Why does worship matter

Lewis's The Screwtape Letters , Screwtape, an elite devil in the bureaucracy of Hell, advises another on how images and objects around us can distract: "Keep him praying to it—to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him. Humans can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls. It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.

We probably know the feeling of becoming distracted by the experience of worship, especially since more and more Christians find themselves—like me—in different styles of churches and different church traditions.

According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research cited earlier by Ed Stetzer , 72 percent of new members at megachurches have come from…well, other churches.

Pew Research found that the most common change in religious affiliation in the U. With switching comes layer upon layer of a sort of cultural whiplash. We're distracted by the very space of worship—attaching too much importance to our position within the Father's house—without reflecting that, after all, maybe it's less about the externals of these devoted spaces and more about what we bring into them. In focusing our attention on where we are, we lose out on what the space can tell about who we are in the Body of Christ.

Someone not used to using kneelers in worship, for instance, can feel awkward to be on their knees, chanting responses at prescribed moments. But kneeling reflects an attitude of penitence; it's a physical posture recognizing the greatness of the God above us. Similarly, coming from a traditional church, I initially felt out-of-place amid the expressive hand-raising and dancing that often accompanies praise music and theater seats.

But this form of worship can show the spirit moving among us, reminding us that God is alive and present when we gather. Different churches reflect the nature of God and the full diversity of the Christian community.

These spaces can teach us to be humble. They can force us to authentically recognize our own expectations for church and when those expectations need to be surrendered to an experience beyond—and yet intimately tied to—our perceptions.

I learned to appreciate contemporary style as part of my college's worship community, learning its merits and weaknesses for myself. On my own, I still attend for the most part liturgically rooted churches that hearken back to the tradition in which I was raised. But neither wooden pew nor theatre seat holds a trump card when it comes to worship. Maybe the ugly churches, by defying expectations, are on to something.

Abby Stocker is currently interning with Christianity Today, where she regularly writes for Gleanings. She's looking forward to finishing her last year at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she studies English and dabbles in history, environmental science, and philosophy. This article was originally published as part of Her. Already a subscriber? Log in to continue reading. Worship matters because though we were created to worship God, in our fallenness we will worship anything Jeremiah Worship matters because God says it matters.

Worship matters because God is all that truly matters. Worship matters. Just read Psalms. Just read Revelations. This life will pass away. Possessions will rust. Fame will fade. But love remains. Not just in this life, but the ages to come. Finally, the most unique answer at least in the way it started out was submitted by Geoff Youngs:. Putting the toilet seat down. Flowers on your anniversary. A poem on her birthday.

All ways of declaring, with our lives, who matters. Worship should matter to us as much as God does: it is our most basic response to his status, sovereignty and salvation, whether in simple obedience or exuberant song. True worship declares to God our grateful estimation of him, to the world our humble sincerity, to our hearts what is of ultimate value. Worship matters because God does. Thanks for taking the time to send in your answers. I have been thinking about this question, thinking about why we worship and I found some answers in this blog!

Thanks for sharing the thoughts that people have about worship. Not all of them. The word says that the Lord teaches us precept upon precept and line upon line Isaiah We were shocked to discover that a course in worship was not required in the MDiv program and that it was possible for students to graduate without having a single class related to worship beyond preaching. In their travels across the U. Brehm and his wife, Delores—affectionately known as Bill and Dee—attended worship services that demonstrated this lack of education in worship.

Resolved to do something to rectify this sad state of affairs, they initiated a conversation with Fuller President Richard Mouw in He acknowledged the need for a program that could provide musicians, artists, and pastors with a deeper understanding of worship, its theological underpinnings, and ways in which the arts can be thoughtfully employed. Mouw also realized the arts provide fundamental insights into a culture—insights that are important not only to theologians but missiologists and psychologists as well.

What emerged from these conversations was the formation of the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts in March