Does God prefer Manderin mantras or Hispanic Hallelujahs?
Does God prefer Mandarin Mantras or Hispanic Hallelujahs? In other words does God accept worship from one cultural context over another? Is one location for worship superior than another? Do I need to make a pilgrimage? Do I need to renounce my African American mannerisms and song stylings in favor of something more british or better yet yiddish?
Imagine leaving the familiar vestiges of worship and going to a far far away place. In this place they don’t speak english. They don’t enjoy the same songs that you have come to know as being part of coming together in God’s presence. They read the bible in their own language. They love Jesus. But they don’t even greet each other the same way you do. They bow to each other. Now imagine that you must preach a sermon there. In fact, you must stay there for nearly a year preaching every weekend. The best english level of any church member other than the pastor is probably equivalent to a 5th or 6th graders level of understanding. Will you sense God’s presence? Will you “feel God’s Spirit moving?”
That was my challenge. I was a missionary in Korea. I was faced with a stunning realization. What I called worship wasn’t worship at all. And I had to find Jesus in a new context and realize that true worship can be found in many cultural contexts. And that one context should not proclaim itself as the end all be all.
Jesus teaches us this in his conversation with the woman at the well found in John 4. She wants to know whether salvation is of the Samaritans or of the Jews. Do we worship in the right place or do the Jews have it right. Jesus let her know that while the Jews have the honor of being the historical repository of God’s relationship with man, the time now is when God’s main concern is “Do you worship me in spirit and in truth.”
What does this mean? And how does that answer the question as to whether God prefers Mandarin Mantras or Hispanic Hallelujahs?
To worship in spirit is to worship from the inside out. In I Corinthians 2 we are told that no one knows the thoughts of another person except that person’s spirit. We are then told that God has shared his Spirit with us so that we are made aware of his thoughts. Those who worship God in spirit receive God’s presence into their heart and are made aware of God’s desires and his plans. The water that wells up inside us so that we need never thirst again is God’s Spirit overwhelming us with His love and revelation.
In addition to God’s revelation through His Spirit he also leads the true worshippers into truth. We find God’s truth in his word. That’s why the combination of prayer and bible study is so effective. We are moved by His spirit. We are instructed by His word. We learn what is true. We then live in sincerity from the inside out that which is pleasing to God and verified to be according to His ways.
So we are not champions of liturgical structure–we must have a morning hymn before scripture reading in order to have real worship. The woman at the well had real worship because Jesus met her where she was and filled her to overflowing. She then shared with those from her cultural context what he had told her–the truth. She was filled with his Spirit and in sincerity of spirit shared the truth He revealed to her. Then they listened to Him for themselves and said that they now believed as well. No longer caught up on which mountain to worship on they instead became focused on spirit and truth.
It was hard for me to worship for so many months there in Korea without the extemporaneous eruptions of “Sing” and “Well. Preach Preacha!” When I sang there was no encouragement from the saints that listened that they were feeling God’s presence through my songs. I didn’t hear as many “Amens” as I preached God’s word. But nevertheless HE WAS PRESENT BOTH IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. And that’s all that matters.
Much of what we call worship isn’t. We have deified the ritual. If we don’t hear our favorite style of music we don’t think that God is in the building. If the presentation doesn’t give us the warm fuzzies we had when we first came to know and love the Saviour of the world then we feel something is wrong. Perhaps what is wrong is our definition of worship. Let us come to God with a sincere heart praying for the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. Let us read daily His word. Let us meet together in one another’s homes. Let us eat together and pray together and sing together. Let us live a life of worship IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.
My prayer is that we will focus less on where we are and more on being in His presence where He is!
Where You Are
I wanna be in your presence
I wanna stay on your hill, Lord
I wanna be in your presence
Where you are
(Repeat)
I wanna stay on your mountain
Play on your hill
I wanna stay on your mountain
I’ll yield and be still
I wanna stay on your mountain
Play on your hill, Lord
I wanna be in your presence
Where You are
I wanna be in your presence
I wanna stay on your hill, Lord
I wanna be in your presence
Where you are
(Repeat)
For there is salvation
On your holy hill
For there is salvation
I’ll wait and be still
For there is salvation
On your holy hill, Lord
I want to be in your presence
Where You are
I wanna be in your presence
I wanna stay on your hill, Lord
I wanna be in your presence
Where you are
(Repeat)
