In Spirit & In Truth: How Christians Worship

We're back by popular demand (actually, at the request of a friend of mine) to share our latest Rolling Hills UMC youth Sunday school experience. We're looking at how diverse - and yet the same - Christian worship can be (even if we limit our search to Christian worship in North America).  As you view these videos, ask yourself:

•  Have I ever been a part of a worship service such as this one?  What was it like?
•  How is this worship experience different from the others I have been a part of?
•  How is it different from others I am seeing here?
•  What does this worship experience have in common with the others?
•  What does this worship experience teach me about God?

Let's start by taking a trip to a Quaker meeting in Brooklyn, New York to learn a little about how our friends there (pun intended) worship.  Shhhhhhhhh!!

Waiting on the Lord in silence can be a powerful thing.  Try it some time as an act of worship.  "Be still, and know that I am God."  -Psalm 46:10 (TNIV)

Now, contrast the silence of a Quaker meeting with the decibel level in this worship service at a Pentecostal congregation in Denver, Colorado:

That's a joyful noise if I ever heard one!  "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."  -Psalm 100:1-2 (TNIV)

Compare what we just witnessed in Denver to worship at this Orthodox congregation in Andover, Massachusetts:

To worship in such splendor and formality must give you a real sense of the majesty of God!  "Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"  -Psalm 8:1 (TNIV)  "Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth."  -Psalm 96:9

At the other end of the spectrum of worship-space formality, we have brothers and sisters who worship on occasion in a tent ... That's right, it's an old-fashioned camp meeting in Mistissini, Quebec:

Does this worship service seem free-form when you compare it to the liturgy of the Orthodox service?  That's OK ... "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."  -2 Corinthians 3:17 (TNIV)

For another change of pace, try out the traditional worship service in this Lutheran Church:

There's nothing else like sharing in Holy Communion, as we see at the end of that video!  "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."  -1 Corinthians 11:26 (TNIV)

Other Christians have exchanged pews for theater seating and hymnals for video screens.  Check out this contemporary worship service at the famous Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois:

Now, there's a drum set with resounding cymbals!  "Praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals."  -Psalm 150:5 (TNIV)

Here is a congregation full of worshipers who are anything but spectators!  Listen to how EVERYONE is a part of this pastor's preaching at a Baptist service in Arkansas:

Silence?  Not this Sunday!  "With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him."  -Psalm 109:30 (TNIV)

Finally, here is something most of you probably have not experienced: a charismatic Christian service where some worshipers speak in tongues while praising God in song:

Paul describes speaking in tongues as a gift of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12.  You can read it here.

So, silence or cymbals?  Tents or cathedrals?  Rock bands or hand bells?  It's all worship.  However you may worship our God ... whatever your faith tradition may be ...  "Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant."  Psalm 135:3 (TNIV).