Have You Become a Spectator in Your Worship Experience?
“Do you hear the people sing?”
It’s a line from from a “Les Mis” song, but recently it came into my head during a worship service I attended.??
Why?? Quite simply, I could not hear the people sing.? At least all of the people around me.? Even though most of their mouths were moving, they could not be heard.? Don’t get me wrong, I did hear singing, but it was coming from the stage.? Well, actually, it was also coming from the numerous speakers all around the sanctuary.??
As I stood there in that worship service, I began to wonder if I was even necessary.? If I left, would anyone on stage leading the worship even notice?? Although I was only a few rows back in the sanctuary, I was covered in darkness.? That combined with the numerous spotlights on the worship team must have blinded them to seeing anyone in the crowd. ? Besides, I think they were looking over me towards the teleprompters on the back wall as the lyrics scrolled by.
Back to the hearing part.? I realized that it was not just the fact that the congregation was being overpowered by the worship team that kept our voices from being heard or needed. Those who were leading us had in-ear monitors plugging their ears and could only hear the band and their own voices singing.
They were all caught in a fog.? I mean that literally.? From somewhere of the stage, fog was rolling in.? Someone must have left the door open… in London.
As I began to think about the darkened sanctuary,? blinding stage spotlights, the large speakers, the ear monitors, and the fog billowing in, a bigger escape plan came to mind.? What if we all left?? Would they notice, or just keep going?
Prisoners have successfully escaped jail with fewer diversions on their side than all the ones I’ve listed above.? I bet they dream of a foggy night, the cover of darkness, guards blinded by bright spotlights with their ears plugged, and a noisy diversion to keep them from being heard.
Why would I want to leave?? Because I want to join in the chorus, not be drowned out by it.? I want to be necessary. I want the congregation to be necessary. I want to be able to hear the people around me sing.? I don’t want to feel like I am in the studio audience of American Worship Idol waiting to cast my vote for my favorite worship leader to advance to the next round.??
I can hear you now.? You are too old, Summerall.? You sound like those two cranky old guys up in the balcony on the Muppet Show.? (…and let’s be honest, I’m also starting to look like them too… both of them).?
That may be true, but please know that I have attended some type of contemporary worship service for the past 40 years at various churches.? Over time, it seems the singers have gotten louder, the fog thicker, the spotlights brighter and the rest of the room darker.?
Elements of worship that I once welcomed have now become worrisome for me.? I’m not saying the bright stage lighting, loud volume, and style are in the least bit unbiblical or theologically wrong at all.? Many people obviously find it helpful to their worship experience.? I am just speaking for where I find myself today.? Who knows?? Maybe some of you can relate.
Maybe in my old age, I long for something I once knew.
Before I began following Jesus, growing up I attended an Episcopal Church near my childhood home.? Now the fact that I was not following Jesus was not any fault of this church.? That part was all on me.? I do remember, though, that in this particular sanctuary, the singers and the musical instruments were in the choir loft BEHIND the congregation.? Nothing stood between the congregation and the cross.? Even with the musicians not in the spotlight, we still knew when and how to sing.? ?
Michele and I visited a new church on Easter this year.? Simply based on the time of the services, we wound up at this church’s traditional service.? It was eye-opening.? Literally.? The lights stayed on the entire service and you could see the people around you.? Not only that, I could hear them sing!? And sadly for them... they could hear me sing as well.??
I could not wipe the smile off of my face as we all sang together.??
“Christ the Lord is risen today,? Alleluia…”
I got chills.??
As this particular church was in the middle of a sermon series on Exodus, the music reminded me of how just after the Israelites passed safely through the Red Sea and God destroyed the army of Egypt it says…
“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD.” Exodus 15:1 ESV
The leader and the people sang TOGETHER.??
I think what I have been missing is the “together” part of worship.? Not being able to be seen or heard did not make me feel like I was worshiping together with anyone.??
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Then it hit me.? I had become a spectator in my own worship experience.? Over time I felt completely unnecessary and I just gave up.? The darkness seemed isolating. ?
How about you?? Have you become a spectator in your own worship experience? ?
This experience can certainly happen to someone in a more traditional style of service.? Whether it be volume, lighting, and fog, or choirs, organs, and liturgy, we can all fall into passivity and wind up as spectators.??
I don’t think that’s what God has in mind for us when it comes to worship.?
It’s a slippery slope when moving from participant to spectator. ?
We leave the worship to the professionals and stay quiet in the dark like we are watching a concert or movie.?
Next thing you know we are a spectator when it comes to God’s Word.? The Pastor will study it for me and I’ll just listen to him.?
Service?? Well, that’s for missionaries.? I’ll just give money, send them, and watch the slide show or video they bring on “Outreach Sunday.”
That’s how you go from participant to spectator no matter what style of service you attend.
I’m afraid we’ve got it flipped.? We should be moving people from spectator to participant.??
That’s what I learned in my 35 years on staff with Young Life.? It may be hard for you to imagine, but I played guitar and led music during my Young Life days in well over 1,000 gatherings.? In those meetings, music was always used to move kids from spectator to participant.? If you can move a disinterested kid spectating from the back wall of the room to a participant clapping (in or out of rhythm) and singing (on or off key) to a Taylor Swift song or Sweet Home Alabama, then you are beginning to move them from spectator to participant in the Gospel as well.?
In every Young Life club I’ve ever led in Waco, Richardson, or at summer camp, the last couple of songs were more worshipful and full of Truth.? For each of these songs, we would back off the microphones.? The guitars would be turned down. The room lights are on. The last chorus would be sung acapella.?
Why?? Because people need to hear themselves sing.? In community.? In unison.? They need to look to their left and right and see their friends singing Truth.? They need words of Truth and the Gospel washing over them.? Whether they know Jesus or not, their faces change.? The room changes.? And soon, lives change.? I’ve seen it.
In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we read that Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn after establishing the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26).
I picture it much like I just described the last couple of songs of a Young Life club.? Acapella.? They can see each other’s faces.? They can hear each other sing.? Truth washes over the disciples. ? Truth also sings with them.? The room changes.? And soon, the world will change.
Bottom Line: Spotlights, ear monitors, giant video screens, fog machines, choir robes, organs, and electric guitars can all have a place in our worship.? They just can’t take our place in worship.
Check yourself this Sunday morning...?
I’ll be checking myself as well this Sunday.? I no longer want to watch from the sidelines whether it be worship, God’s Word, or service.??
To quote John Fogerty in the song “Centerfield” - “Put me in Coach!? I’m ready to play today.”
I hope you are too.