Fretting Over Worship

Ragre Kabanova | dreamstime.com

I’ve been wandering around in a spiritual desert with my ancestors, the Israelites. I close my eyes and see myself in a crowd of people looking for something new. 

God is not against innovation. In Deuteronomy 12:8 He tells His people: Your pattern of worship will change.  He points out that presently they are doing as they please, but that He’s got something different in mind for them.

When we look for churches to attend while we are traveling it’s tempting to recreate what we’re used to, but that’s missed opportunity. Today we attended Radiant Church in Surprise, AZ. Setting aside that it is a mega-church in full pastor search mode, it is a church full of young people with a healthy dash of elders for seasoning. Best of all, the young people are in charge! At least they were this Sunday.

Hip young adults greeted us, a bright young staffer clued us into the history and mission of this particular Assembly of God gathering, and then we settled into the service. The worship band hit it just right. They brought us into worship with good music, meaningful lyrics and respectful body language without beating the older folks to death with decibels. They communicated the context of the message—seven personal faith practices—in a brief overhead presentation, simple not showy.  Then young Carissa stepped forward. She must be announcement girl, I thought, but no. She is a member of the staff taking turns filling the pulpit until a new pastor is installed.

Using 1 Samuel 7 to teach about tithing, words like Kiriath Jerarim slipped from Carissa’s tongue like she’d been saying them all her life. She was poised, professional, warm, humorous, knowledgeable—and so young!

Isn’t this how it should be? God has chosen to work through generations of people and that means change. As I write this I know some of my friends won’t get passed the drums and guitars on the platform or the woman in the pulpit, but consider this. The mantle of leadership must pass to the generations coming up. We can push them out and sequester ourselves in familiarity or we can acknowledge that God’s Presence is with them and enjoy our new supportive role.