it’s not often that i get the chance to participate in worship with another community, but when i do i very much enjoy the experience, the change of pace and the people i encounter. yesterday morning was no exception!
i was able to participate in worship with the journey in st. louis, a relatively new church plant of the acts 29 network. it was strange walking up to a catholic church (where they meet) and walking inside and sitting in pews–it’s been a long time since i’ve sat in pews! but it was well worth the experience!
i can’t remember how long its been since i was able to participate in a “simple” church service. it was stripped down and simple, yet extremely well done. there were two guys leading worship with their acoustic guitars leading us in hymns and other worship music–they read scripture and prayed several times… it felt like going back to the root of what worship is supposed to be like before all the frills and extras that technology has pushed us towards. by no means do i mean to make it sound like the journey was old fashioned or not relevant in any way because it wasn’t… it was just simple for a change instead of being “over-produced”.
it was refreshing.
this experience has made me wonder how much it is that we over-do things in the church and make them more difficult than they need to be. how we find ourselves so concerned about having and doing the newest and latest things when sometimes all we need to do is sit back and go back to the basics–and just be simple. i feel that we’ve often times enslaved ourselves to technology and production without ever taking time to sit back and be contemplative for a moment about what it is that we’ve done and what it is that we are doing. i’m not saying that we need to completely get away from technology and production–but we need to find a balance, and we need to make sure that it hasn’t become the idol in our worship.
i liked the journey, and i’m looking forward to next weekend when i’ll have the opportunity to worship somewhere else with another great community of people. this is a nice little break from the norm, a nice time of refreshing and a nice time of peace as i get a 2 1/2 week vacation to reflect on life past and search out for the way that God is opening before me….
Related posts:
- status-quo worship
- worship as i see it…
- quote of the day
- disposable worship.
- a postmodern meditation on romans 12. (part 1)
