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mad idolatry...

C.S. Lewis in Letters to Malcolm muses about "novelty" in church. He makes the following statement that I thought was so applicable to our current setting.

"The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God. But novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshiping. 'Tis mad idolatry that makes the service greater than the God."


I can't remember how many times I've heard people talk about how "good the service" was on a  particular Sunday. Translation: the worship band rocked or the preacher hit a home run or we did something really cool and unique. Rarely have I heard anything about God. Almost everything is focused on the service. Even worse is to hear worship leaders brainstorm trying to find something that will really "move" the people or something that will be "memorable". It seems as if we are a people overrun with "mad idolatry".


Perhaps churches have become our "high places".



Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 by Registered Commenterfr'nklin in | Comments10 Comments

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Reader Comments (10)

"The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God."

My IMMEDIATE thought after reading that line was how I respond to seeing the majesty, glory, creativity and vastness of God in the rage of a storm or the intricacy of a spider's web or the delight of a rainbow or the solemn of sunrise or the thunder of the ocean. In all these things I'm moved to worship.

But my second thought? Am I worshiping creation or its Creator?
July 24, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterregine
Well done...very well done. Wow, wish I could say it so well.

Your comment gets to the heart of the question and the difficulty in knowing the answer...or even more difficult... living it. After all, our hearts are idol factories...right?

Yet, I do think you / we know the answer. When creation moves us to HIM, when "the service" moves us to HIM...it is not idolatry. When it's truly a means and not an end.
July 24, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterfranklin
It has to start with "How is God going to be glorified by our worship?" It should end with "Was God glorified in our worship?" If these 2 questions aren't an unqualified "Yes," then it's back to the drawing board.
July 24, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDan Keller
Regine - I was reading again this morning and in another section Lewis says that when we experience God in nature, "We know we are being touched by a finger of that right at which there are pleasures forevermore." He says he has always tried to make the channel of pleasure...especially pleasures of the creation..."a channel of adoration."

"Gratitude exclaims, very properly, 'How good of God to give me this.' Adoration says, 'What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!' One's mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun."

Dan - two great questions...and, I wonder, what criteria a church would use to answer that question. Perhaps that criteria will reveal what the real object is...God or the service.
July 24, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterfranklin
I preached my first sermon this past Sunday, and wanted to leave the building as soon as possible afterwards. I knew what was going to happen--people were going to tell me I did a good job. For one, I did okay but nothing to write home about, but more importantly, I wanted the focus to be on God and not me. I'm not saying people were idolizing me, but the focus was not where it was supposed to be. I feel partly to blame for that, but I know that it is also part of the general church climate.

Sigh. I often wonder what it will take to bring us back.
July 24, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJake Belder
Jake...glad you mentioned that because I was thinking of the many times that happened to me. You know, it's ok for ppl to want to say "thank you", etc. but there are times you know when it's not ok. When the focus has NOT been on God. I've been on both sides of that fence.

I don't know what it will take to bring us "back" but I believe you have the kind of heart and mind that God can use to do just that.

Man, I'd love to have heard that sermon...your FIRST...so, all idolatry aside...CONGRATS! ;)
July 24, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterfranklin
"Rarely have I heard anything about God. Almost everything is focused on the service."

I see what you are trying to say, but how does one articulate that without succumbing to Christianese, which is a much bigger cringe inducer than glowing comments on the band or the pastor's sermon.

What counts is how we live after after church when the harsh unpleasant (and secular) reality of life sets in Monday morning.
July 24, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDavid C
Frank, it's on my blog if you're interested. :)
July 25, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJake Belder
Leave it to Lewis to introduce "coruscations" into the vernacular! Once I understood what he said, I realized he was t r y i n g to say what I said, lol, only with a healthy dollop of sophistication. In keeping with your initial response, chasing sunbeams to the sun illustrates the "means to an end" line of thinking, and beautifully so.
July 26, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterregine
Didn't you just love that word? I did. Glad you liked it.
July 27, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterfranklin

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