Dear Adventist Member:

I was talking to one of my daughters a few weeks ago, and our conversation turned to the pluses and minuses of contemporary worship. We both felt something was missing from the more relaxed, informal worship format, yet had a hard time deciding what it was. For me it could easily just be a greater comfort level with what I had found meaningful for years. But my daughter is of a different generation with a shorter history of the old ways.

I Peeked

It finally dawned on us what we have lost. My daughter remembered the times as a young child when the congregation knelt in prayer as the minister and elders walked onto the platform. Sometimes the congregation sang “The Lord is in His Holy Temple” as the organ played. The words go on to say, “Let all the earth be silent, be silent, before Him.” She recalled how several times she peeked so she could see the look on my face as I came into God’s presence. The whole atmosphere gave her a sense of awe before God.

Contrast that experience with the informal, casual worship atmosphere and secular sound of the music found in most contemporary worship. Add the incongruity between a musical presentation that is to focus us on God, and applause that is normally used to honor a performer, and one can see we have lost something. "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him" (Habakkuk 2:20).

Others Are Asking

Some will say I just need to modernize my thinking. But I find others also asking questions. Philip Yancey, writing in the May 2005 issue of Christianity Today, reflected on his church’s recent hunt for a worship pastor. “None showed much knowledge of theology, and assuredly none led us toward anything like awe. Worship today means loudly filling every space of silence. I welcome the sense of celebration and joy apparent in much recent music. Yet I wonder what we are missing when we reduce the distance between creature and Creator.”

Feeling of Awe

Old Testament public worship had two dominant notes: forgiveness of sins and joy in the Lord. “Oh, what joy for those whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” (Psalm 32:1, NLT). To worship meant to bow down in reverence and submission.

New Testament worship had a different form but a similar spirit with more emphasis on the people rather than the leader. Yet worship still meant to reverence, to revere, to have a feeling of awe or devotion. “He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No one has ever seen him, nor ever will. To him be honor and power forever. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:16, NLT).

Although Jesus is our friend (John 15:15), God is always to be recognized as someone we approach with reverence and respect. Referring to Him as “The Big Guy” or “The Man Upstairs” or similar terms seems to me inappropriate.

“Many … have no true appreciation of the sacredness of eternal things. Nearly all need to be taught how to conduct themselves in the house of God. Parents should not only teach, but command, their children to enter the sanctuary with sobriety and reverence” (Child Guidance, p. 540).

Contemporary worship has developed as a way to reach more people with the gospel. While I would not condemn innovation and creativity, we must always be careful not to compromise reverence for God in the process.

Sincerely your friend,

Tom Mostert, President

Pacific Union Conference

P.O. Box 5005

Westlake Village, CA 91361

tmpm3@attglobal.net