise and hyped-up energy in our churches that we too often call “worship” may be having the effect of preventing people from being still and knowing God is God. There was a place in the Bible for over-stimulated, knife-to-the-skin worship; it was called Mount Carmel, but God didn’t think much of it. (I Kings 18:20-39) In the end, it didn’t do much for the prophets of Baal either. Elijah’s calm, quiet approach to God’s throne was a stark contrast, but ultimately led to repentance and true worship of Jehovah.

It’s time to calm down and rest in the Lord.

Let worldly minds this world pursue,

It has no charms for me;

I once admired its trifles too,

But grace has set me free.

Its pleasures now no longer please,

No more content afford;

Far from my heart be joys like these,

Now I have seen the Lord.

As by the light of opening day

The stars are all concealed;

So earthly pleasures fade away,

When Jesus is revealed.

Such things no more divide my choice,

I bid them all depart;

His name, and love, and gracious voice,

Have gripped my roving heart.

Now, Lord, I would be Thine alone,

And wholly live to Thee;

O grace! That thou dost love and own

A worthless worm like me!

Yes! Though of sinners I’m the worst,

I cannot doubt Thy will,

For if Thou hadst not loved me first,

I would refuse Thee still.

John Newton (1725-1807)

Reference:

Lewis, C. S. The Collected Works of C. S. Lewis. “Religion: Reality of Substitute?” New York: Inspirational Press, 1996 ed., p. 200.

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