SOMEBODY DOES IT BETTER

A while back, I attended a funeral for a family in our church. Mark, the drummer on my Sunday morning praise team, lost his mom on Mother's Day, so our Associate Pastor and another friend and I packed up and made a road trip to be there for the service.

Mark's parents were devout Catholics and the service was held at their home church.

This was my first time to attend a Catholic service of any kind. I realize that a funeral is certainly not the same as a worship service, but I have to say that this service blew me away.

I'm sitting there, amazed at what I'm experiencing in the service. And it wasn't reverance. (That's what everybody talks about when they start bragging on liturgical services...that they are more reverent.) But that wasn't it...it wasn't a new sense of reverance. It was something, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Toward the end of the service, I finally leaned over to my friend and said...

"What's different about this? Why is it so good?"

He thinks for a minute, then leans back over.

"It's more personal."

Personal? At a Catholic church? Surely not...churches like this are supposed to be stuffy and impersonal and cold and mired in tradition, right? Yet, here was a place that felt more alive and God-centered than many, many of the services I've been a part of.

So, I started thinking about "personal." And then it dawns on me...here's a sampling of what I saw and experienced at the service.

Singing/Speaking
There were no words printed for these songs. But folks sang 'em anyway. That might not be the best thing for new folks like me, but there was a passion in these voices. In addition, their responses were so quick. There were quick to pray out loud with the priest and quick to respond during the congregational responses.
Kneeling
There were three different times where folks utilized the kneelers. Each of those times, the priest gave the direction, but most of the time, the people were already kneeling before he was finished asking it.
Lifted Hands
I saw seventy-year old men raising their hands at different points in the service. There were two seperate times where the entire congregation raised their hand during prayer and worship.
Water
A large fountain stood just inside the church's entrance and it ran the entire length of the service. So, throughout the service, we could hear running water behind us. It was nice...very soothing.
Fire
Of course, candles were a big part of this service. And we all know candles are just cool.
Incense
As the service ended, the priest brought the incense down to the casket. In just a few minutes, that aroma filled the worship space.

As a worship leader, there were a few things at play in this service that made it good.

PHYSICALITY - There was an understanding among these people that church was requiring something physical of them. (Kneeling, singing, speaking, raising hands, etc.) It wasn't a choice. These people did it. Maybe they did out of tradition or simple respect for their reverend, but the fact remains that those things are Biblical and they are doing them. I saw more physicality from this Catholic crowd that I see in one of my weekly Sunday services.

ELEMENTS - Not to get all "pomo" on you here, but this mattered. The fire, water, incense, the overall "airy" nature of this service made a difference...some would say it's something big, some reminder of God's creative hand in all things. That's true, I guess, but for me, it was calming. It was as if suddenly, microphones and lighting and sound systems and all other sorts of modernized things didn't matter.

The power of this service, for me, wasn't reverance. It was obedience. It was people obey what scripture says about the worship of God and my spirit instantly was bearing witness with the presence of God's presence in the room.

We've got to figure this thing out - this way of teaching out people what worship is. We've got to model for them what the Bible says about what we're to do, how we're to approach the throne of God. We've got to make it understood...make it normal...make it the way we operate.

I don't have the answers. Maybe it means our churches need to let our worship leaders preach more or teach classes or give them more time on stage to talk through worship. (And maybe worship leaders need to start learning how to teach/preach...)