Comfort, Comfort

A[nother] confession for my sisters and brothers:

I hate Contemporary Worship Services. Well, maybe “hate” is not the appropriate word, as it maintains a strong negative polarity and I do not consider myself to be a “hateful” person. How about “I dislike greatly Contemporary Worship Services…” that sounds a little more polite and less confrontational. [my momma, ever a proper southern lady, would be proud of me!]

Perhaps this confession may come as a surprise; by now, I would imagine that my readers have inferred that I am “Neo-Progressive” in my doctrinal leanings. But whereas my personal beliefs are sometimes liberal to the point of heresy, I am very traditional when it comes to worship. Organs? The bigger the better! [no sexual innuendo applied here]. Music? If it’s composed after 1850, I am highly suspicious of its merit. I prefer a good, old-fashioned German chorale tune any day over more upbeat and contemporary melodies. Yes my friends, I am a liturgical traditionalist. Hundreds of years of tradition should not be set aside simply for a worship format that is more pertinent to contemporary society; rather, society should conform to worship. Here endeth the sermon.

Which is why you might be shocked to know that last night, at approximately 6:05 P.M. C.S.T., I was, for the first time in years, present at a Contemporary Service being held at our Seminary. No, I was not gagged, drugged, and beaten into submission. Nor was I duped into attending the service, nor was I in the chapel to escape unfavorable weather conditions. I attended the service freely, of my own accord and own free will.

My good friend had earlier asked me to attend. “Mere,” she said. “I’d like you to come to our contemporary service. I know you hate that kind of stuff, and you will probably hate the music...but please come anyway.” So out of love and support for the effort of my friends, I laid aside my misgivings and went to worship.

For the next 45 minutes, I sat in the back of the church, feeling like a “stranger in a strange land.” Whereas everyone else new the tunes to the Praise Songs, I sat more-or-less silent, trying to discern the harmonic movement. I have not felt that uncomfortable in worship since I visited the African-American Seventh Day Adventist Church last semester. Indeed, I was the proverbial, “fish out of water.”

Of course, it was then that I realized how important it is for all of us to periodically leave our comfort zones, how essential it is to our growth as human beings to participate in the unfamiliar, even participate in activities that, under normal circumstance, we would never do. I am reminded of a fabulous television program called “30 Days” which was on the FX channel this past summer and I hoped was renewed for another season. The show, which is the brain-child of director Morgan Spurlock (of Super-Size Me fame) places people in unfamiliar situations for 30 days and documents the struggle of their “old reality” versus their “new reality.” For instance, one episode centered around an Evangelical Christian living with a Muslim family; another followed the life of conservative heterosexual male living with a gay man in San Francisco. In both episodes, the person who was once intolerant became tolerant; each month began in discomfort and ended in comfort. The theme of the show was not for people to change who they fundamentally are but rather to learn to acknowledge and appreciate another person’s ideology by literally “walking in another person’s shoes.”

Yes, I dislike contemporary worship, but I appreciate it and realize that it is a legitimate way for the people of God to lift their hearts in praise to the Creator. Just as no one can possess all-encompassing theological truth, no can possess the only way to worship God. Many voices, many songs, many ways to offer our glory to God-- for this, I am eternally grateful.