Music Is Not A Synonym For Worship

Music is not worship. We should get that straight from the start. Just because music is played in the context of a church service or a Christian event, it is not automatically the equivalent of worship. We should also be clear that when we talk about worship, we are not automatically talking about music. Music and worship are not synonyms when used in the Christian context. They are separate entities. Sometimes they overlap, but they do not automatically merge and they are not one in the same. Too often, though, we talk as if they are. We differentiate the “worship” time of our service by referring to music, as if the rest of the service is something else. But the reality is that everything we do during a Sunday morning “worship service” should be an act of worship - from our initial greetings, through the music and communion and the sermon to the closing prayer at the end. All should be acts of worship, whether we are participating from the stage or from the pew.

But none of those parts of the service are worship in and of themselves. I can shake someone’s hand without it being an act of worship, whether I am in a church setting or in a bar. I can turn that same handshake into worship regardless of where I am as well. I can go through the motions through all the parts of a church service and never worship. On any given week, it is entirely possible to worship outside the church building more than inside it. It is possible because worship is not dependent on the event, or the place or the person or persons I am participating with - worship is a matter of my heart. Worship depends only on me. It depends on my choice to ascribe worth to God, wherever I am and in whatever context I find myself. 

So, when the music begins on Sunday morning, it is not worship until I make it worship. We must be reminded of that. Worship is dependent on me and only me. No peripheral circumstances can dictate my worship without my permission. Likewise, my ability to worship is not dictated by emotion. Worship is not a feeling any more than love is a feeling. A warm fuzzy feeling does not mean deeper, more meaningful worship, just like a warm fuzzy feeling is not an accurate indicator of love. Creating a certain “mood” might help me focus and get me that special tingly feeling, but that, in itself, is not worship and it is not what dictates whether I worship or not. I’ve been to secular concerts and I have seen the same emotions exhibited there as I see in a Sunday service. The emotion is not the worship. The feeling is not the worship. The mood is not the worship. All those things might make it easier for me to focus on worship, which is good, and those things might come as a result of worship, but we must understand that worship does not automatically follow because those things are optimal. 

We must also understand that worship is not necessarily negated when those things are not optimal. If the music is not to our liking or the mood does not get us tingly or the music leader is not getting me all teary eyed, it should not negate my ability to worship. My ability to ascribe worth to God is not dependent on mood, or music style, or music quality, or passionate words from a minister. My ability to ascribe worth to God is only dependent on my ability to understand that the one and only true God is worthy of all praise and all glory regardless of the circumstances around me. Paul worshipped in prison. Early disciples worshipped after lashings. Stephen worshipped while being killed by pious people hurtling rocks at him. What does it say about us when we say we couldn’t worship on Sunday morning because of the music? Was the music worse than prison? Worse than a lashing? Worse than being stoned? Is it really possible for our brothers and sisters in Christ to share music, with the best of intentions to glorify God, that is so bad that it prevents us from being able to worship. I would say that is utter nonsense and it says more about our view of worship than it does about the music that is being played. It says much about our over-dependence on mood and emotion. It says that we have elevated music to be far more important than it really is. It says much about the disconnect between what we say is worship and what we live out as worship.