My mom once told me a friend invited her to a church. They told her to get there before 8:00pm because that is when the Holy Spirit came in power. Mom was surprised to find people barking like dogs and roaring like lions in church. This scandalized her Baptist understanding of worship. She did not return.
What was worship like in first century Corinth? Was it traditional or contemporary? Organ or drum set? I have been reading books about ancient worship this year, wondering what we can learn from the earliest Christians. We know that they sang, partook of the Lord’s Supper, and taught the Bible. Simple worship exuded power.
Judging by Paul’s letters, the worship in Corinth was a bit out of control. The wealthy brought their own meals for communion and humiliated the poor who had nothing. The members ignored sin, took each other before pagan judges in lawsuits, and spoke in ecstatic utterances nobody could understand.
Paul urged them to use their gifts to build up the body of Christ. Love became the standard for life, worship, and ministry (1 Cor 13:4-7). His picture of the Spirit’s power still amazes me. When Christians tell the amazing story of Jesus by our lives and in our songs, there is a chance that a non-believer will catch us in adoration of God. Paul believed that the Holy Spirit would use corporate worship to convict non-believers of their sin so that they would fall down in worship, recognizing God was among them.
Disunity disrupts our ability to clearly communicate God’s love. When we release our demands about what we want, we enter into a unity in which God will be seen and worshiped by others. Remember the line in Fred Green’s hymn, “When in our music God is glorified, and adoration leaves no room for pride, it is as though the whole creation cried, “Alleluia.” Amen! May it be so in our worship each week.
