Xtreme Worship

I like simple worship.  I like sitting around in a group and singing random choruses.  I love singing with the Watchi Christians as they seamlessly segue from one praise song to another, often times repeating songs in the same service.  I enjoy the spontaneity and the participation of everyone.

Oh, I’ve seen the worship productions.  Elaborately planned services complete with orchestras or praise bands.  A lot like a concert.  Entertainment.  Surely biblical worship was much simpler, much more participatory, and much less expensive.  (Shouldn’t all that money be used for missions?)

Or was it?  A couple of days ago I came across a passage that suggests that worship was not always so simple, that it was sometimes more extreme; that, sometimes, God’s people went to a lot of time, trouble, and expense to worship.  And, you know what?

God liked it.

It’s when Solomon was bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the temple – found in 2 Chronicles 5.  All the Levites who were musicians – and it ran in families – were dressed in linen robes and playing their instruments.  Then 120 musician-priests were added.  Can you imagine the expense and the organizational hassle they must of gone to?

And they sang:  “He is so good!  His faithful love endures forever!”

What a simple message!  They went to all that time, trouble, and expense, just to offer a simple chorus of praise God and proclaim Him to the people.  I think that everyone would have gotten the message.

But what follows is even more impressive.

God showed up.

A cloud filled the temple.  Everyone’s minds raced back across the centuries to when a cloud had rested over the tabernacle, assuring the people that God was still with them and was leading them.  This cloud in the temple, however, was so all-consuming that the priests could not even continue their work “because the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of God” (2 Chronicles 5:12, NLT).

Now, I’m not arguing for (or against) any particular worship style, just examining myself to ask how often I go to so much trouble to worship?  Is my love of simplicity really an excuse for laziness?  And would God show up a little more often if I put more time and effort into my worship of Him?