{"id":9323,"date":"2012-08-21T17:34:26","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T17:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=9323"},"modified":"2019-07-31T07:43:19","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T07:43:19","slug":"is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/","title":{"rendered":"Is modern worship sort of like a cocaine rush?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We found this article over on the Beliefs of the Heart blog<\/a>\u00a0and it provoked quite a big reaction on our Facebook page<\/a> so we thought we’d share it more widely with you here. What do you think about the issues raised in the article?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I once met with a man\u2014let\u2019s call him Adam\u2014who described himself as a, \u201crecovering charismatic.\u201d His mother fanatically\u2014maybe frenetically\u2014flitted from one worship experience to another; she visited Toronto, Florida, Bethel Church in California, and anywhere she heard \u201csomething\u201d was happening.<\/p>\n

When she wasn\u2019t traveling to Christian conferences, worship music blared throughout the house, or her iPod (filled with worship songs) was glued to her ears. She needed the euphoric \u201coomph\u201d of worship music to provide motivation for the tiniest of tasks.<\/p>\n

However, she remained anxious, self-concerned, and perhaps narcissistic. She\u2019d say, \u201cI just want to go where God is working,\u201d but it seemed she really wanted escape, a place where her problems could be anesthetized.<\/p>\n

Adam added, \u201cA friend of mine became a crack addict. Frankly I didn\u2019t see much difference between him and my mom. They got their highs in different ways, and their lives remained a mess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder,\u201d he said, \u201cif modern worship is just a cocaine rush.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sympathetic.<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s comment about his mother got me thinking. I was a worship leader for years. I admit I often tried to stir up experiences. I loved to hear someone say, \u201cWow, that worship was great; I really felt the Lord\u2019s presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since talking with Adam, I began to wonder about worship euphoria. Then I read this in Mere Christianity,<\/p>\n

It is simply no good trying to keep any thrill: that is the very worst thing you can do.\u2026 If you decide to make thrills your regular diet and try to prolong them artificially, they will all get weaker and weaker, and fewer and fewer, and you will be a bored, disillusioned old man for the rest of your life (C. S. Lewis).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s ironic; when our worship goal is emotional euphoria, we get less personal experience. The more we try for worship thrills, the less we get. So what are we to do?<\/p>\n

What is wrong with the world?<\/p>\n

The problem with the world is self-centeredness; from Hitler-like dictators grabbing for power to three year-old boys making a mountain of matchbox cars (to keep them from his visiting friend). We are all thinking of ourselves. Too much.<\/p>\n

It is the cause of all wars, divorce, betrayal, theft, and every miserable part of human history.<\/p>\n

Worship rush-seeking is simply another instance of this intense concentration on the self. We fail to recognize its self-centered nature because it\u2019s disguised as \u201cworship.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to stop it. Someone once told me to be less self-conscious. It made me more self-conscious. I became self-conscious about being self-conscious. Alas.<\/p>\n

Our intense concentration on ourselves is our biggest problem, but we can\u2019t stop it by ourselves.<\/p>\n

What are we to do?<\/p>\n

Real Christian worship is the solution for self-centeredness. It is fixing our mind on the Ultimate Other. It is a heart-gaze on God. It is contemplating the majesty and glory and goodness of God. It is consciously staring at the attributes of God, his unimaginable love, his unstoppable power, his ultimate justice, his attention to the sparrow\u2019s needs, and his care for every human being.<\/p>\n

Worship is attributing ultimate value to the Ultimate Being who is ultimately beyond us; and yet who is beside us as we sit in our desk chair and in us as we wash the dishes.<\/p>\n

Real worship involves an intense focus\u2014a furious thinking or meditation\u2014on the beauty of God. It is looking, gazing, meditating, and reflecting on the majesty of God.<\/p>\n

And worship changes us<\/p>\n

In The Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee is facing horrible evil, his hope is nearly spent, and he is about to give up. One evening he sees a star.<\/p>\n

The beauty [of the star] smote his heart \u2026 and hope returned to him. For like a shaft clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end, the shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. His song in the tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he had been thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master\u2019s, ceased to trouble him, and he fell into a deep untroubled sleep.<\/p>\n

When Sam Gamgee gazes on a star and perceives it\u2019s meaning of \u201clight and high beauty forever,\u201d his own fate\u2014and even his masters\u2019s\u2014cease to trouble him. He is changed.<\/p>\n

Likewise, when we let our heart gaze on the Ultimate Star, when we let its beauty and light penetrate our soul, then we\u2019ll be changed forever. Anxiety, grasping for euphoria, selfish ambition, and even self-consciousness will cease. We\u2019ll worship and adore the Creator not the creation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m in favor of experiencing God. I hope I do more. I hope you do too. But the experience is a result of worship (at least sometimes) not the purpose.<\/p>\n

Lewis said, \u201cAim at Heaven and you will get earth \u2018thrown in\u2019: aim at earth and you will get neither.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We found this article over on the Beliefs of the Heart blog\u00a0and it provoked quite a big reaction on our Facebook page so we thought we’d share it more widely with you here. What do you think about the issues raised in the article? I once met with a man\u2014let\u2019s call him Adam\u2014who described himself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5303,"featured_media":22070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs modern worship sort of like a cocaine rush?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Worship rush-seeking is an instance of intense concentration on the self. We fail to recognize its self-centered nature because it\u2019s disguised as \u201cworship.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is modern worship sort of like a cocaine rush?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Worship rush-seeking is an instance of intense concentration on the self. We fail to recognize its self-centered nature because it\u2019s disguised as \u201cworship.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-21T17:34:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-31T07:43:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/31074305\/modern-worship.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"747\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Blogger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Blogger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/\",\"name\":\"Is modern worship sort of like a cocaine rush?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-21T17:34:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-31T07:43:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557\"},\"description\":\"Worship rush-seeking is an instance of intense concentration on the self. We fail to recognize its self-centered nature because it\u2019s disguised as \u201cworship.\u201d\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557\",\"name\":\"Guest Blogger\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is modern worship sort of like a cocaine rush?","description":"Worship rush-seeking is an instance of intense concentration on the self. We fail to recognize its self-centered nature because it\u2019s disguised as \u201cworship.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is modern worship sort of like a cocaine rush?","og_description":"Worship rush-seeking is an instance of intense concentration on the self. We fail to recognize its self-centered nature because it\u2019s disguised as \u201cworship.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/","og_site_name":"Musicademy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy","article_published_time":"2012-08-21T17:34:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-31T07:43:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":747,"url":"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/31074305\/modern-worship.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Blogger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@musicademy","twitter_site":"@musicademy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Blogger","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/","name":"Is modern worship sort of like a cocaine rush?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-21T17:34:26+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-31T07:43:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557"},"description":"Worship rush-seeking is an instance of intense concentration on the self. We fail to recognize its self-centered nature because it\u2019s disguised as \u201cworship.\u201d","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/is-modern-worship-sort-of-like-a-cocaine-rush\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/","name":"Musicademy","description":"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e11130a6d8cefd1340009119102a557","name":"Guest Blogger","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.musicademy.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22071,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9323\/revisions\/22071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}