We are created for the Eternal, created for the Sacred.
-Lauren Daigle
“No greater Love is this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. “I have come that you may have everlasting Life…No man comes to the Father but by me.”
(ohn 15:13, I John 5:13)
“I’m coming back to the heart of worship. It’s all about You, It’s all about You, Jesus. I’m sorry, Lord, for the things I’ve made it. It’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus…”. -Michael W. Smith
Chris Tomlin: “We fall down, we lay our crown. At the feet of Jesus. The greatness of Mercy and love, at the feet of Jesus. And we cry holy, holy, holy…”
From “Jesus Music” to “Contemporary Christian Music” and 30 years later, circling back to worship music. From church music to music industry and finally back to its roots there is Worship music circulating, sans industry, from church to church as it did in the beginning. From grassroots returning to grassroots.
It seems to be an eternal cycle: from simple beginnings where true worship, me to God, you to God, happens. Then the trappings of “religion” start to get in the way, of special clothing, of determined rituals and sacrements, or ordered services and liturgies. What happened to simply worshipping, one heart to His? As “religious life” gets more and more complicated (an “improvement” by some), more “doing” than contemplating, our relationship with God gets lost. The purpose gets lost and priorities as to what was important, what SHOULD be important, gets lost.
No, this is not my regular kind of “Easter Post” post as you can tell (here) but then again the documentary “The Jesus Movie” hasn’t been around for a while (FX network) that documents how the Jesus Freaks, Jesus Music, and the Jesus movement started back in the late 1960s, started to blossom in the 1970s, and how it as now gone full circle. I’ve now watched twice in the last few days (2.5 hours in length).
How did the “counter-culture” reaction start out in California in trying to find “the heart of worship”? What was it’s battles against the status quo (like Jesus in Israel, Luther pounding his thesis into the church door, from the High Liturgy of the Catholic Church to the “low liturgy” of the Pilgrims) at the time of its start? And more importantly, what happened between that simple worship and how Christian music “lost it purpose and priority” and how (in part) it returned to First Principles?
As you can tell, it grabbed my attention as I was part of that era, singing a church choir (hymnals and organ/piano) and then to a teenager group with electric guitars, drums, and horns). It was about worship, it was about getting the Gospel message out…
…and then things changed. Some said “matured”, but something was lost in translation. “It’s all about you” became other things as the movie presents – but only presents a small slice of what was happening in Christianity at the time along side the music (yes, you can argue what was “beside which” depending on your point of view). I don’t think I’d be far off to say it lost its soul, at least in part.
And then, as hearts noticed their “holes”, that something was missing, worship, true worship, returned and with that musical side to it again. The music returned to its real place – to support the idea and meaning of reaching out to God, to worship Him and not to just listen to highly produced music and singing along. This second generation of “Jesus Music”, returning as Worship music, stirred souls. It did mine even as I had experienced its first generation.
And then it had its time. But that hunger for God always exists. Think I’m wrong? Review that first quote at the top of this post: “We are created for the Eternal, created for the Sacred.” People hunger for God. Or some facsimile thereof because as we know, if people refuse the reality of God, they will put something else into its place.
Back in February, something happened to prove that truth. From The Atlantic (of all places!) is the amazing story of yet another revival:
On February 8, after a regularly scheduled chapel service on Asbury University’s campus, in Wilmore, Kentucky, a group of about 20 students lingered and began to worship and pray for one another. The chapel speaker that day, Zak Meerkreebs, had exhorted the students to “become the love of God by experiencing the love of God,” and closed with a prayer asking God to “revive us by your love.” According to the students, as they stayed and prayed, an unexplainable, surreal peace descended upon the room. As minutes stretched into hours, many students who had gone to class returned to the auditorium when they heard what was going on. They would eventually be joined by faculty, staff, and community members who trickled in to participate in worship and prayer.
In the days since, a stream of pilgrims has made its way to Wilmore. All of the auditorium’s almost 1,500 wooden flip seats are occupied; the walls and archways leading into the gathering space are crammed with people hungering to join in. Crowds have congregated in auditoriums and chapels elsewhere in town, singing and praying and reading the Bible. There has been a steady diet of proclamation (both standard preaching and personal testimonies), public confession, prayer (individual and corporate), scripture reading, and singing. People I have spoken with who entered these spaces describe encountering a “sweet presence,” “deep peace,” or “the quiet, heavy presence of God.” A sense of awe prevails. It is, one participant told me, as if “heaven opened up.”
I live 20 minutes from Asbury and have spent nine days there since the revival began, and I see a paradox at play. The event has gone viral online—on TikTok, the hashtag #asburyrevival has more than 100 million views and counting. But its appeal is actually its physicality and simplicity. In a time of factionalism, celebrity culture, and performance, what’s happening at Asbury is radically humble. And it gives me great hope for the future of American Christianity.
As of this Friday, the university will no longer hold public worship services. “I have been asked if Asbury is ‘stopping’ this outpouring of God’s Spirit and the stirring of human hearts,” the university president said in a statement. “I have responded by pointing out that we cannot stop something we did not start.” Indeed, the phenomenon has been reported to have spread to other schools, including Samford University, Lee University, and Cedarville University.
America has experienced several spiritual “Awakenings” in its past when things appeared to be dire. Was the returning back to Worship style of singing presaging yet another one?
Wise men still seek Him”
And He still seeks us – He sent his only Son to be a propitiation for our sins as he nailed to that cross in agony (“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”). He died that day but rose again on their third day which we call Easter.
Let us worship Him and for the grace and mercy He has shown us. We all have sinned – none of us is perfect. That sin separates us from God who is Holy (meaning “set apart”). Jesus came, lived, and died to be that bridge between we who are unholy to God the Father, who is Holy.
The heart of worship is all He asks for.
