How do you enter worship?

"Are you not entertained?" — Maximus, "Gladiator

How do we enter into worship? Why do we come on Sundays? Is it part of a routine, or are we drawn there by some other desire? This was the idea that Nancy Beach, a founder of Willow Creek, sought to explore this morning through her message, titled "Consumer or Consumed." The basic idea is that we are to be consumed in worship — consumed by a love of God. But all too often we are consumers, there to take it in and evaluate what we've just seen.

That is a cultural norm — we have become a hyper critical society. The advent of social media has made it easier than ever to offer instant feedback for every experience. And we do, all too often.

That's even the case with worship. Some will provide instant comments about the joy they felt in worship, which leads to the effusive praise of God. Others use the easy of contact to register complaints about the way service failed to move them.

This is a consumeristic model. It's how we've been conditioned to treat visual and performing arts. We instantly evaluate movies, TV shows, music, paintings, etc. by what it does for us. Does it engage us? If not, it must be a failure. This isn't even true criticism.

When I was in college, as a Radio, Television, and Film major, I took film theory and film criticism. I have tried to apply those general concepts to all the films I review. Sure, I will often put in remarks about whether I liked something or not, or if I think it has objectionable material or not, but I try to be as objective as I can in rating something. I have given four stars to movies I didn't care for and wouldn't watch again because they were well made. Consequently I have given one star to movies I own and have seen many times.

Most of us aren't objective with our criticism. We want what we want, and we think everyone else should too. That's hard enough with the arts, but when it comes to church that approach to worship has no place. Though it entails fighting the cultural stream, that's what we need to do.

We don't come to worship for ourselves, we come for God. We come to give Him praise and glory, something we do far too little of in our daily lives. When you sing, it isn't for the people on the stage, the people beside you, or even yourself, it's for God. When you remember that, it changes everything.