It’s The Big Night, summer of 1978. I’m 16 years old and am at Anaheim Stadium in Southern California with 55,000 others for a concert Electric Light Orchestra is putting on. My two friends and I arrived early in the morning so we could sit in the field. The stadium smells like pot. Rock music played all day over the sound system when the bands weren’t on stage. Youth are everywhere, partying. No parents or middle-agers to be seen.
It’s now evening, dark. The warmup bands completed their sets a while ago and everyone is waiting for ELO. A helicopter flies in and lands behind the massive stage, signaling that the band has arrived. 45 minutes later the curtain parts, revealing a massive spaceship some 50 feet in diameter. Two power units are generating 500,000 watts of power. As the spaceship lifts, a theatrical display of laser lights and billowing fog comes to life. Those of us who are on the field surge forward to get closer to the action. Thankfully, no one got seriously hurt. The fog dissipates, revealing the band, and the mega-watt sound system blasts the music with heart-rattling power.
I’m gawking… it’s like encountering the gods of rock. I have their albums, listen to their music often. Huge video screens behind the drummer give the peasants a visual of their gods. The crowd roars after every song.
Fast forward to today.
Recently I attended the weekend service of a large, growing church here in Colorado Springs. The wall in back of the stage had a set of large, floor to ceiling, state of the art video screens. As the worship band began playing the lights were dimmed; all attention is now on the stage. The light show begins, with lights flashing and beaming at all angles. Several fog machines kick on. The music is blasted through a megawatt sound system. During the entire time the band is playing the video screens show the band members, including shots of the young female singer. One shot lingered on a young man’s lower torso as he played the electric guitar.
After the first set of worship songs were complete, the speaker gave his message. 10 minutes before he finished, the fog machine kicked on again. The worship band returned for an encore with more lights and fog. It felt like an ELO concert with Christian words.
Regardless of the words of the songs, I didn’t feel like I had worshipped God. There were too many distractions. If they would have kept the lights on and turned off the video screens (or at least showed the lyrics only, which wouldn’t require floor to ceiling screens) cut out the light show, and turned the volume down a bit, I might have been able to focus on God. Apart from the ability to focus solely on God from the heart without distractions, worship is an illusion.
How we worship reflects our culture, what we believe, and our heart. Many are screen-addicted, have fragmented attention spans, and are immersed in the culture of entertainment. Spend hours watching The Chosen? “Yeah man, I’ve watched every show of every season.” Spend an hour or two in silence with God, focused only on Him, with no distractions?
Imagine if Jesus had suddenly appeared on the stage of that church in all of His Revelation 1 glory and terror.
“In the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.”
Revelation 1:13-17
This is no sixties hippy Jesus as so many pictures make Him out to be. “Eyes like fire, a voice like roaring ocean… face shining like the sun.” This is His true, glorified state. If the Revelation 1 Jesus were to appear on stage at that church I imagine the only sounds would be a gasps of shock, with a stream of thuds and crashes from the worship band dropping their mics and instruments while knees are hitting the floor. More of the same in the crowd. The video screens would go dark the moment He appeared.
What if, just for one Sunday, we were to have no worship band, or no choir on stage. No lights or video screens. No fog. Not even a guy with a guitar or on a piano. A man gets up, tells everyone we’re going to worship God quietly and in silence for 20 minutes, then leaves the stage. Now is a golden opportunity to focus on God alone with His people in life-giving, Spirit-encountering, silence.
Some would reach for their phone. 19 minutes and 53 seconds to go. Groan. Some would get up and leave. We modern Christians don’t do silence. Who’s going to lead worship? How can we worship without music? Besides, there’s no one on stage… it’s not like God is really there, is it?
Richard Foster writes –
“The Bible describes worship in physical terms. The root meaning for the Hebrew word we translate worship is “to prostrate.” The word bless literally means “to kneel.” Thanksgiving refers to “an extension of the hand.” Throughout Scripture we find a variety of physical postures in connection with worship: lying prostrate, standing, kneeling, lifting the hands, clapping the hands, lifting the head, bowing the head, dancing, and wearing sackcloth and ashes. The point is that we are to offer God our bodies as well as all the rest of our being. Worship is appropriately physical.”
The Bible gives us many pictures of corporate and individual worship. Here are a few. As you read through these verses, note how the pictures of Rogue Worship are for large groups as well as individuals.
“Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.”
—Exodus 4:30–31
“And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”
—Joshua 5:14
“And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
—2 Chronicles 7:2–4
“But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.”
—Psalm 5:7
“And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”
—Nehemiah 8:6
“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
—Matthew 2:11
“So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.”
—Matthew 28:8–9
“And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God”
—Revelation 7:1
The verses above, and many others, show us what Biblical, heart-driven, God-honoring worship looks like. What does it say about the church when so many are attending services like what I described above? Where our heart is? What we believe? Why don’t we worship like they did in the Bible, bowing, hitting the pavement, face down, giving thanks?
I suspect that pride, comfort, and the fear of what others think are near the root of the problem. I mean, ahem, let’s not take this God thing too far. We modern Christians are too sophisticated for that. We like our exegesis and theology but…
What’s next, going away like Jesus did for hours long binges of prayer?
The crowd doesn’t always get it right, my friends, Christian or not.
We have too many distractions in some of our church services, too much noise. Worship is about man and God. If a church did spend 20-30 minutes in silent worship, I wouldn’t be surprised if the presence of God descended on them and people started weeping, some with joy, some from conviction. In fact, I can nearly guarantee it. Why? Because I experience it when I’m alone with the Lord in the mornings.
There is a large swathe of believers who rarely if ever experience the presence of God. You don’t have to wait for your church for Rogue Worship. You can go to God now, turn everything off, hit your knees, and pour out your love to Him.
