Biblical Modes of Worship (Part 1)
The Role of Worship Leader
The role of worship leader has evolved over the span of two thousand years and longer if you consider the Jewish roots of Christian worship. What began as a chanter and became a choir leader would morph into organist and then song leader. Finally the evolution has arrived at what many American churches have today, a worship leader. No matter what the model has looked like in time, there has always been a singular goal: to facilitate the sung prayer of God's people.
No matter what the model has looked like in time, there has always been a singular goal: to facilitate the sung prayer of God's people.
The current model of worship leader has its own evolution with roots in the Jesus People movement of 1960s California. Initially, a man or woman with a guitar and visible passion sufficed as worship leader. And while today a guitar and some passion doesn't hurt, what we call worship leader looks a little more like a front person for a rock show set in an arena. This front person is responsible for more than just musical elements including production - sound, lights, video, and working with the preaching and teaching team to make sure it all fits together. That's a lot of hats to wear for one person ,and a lot of pressure can arise due to the nature of this role.
In light of this multi-faceted role, worship leaders today need a true north or guide that presents them with a reasonable vision of their office in the Church and how they can serve well. Moreover, given the position's evolution, it is in need of a clear vision that can be rooted in a tradition transcending time and fashions. This vision has to be more than which worship band has the most streams or who can lay down the best groove -though, I do love a good groove. Can worship leaders look to the Bible for guidance? And if so, how does the Bible speak into our current model?
In its own complex way, the Bible presents several facets of worship. As we behold the breadth of Scripture and the story of God and his people, we can witness five modes of worship that facilitate the meeting of God and his people. Join us for the next few posts to unpack these following five modes of biblical worship.*
Tabernacle / Temple Worship
Davidic Worship
Synagogue Worship
New Testament Hymns
Heavenly Worship in the book of Revelation
Worship leaders today can embrace characteristics of worship from these biblical modes and prayerfully implement them with their leadership teams and know they're not just relying on what seems current and catchy.
*I owe these categories to the brief study presented by Robert E. Webber in Enter His Courts with Praise: A Study of the Role of Music and the Arts in Worship (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995).
Tabernacle and Temple Worship
Though the worship of God in the Tabernacle and Temple doesn't make its appearance until after the Israelites are miraculously delivered from bondage in Egypt and God delivers the Law to Moses, it nevertheless stands as a central mode of worship in the Old Testament. Here God would meet with his people by the mediation of a priest as ritual sacrifices were offered as acts of worship and to make atonement for the people's sins. We no longer offer sacrifices as Christ offered himself once for all (Heb 9:12), but there are distinctive aspects of this worship that can inform our own worship of God today and support worship leader's vision of a biblical model of worship.
Architecture and Beauty
When we read through God's instructions to Moses on the construction of the Tabernacle, we immediately notice architecture and beauty in worship are important to God. Moses was told by God that two men in particular had been filled with the "Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft" (Exod 31:3-4). These men, Bezalel and Oholiab, were to preside over the beautiful construction of the Tabernacle. God wants his people to see and experience beauty as they worship him because God is far more beautiful than anything the human mind or heart can conceive. Perhaps we know something is beautiful because it gestures toward that heavenly beauty which we've not seen but know is present in our midst and which we eagerly await with the return of Christ.
God wants his people to see and experience beauty as they worship him because God is far more beautiful than anything the human mind or heart can conceive.
Awe and Ritual
The beauty and architecture of the physical space in worship is meant to elicit awe in the worshiper. The Tabernacle and especially Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem were edifices meant to elicit awe in the worshiper. And this awe is not for its own sake, but for the sake of reminding us, of imprinting on our being God's holiness, his complete other-ness over and above us.
God is the King, let the earth rejoice, the psalmist says. If he indeed is king, then we should approach him with a sense of awe and wonder. The Tabernacle and Temple worship of the Old Testament could be characterized by worship that was filled with awe, marked by the beauty of holiness. In our state of awe, we can rely on ritual, just as God's people always have, to lead us in worship.
If you just cringed at the word ritual, take a step back and think how often our spontaneous acts of worship are basically the same. That doesn't mean you need more spontaneity in your worship, it just means we need ritual - embrace it. (If you're still having trouble with the idea of ritual, think through how you make coffee each morning.)
When a Hebrew worshiper would bring the first fruits of the harvest, he would follow Moses' instructions recorded in Deuteronomy 26 and make this liturgical proclamation:
‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders.'
Here the worshiper uses ritual language to place himself in the context not only of history but primarily as a participant in God's gracious and miraculous deliverance of the Hebrews from Pharaoh. He remembers God's powerful goodness and worships him in the act of offering the first fruits of the land.
Mystery and Multi-Sensory Engagement
In Tabernacle and temple worship, the worshiper would meet the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting near the altar. The worshiper was not allowed to go into the Holy Place. In fact, only the High Priest could enter the holy of holies only one day a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. There was a sense of mystery around this invisible God who was to be honored and worshiped in very specific ways. Like Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, our God is good but not safe.
Like Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, our God is good but not safe.
Incense was constantly burned in the Tabernacle and Temple worship. This was such an important part of this worship that there was a special recipe that God revealed to his people for use only in worship (Exod 30:37).
The sight of the high priest in his ephod, breastplate, and turban was different, unique. Nothing else looked like this in the life of the Israelite. It set off and made holy these acts of worship.
And the animals being offered were perhaps the ultimate in sensory engagement. The handing over of the sacrificial victim, the drawing and running of blood, the burning of the sacrifice on the altar all contributed to an experience of meeting with God that was wholly engaging to the Israelite worshiper.
Tying it All Together
As worship leaders today, we can embrace these biblical characteristics of Tabernacle and Temple worship, of architecture and beauty, awe and ritual, mystery and multi-sensory engagement. This is part of our inheritance as God's people.
What are some ways you have already integrated some of these facets of worship?
How might you work with your leadership team towards a worship that embraces and employs some of these elements?
