Worshipping Together

Last week, I joined a friend of mine and some teens from the Church he works at and attended a worship concert at a nearby Christian Church, an experience that was totally foreign to me. I have always been Catholic, which means that I’ve experience lots of Catholic parishes and not much else, so this evening provided a radical opportunity for me.

You see, from the very moment I walked into this building I was overwhelmed by curiosity at all of the things I saw. From the set up of the building to the signs and space in the gathering area to the bathrooms and especially by the people, I was filled with wonder as we entered and prepared to worship. This might sound juvenile to you, but it was true; it was all new to me, and much like a child I was fascinated for what might come next.

I have since become aware of the fact that there is currently a debate going on in the Evangelical world about what worship should really look like, but I was not aware of that before I walked into that door, and so I had no idea what it might or might not look like. For me, a person who is very comfortable with what we Catholics call “Charismatic” prayer, I was not sure what to expect. Would this feel completely normal to me? Would it feel totally weird? Would I be able to pray? How would the people respond? What might they say?

I was in this state of wonder, of questioning, of intrigue, and of simple curiosity when our night finally began. A speaker got up to introduce the band, and shortly after the four worship leaders and their band took the stage. Within moments we were praying in tongues, the people next to me were on the ground crying, people were praising without holding back, many people had both hands raised high in the air, and many people around me were praying with an intensity that I have rarely been able to muster. Like I said, I am very familiar with charismatic prayer, and so these things did not take me back as much as they might for others. Together, for the next two hours, all of us in that room, from all different denominations and spanning multiple generations, simply prayed to the Lord for courage and new life in Him.

Yet, despite the power of each person’s prayers all around me, I personally found it difficult to enter in. Whether I was watching the worship leaders or struck by the people around me, I spent lots of time reflecting and not as much time praising. While I probably wish I would have praised a little bit more that night, these thoughts are the fruit of those reflections which came to me over and over during the night.

Despite the concrete ways that the Lord of Lords encountered the men and women gathered in that room for worship on a Thursday night in Pittsburgh, I felt a deep longing all around me. I watched as men and women who were and are authentically striving for a relationship with God seemed lost as to where to direct their praise.

While we sang praises to the Lord who wants to draw us closer to Him, the praise felt inauthentic because we lacked a place to turn with it. In the way my mind works, I started to look for signs of this, and I found them; I saw a worship leader lift his hands forward, then turn sideways, then look the other way as if to say “where are you, God?” I saw people spinning in circles while praising, lifting their hands, falling to their knees, and then getting back up again without a real sense of which way they would encounter the Lord the best.

Now, being someone who has been to many Catholic Churches all over this country, I know that this is not a Protestant problem, but it is a very real one for many Catholics as well. For Protestants who are debating what worship looks like, the conclusion I’ve heard is this: we need to make sure our worship leads hearts to Jesus Christ (read an article on this, if you’d like: What is the Real Problem with Today’s Evangelical Worship?). I agree wholeheartedly, I would say to that author and to all Christians out there; so please, I’d continue, come home.

I do not want this to dive into a cliche transition into an apology for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because I can assume that most of my readers know the beauty of that Mass, and maybe I can do that another time. What I want to say is this: in a room full of people who truly desire to know the Lord, I was as aware as ever of our profound and total need for the Lord, and specifically for Him in the sacraments. We sang songs which spoke of desiring the Lord to come in tangible ways and we reflected on the story of the Road to Emmaus, and my heart longed to tell my brothers and sisters precisely where each of us can find what we’re seeking.

To my Evangelical Christian brothers and sisters, then, I say this: please come home. Your worship, your authentic and true love for our Lord will make us all stronger, and together we can seek the Lord in authentic love and desire. And to my Catholic brothers and sisters, may we always welcome all people, Catholics, Christians, and non-Christians alike, into the love of God by our genuine love for them, and may we show them what it means to love the Lord in the Eucharist by our devout, holy and faithful reception of the Eucharist. May we all, together, worship our one Lord Jesus Christ in Spirit and in Truth just as he promised.

Also, thanks to Bethel Music for a great show.