When God Isn’t There

It’s Sunday. It’s 9:00. Set the timer for 90 minutes. And…go! Did you hear that, God? If You’re going to be present and move in Your Church this morning, you have 90 minutes to get it done.

I’ve been a part of many churches over the years. I’ve attended different denominations. I’ve attended churches in different parts of the country. I’ve attended churches with diverse bodies, and I’ve attended churches that were monochromatic. One thing they all had in common (besides their views on the essentials of the faith): service structure.

Perhaps it’s just a given with most modern-day American conservative churches, but worship services are strictly structured. The start time is always the same followed by a few worship songs, a welcome message, an offertory, the main message, and a closing prayer or invitation. As long as everything is accomplished in the amount of time it takes to watch The Lion King, everyone is happy. After all, we only get so much time off during the week (if that), so we can’t sacrifice our entire Sunday.

Don’t get me wrong. Structure is necessary for any organization. I’m not trying to suggest we eliminate all structure, but I am suggesting we be smart with the structure. Whether we realize it or not, we are instinctively drawn to structure. We like to know the rules and understand the boundaries. And, why shouldn’t we be this way? After all, God is the Great Architect. He is the author of order and structure, not of disorder and confusion (see 1 Corinthians 14:33), and we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27).

We desire structure, and there should be structure. However, if we keep to our timers and our strict regiments on Sunday mornings, there is a possibility that we edge God out of the picture. Formulaic worship services can create feelings of monotony and ho-hum expressions of faith. And, such words should never be used to describe God, His movement in our lives, or His Church.

The Church should be constantly vibrant and brimming with the hope of the Lord, and I don’t want to put a cap on it. When we give God 90 minutes in the form of the same progression each week, it can potentially limit the impact. Believe me…God can do a lot with a little. God can radically change a life in an instant. He changed my life, and He can change your life, too.

However, why would we want to limit the work of God in His Church during worship? I want to blow the roof off the building each week. How can that happen? We can invite the Lord to make His presence known in His sanctuary, but then we have to let Him move!

When I was younger, I remember being in worship services where the worship leader or the pastor was so moved by the Spirit that he completely changed up the service. Yes, the program said we would be singing Blessed Assurance and All Creatures of Our God and King, but we ended up having an extended time of prayer followed by the continuous singing of How Great Thou Art. Or, the pastor, barely making it through the introduction of his sermon, would shift gears and lean into the leading of the Spirit. Those times of worship were great and truly impactful.

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[quote bar=”true” align=”center”]We can invite the Lord to make His presence known in His sanctuary, but then we have to let Him move![/quote]

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And, yet, somehow that organic style of worship has rushed out the church doors. I don’t know who or what is to blame for it. Perhaps it’s the limited attention span of the modern churchgoer. Perhaps it’s the hypersensitivity to keeping our schedules (after all kick-off is at noon). Perhaps the expected is more comfortable than the unexpected.

Sure, leadership can select the main songs for worship early in the week, and the pastor can work on his message well before Sunday morning dawns. However, we should be willing to drop those preconceived plans at the flutter of a dove’s wings. When the Lord desires to lead, we should get out of the way and let Him lead. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever heard in Church were when the minister cast his notes aside, went off-script, and let the Lord speak.

A worship service shouldn’t ever be seen as a get in-get out transaction. There should be a hunger in God’s people each time they gather to see the work and power of God move throughout the congregation. A structure needs to be in place at the very least for the purposes of coordinating large groups of people and organizing the flow of a service. But, instead of throwing a fastball every Sunday, I think it’s okay to throw a curve or changeup—start with the sermon and end with a time of worship, eliminate the sermon and break the congregation up into small prayer groups, have an extended time of worship and praise that’s not capped.

It’s okay to sacrifice a strict structure on the altar to allow the Spirit to move – just let Him move.

Z. Montgomery