I am currently working my way through Exploring Ecclesiology by Harper and Metzger. My mind has been challenged over the past months on the subject of the Church. This book is helping in my thought processes.

One quote stands out from my current reading: “The church that is obsessed with constantly reinventing itself through ever-newer symbols is in danger of forgetting who it is and why it exists.”

Then, I ran across this book review on Moltmann’s newest book. The title of the post was great in and of itself: “Keep theology weird.”

Christianity is unique. Our worship is unique. Our God is unique. Yet, we just try and try to keep being liked by the rest of the world in ways that only make us the same. We offer nothing different. We’re competing with the bar down the street. And God ends up NOT being worshiped. (That really should count for SOMETHING as the Church, I would think.)

This past weekend I went to a fantastic Christian concert. It was in a venue that is very popular for Christian concerts and it was my first visit there. It was a lot of fun. The band was amazing. That, in and of itself, was great.

Then, I got a look into how “cutting edge” churches try to worship. There were a few songs where the band tried to get people to really worship. It was a good effort. Yet, the atmosphere was challenging. We were in a “club” setting. I thought, “There is a church that meets here on Sundays. This has to be a challenge for them as well.”

I think of those “cutting edge” churches having coffee sitting around tables or in couches. And we “worship.”

It seems we are more into looking at the stage and watching those on stage worship. We can raise our hands. Well, one hand. I need to hold to my coffee, you know. We can engage in speaking out praise to God, but I am more conscious of the person next to me still sipping his latte.

We just want to be like everyone else. And it may seem cool, but it is a challenge to truly worshiping God in a “worship service.”

I am not for pews or exactly everything being the same. That is not my point. What I am trying to say is when it is time to worship God, and it is the setting of a church coming together to worship, there are things that need to be set aside and our attention is turned. We face the Holy. We forget a bit of who we are in this world and get our eyes UP. That may call us to bow down. It may call us to raise our hands. It does call us to set aside some norms and take up the pursuit of a Holy God that is totally unique to everything else in my experience.

We keep trying to do new things. We search for “cutting edge.” We look to model some successful business model in our world.

This may just leave God on the outside looking in when he was supposed to be front and center the entire time.