Me-worship Verses True Worship

Me-worship is about us, and for God. True worship is about God, and for us.

Me-worship is relevant to our felt needs. True worship is relevant to the needs of our neighbors.

Me-worship is about music that I like. True worship, steeped in God’s Word and the Holy Sacraments, is about praying in a way that makes us God’s prayer for the world.

Me-worship pursues our own comfort and amusement. True worship calls us to sacrifice our own comfort for the dignity of our fellow image-bearers.

Me-worship values casual, familiar, extemporaneous conversation. True worship values planned, refined, elegant speech, carefully crafted to preach God’s message to our hearts.

Me-worship is about the almighty butts in the seats. True worship is about a holy presence in the world.

Me-worship ignores the evil and oppression in the world. True worship acknowledges the anger, and the violence, and the hatred, and the injustice, and the crap in the world around us.

Me worship creates good feelings and calls them God’s presence. True worship calls us to let go of our reliance on our false god-positives, and to take God’s word that the Holy Presence is not just with us, but is closer than we could ever imagine.

Me-worship is about my life, right here, right now. True worship looks to the Christian story, to the witness of the saints, and how we might play a part in the trajectory of sanctification that will culminate in Christ’s kingdom on earth.

Photo:
Flickr, creative commons 2.0