THE WORSHIP WARS

In Joshua 5:13-19 we read about an encounter that Joshua had with an Angel before the battle of Jericho. It says that Joshua, “lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord.”

 Joshua, who apparently didn't recognize right away that the figure was an  angel, essentially asked, “Are you on our side or their side?”

 And the Angel answered, “No.” 

 The angel could not really say that he was on the side of the Israelites. He served God and as long as the Israelites were in the center of God’s will he would be there also, but God will not be pressed into service to a human cause or group or faction, and with a great economy of language the angel reminds Joshua of this dynamic. "I’m on God’s side and you better be also."

 I think about this in connection with the so-called "worship wars." Singing together in worship is designed by God to proclaim our unity with Him and also to create unity within the body as we join our voices together in praise. It’s ironic then that this gift, which was intended in part to display and reinforce Christian unity, has caused more division in modern times among God’s people than perhaps any other. The worship wars have divided more than a few churches, and it’s sad that Christians are fighting over the very thing that should be uniting us.

The fault lines are familiar to us: 

The old hymns vs. Modern Worship Music.

 Do we sing from hymn books or do we project words on a screen.

 What instruments are allowed on the stage?

 Some denominations insist that all songs should be sung acapella.

 I know of another denomination that thinks the church should only sing the psalms we find in the Bible.

 Do we use special lighting? Or does that feel too manipulative?

 Do we emphasize corporate singing or solo performances?

 For some the music is too loud or it’s not loud enough.

 Too amateurish. Too polished.

 It’s too emotional. It’s too stuffy.

 Some prefer an upbeat happy worship experience, others want the service to strike a more somber, reflective note.

 Some don’t like when they introduce too many new songs, but others ask, “Why do we sing the same songs over and over?”

 One person likes a twangy southern Gospel sound, another likes rock and roll.

 Musical tastes and preferences in worship are very diverse within the body, and we tend to pigeon hole others based on their stylistic preferences in worship. 

When I was growing up--- in junior high and high school--- when I would meet other kids for the first time they would always ask me, "What kind of music do you listen to?" It was a ritual, like when two dogs sniff each other, and they weren’t just making conversation either.  What they were really asking was, "what kind of person are you?" Or maybe, to be more exact, "are you my kind of person?" I know this is true because most kids would answer nervously, "I listen to a little bit of everything," which was the same as saying, "I can be anyone you want me to be."

I sometimes get a similar feeling when someone asks me about the worship style at my church. I worry that what they are really asking, “Is your church my kind of church?” or even “Are you my kind of Christian?”

In 2013, Stephen Miller wrote a thoughtful piece for Relevant Magazine entitled "The Modern Worship Music Wars." In it he wrote about the dangers of spiritualizing preference. Preferences are normal, and even to some extent good because God loves diversity, but, as Stephen Miller observed, the real danger lies when people begin to assign spiritual value to their preferences, or a lack of spiritual value to somebody else’s preferences. For example, if somebody is naturally drawn toward a more traditional, hymn-based corporate worship experience, that person might exalt that as the most spiritually helpful and genuine expression of worship, while simultaneously demonizing a worship experience that they deem to be more “flashy” and produced and modern. The reverse can also be true. Someone might wrongly think that the Spirit has gone out of a church whose preferred music style is more conservative and traditional, because they personally prefer a more energetic and emotive worship scene. When Christians think like this and talk like this--- Making our preferences the standard--- we will invariably come away thinking of others who deviate from that standard as somehow less. This is arrogant, and not very helpful. 

In the worship wars everybody seems to think that they are on the side of the angels, but I suspect that if we, like Joshua, actually asked the angels whose side they’re on---are you for us or for that church with the fog machine?--- they would probably answer, “No.” And if we want to experience God’s power in the midst of our worship we need to move beyond asking him to affirm and ratify our preferences toward a greater understanding of what is most pleasing to Him and what is closest to His heart.