Shipwrecks and Worship - Will Tyler

In 1735 John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley left England on a boat traveling for America in the hopes of spreading the word of God throughout the American colonies. During their travel across the Atlantic ocean they sailed into a huge storm. The boat rocked in the mighty waves, water poured into the cabins, the mainmast split, and the top deck was in an absolute panic. Understandably nearly everyone, including the Wesley brothers, were scared for their lives. Everyone was seized by the grip of terror, except for a group of Moravian missionaries. These Moravian missionaries held a worship service in the midst of a storm, the men, women, and children sang praises to God together though the waves poured through the ship. Eventually the storm passed, and the passengers survived. But this experience drove John Wesley to question how believers could have such faith in God, that even their children would not fear death.

        This story always amazes me, how could worshipers be so confident that when everything is literally crashing around them, they stay worshiping God. Furthermore, how were their children so satisfied in worship to not fear the collapse of the ship around them. Even the apostle Peter, when walking on water, was distracted by the waves and storm around him, and he had Jesus within his eyesight. These children, who couldn’t see Christ, were so satisfied and confident in worshipping their Saviour that the storm meant nothing to them. This is not the only story of worship being so utterly powerful: what about Paul and Silas, when they praised God, their prison was destroyed (Acts 16:25-40)? What about King Jehoshaphat and the citizens of Judah who praised God and while they praised God, the invading armies began attacking one another (2 Chronicles 20)? Now obviously we don’t worship God so that He will act the way we want Him to, rather through worship we submit ourselves to the Father and declare that He is greater than our circumstances and what we are facing. We submit to the will of God in worship and allow Him to act in any way that He wills, which is always for the good of His kingdom whether we like the result or not.

        Given how important and how powerful worship is, we must ask ourselves how should we understand and approach worship? How should Calvary Church approach worship as we continue to grow as a church? These are big questions that really matter and have consequences beyond which is more practical for a Sunday morning.

        We should understand what worship is. The definition of worship according to google is “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.” So, in other words worship is giving praise to and adoring God. We are called to do this many times, for example in Psalm 150. We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, and minds, which is true worship, because we are adoring God (Mark 12:30). There are some criteria on how to praise and adore. Firstly, we need to be singing things that are true. We can’t adore something God isn’t, if we do, we are not adoring God. That would be like a husband singing about how beautiful his wife’s blonde hair is, when in reality his wife is a brunette, the song may be very flattering and written in the best intentions, but the wife won’t accept it as an expression of love because the song isn’t true to who she is. One good way to examine if what we are singing is true, is to compare what you are singing to what the Bible says. Ask yourselves do the lyrics speak truly about who God is? Ask yourself is the creative imagery and emotional language still conveying a clear picture of God, or is God lost in the metaphor? For example, a song that does this very well is “my lighthouse.” The song writers are creative and use the picture of a lighthouse guiding a ship, to God guiding us in the storms of life. But they don’t say God is a lighthouse, or say He has all the attributes of a lighthouse, that would be untrue. They simply use the picture and feeling of comfort a lighthouse gives, to describe how comforting God is in the storms of life. Creativity in worship is good, but creativity should never be used at the expense of truth.

Secondly, our worship should unite all believers, it should be for believers of all ages. We need to look at the Bible and practice what it says about worshipping together. Let’s first look at the King Jehoshaphat story from earlier. King Jehoshaphat and all Israel are crying out for God to act, in fact here is a verse from this story, 2 Chronicles 20:13 “As all the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children, the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there.” Worship is a family experience; God wants the children and little ones to be in the presence of God with their fathers and mothers. Look at the Moravians in the Wesley story above, the onlookers where amazed that children would be praising with their parents in the midst of a life-threatening storm. Sometime in the last 100 years, churches have opted to send kids away during worship so that their parents can experience worship without the distractions of their kids. In Matthew 19:14, Jesus does not say let your children come to me, unless if they are distracting you from worship. In fact, it’s the disciples who are complaining that the children are distracting the crowds from being able to experience Jesus. Jesus rebukes them saying “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Worship is intended not just for mature audiences, Jesus wants to meet our children in worship and if that means some crying and or playing during singing, well I’d rather have that in obedience, than to be comfortable in disobedience. Also, who then teaches our kids what the ideal of worship is? Is it not seeing the parents and adults fully submitted to God that teaches the next generation what to aspire to. If we want to have children that desire to worship God, we must show kids why it’s important, how it unites all believers in the presence of God. Look throughout the Old Testament and you’ll find traditions and celebrations that the Israelites were supposed to practice to worship God, and in these traditions and celebrations children are always supposed to be included. But uniting everyone isn’t just for children being in worship. Let me ask you this: why do we sing worship songs in church and not Christian rap or rock and roll. It’s not because these songs don’t glorify God, there are some amazing lyrics and talents in these genres. We don’t sing these songs in church because not everybody can sing them or understand them. Hymns and worship songs are generally designed so everyone can sing them, from the youngest child to the oldest great grandparent. We are supposed to unite in our worship to God, and sing together as one people, as the children of God.

Lastly, in faith we have to trust that the Holy Spirit is moving in our worship, that we are meeting in His presence. It’s not the songs, the worship band, or the atmosphere that makes us feel in the presence of God. It is the Holy Spirit meeting the believer. Let us have faith, that even if we don’t feel the presence of the Holy Spirit that He has met us in worship. Let us have faith, that even if we don’t come out of worship in tears and full of emotion, that God was glorified in our worship. That said we should also allow the Spirit to move however He calls us to, whether that be with dancing, shouting, emotions, tears, bowing, or jumping. If the Spirit is moving and is calling us to do things in worship, do not allow how others will see you to stop you. And if you see someone meeting with God in a different way than you, don’t judge them; rather, praise God that He is meeting with His children. Have faith that even the youngest child who spends all worship whining and crying is blessed to be in a room filled with the presence of  God.

        Let us be the church that when everything is falling apart, we meet in the presence of God in worship. Let’s pray that even our children will have faith that God is meeting with them in some way through worship and genuinely believe that God is glorified through their praise. Calvary, can we be a church that desires for God to act, regardless of how uncomfortable the situations surrounding us are? We have already done such a good job, even worshiping God in our homes during the pandemic. Now that we are reunited, I pray that we continue to spur one another on. Though the world tries to sink us, may we continue worshiping God.