Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. - Romans 5

Monday, April 13, 2015

Worship and Pizza 3

I’ve written about how pizza and worship are related analogically before, but I will try to flesh it out here:

Pizza. One of the most tempting and adulterous foods out there (more than ice cream). Why? Because pizza contains mainly 3 ingredients: sugar, salt, and fat (ice cream only has 2 of the 3). These ingredients are what the body craves most (if you don’t, you are a mutant). We are physiologically wired to desire those 3 ingredients: sugar for energy to perform physical tasks and maintain brain focus; fat as a reliable source of long-term energy and storage for times of metabolic fasting; and salt to regulate blood pressure and various organ function. But we also know that too much sugar, fat, and salt lead to severe health problems and take away the point of eating: to stay alive. Our bodies need more than just those 3 ingredients. We also need protein, vitamins, minerals, water, electrolytes, fiber, flavenoids, cholesterol, and other do-dads. Pizza sometimes will contain these (buffalo chicken, pineapple etc), but for the most part pizza is not a reliable source for other essential nutrition.

Musical worship is like pizza. Our souls are naturally wired to love music, emotions, and personal attachments. This is what worship songs give us. But over indulgence will make us lose sight of what is truly important: knowing God and knowing Christ. And music and emotions are not necessarily needed for sincere worship, else people who are born deaf or those who have lost emotional centers or undergo periods of depression and sorrow cannot be Christian. The ingredients we must need for our souls are truth, hope, faith, and love. These can be and often are found in musical worship, but like I said above, there are other forms of worship out there that do provide what we need. Let us not idolize a single form of worship by designating it as the only form of worship. Let us enjoy it for what it is, God’s gift to us as a single expression of worship among many, but it doesn’t replace any of the forms of worship that are actually mentioned in the Bible (musical worship in scripture is never related to worship but instead to praise, and depending on your denomination, worship ≠ praise).

So let us worship God, not worship worship.

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