They burst through the door and said, “We have gun shots in the building!” Moments later I found myself running through the second story of our church’s children’s department hearing gun shots in the main hallway directly below me. It was a surreal moment charged with adrenalin as I fumbled to dial my oldest son’s cell phone number. He was in the main lobby of our church when the gunman walked through the doors at the other end and began to fire. Driven by some primal, parental instinct, I had to know where he was; if he was safe. Weaving my way toward the back staircase trying to get out of the building, I remember saying out loud, “O God, where are you?” I finally contacted Zachary. He was outside hiding behind a dumpster with some friends. Like David in Psalm 13, this was my moment of darkness and doubt.

 

Three days later we gathered as a church family to mourn the loss of two beautiful girls, Rachel and Stephanie Works, and to find our way through the shock and the grief of a bitter tragedy. It was an evening full of emotional pain that gave way to unmovable faith. I have never been in a worship service like it. Our church was no stranger to trauma, just 13 months removed from a scandalous dismissal of our senior pastor, but this experience revealed something greater. Our church embraced a holy defiance that came from a deep conviction within our hearts. Worship was not just our response; we were learning that it was at the very core of who we were and what we believed. God was being revealed to us in our moment of crisis and pain.

 

In an age of consumer driven, programmed and packaged worship services, we all have to stop and ask ourselves, “What are we doing here?” As our nation grapples with a global economic crisis and a tidal wave of cultural challenges ahead, the need for churches who understand what worship is has never been more important.

 

Worship is not magical pixie dust we sprinkle over ourselves to escape the world and its harsh realities. Worship is not a drug to be consumed for the buzz or an opiate to soothe our sadness. Worship is and always has been a revelation that consumes us! That revelation can come at the strangest moments. Consider Isaiah 6 where during the national tragedy of a king’s death God reveals himself and his plan to Isaiah the prophet. Look at Psalm 73 where we find the psalmist wrestling with his own anger over hardship, who suddenly understands eternity at the moment of entering the sanctuary. Or witness the overwhelming revelation of the Lamb of God to the Apostle John as a prisoner on the island of Patmos in Revelation 4 and 5. God is revealed in worship, especially, it seems, during moments of weakness, tragedy or disappointment.

 

In Acts 16:22-34 we find Paul and Silas chained in stocks after having been beaten, bloodied and bruised, singing hymns and praying. Were they convinced God was going to break them out of jail? Is that why they were singing? I don’t think so. They were singing because they had found a deep, rich, abiding confidence that God was still on the throne. His presence was with them in that jail cell for they had decided to put their trust in him long before their boldness landed them there.

 

The true essence of worship is found in the crisis, in the trying of our faith, for it is only there that we decide whether or not we will trust him! We make him “Lord” in that instant. We decide right there in that moment if we are indeed worshipers.

 

The result of this jail house singing and praying was the salvation of the jailor and his entire family. Paul and Silas had no idea that this was how God would reveal himself but worship certainly led them to this miracle.

 

We must treat worship as more than just a church growth strategy. It is not enough to appeal to our many felt needs. Worship is the affirmation that God is big enough and strong enough to walk with us through a crisis and make something beautiful out of it!

 

Our church knows this better than we used to. We have a new-found perspective on what worship is and is not. It is richer and fuller than what we’ve known before. It comes from confidence gained in the darkness of our doubt as we worshipped our way through it. What we found was God’s profound strength and his redeeming purpose for us as an overcoming community, shining the light of God’s presence for the entire world to see.

 

 

 

“Counting On God” is the brand new Integrity Music release from Ross Parsley and the New Life Worship team with songs of hope and courage for those who are in desperate need. Download it on iTunes.

 

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