Content is king

It occurred to me a few weeks ago, while sitting through a worship service with my 3 children, that God uses diverse means to teach us. My mind was wandering, jumping through all the responsibilities and concerns in my life, when it settled on what I do for a living: web design. I returned my attention to the worship in progress, but the two overlapping thoughts - worship and web design - conspired to teach me an interesting lesson that I’d like to share here.

“Content is king” is a cardinal rule for any web designer worth his salary. It’s a simple way of portraying the importance of keeping the bare information that site visitors need in the forefront of a design plan. It’s the opposite of trying to make something pretty and shove the content (text, photos, etc.) in later where there’s room. Sadly, many designers are so enamored by their own creativity, CSS abilities, or scripting skills that they miss the whole point of the site: content.

As my mind flashed on that phrase “content is king” during worship, I suddenly knew the best way to verbalize what I love about our church’s worship service and more importantly, what I think constitutes proper worship. I’m not developing a biblically supported platform here, though I believe such a study would lend credibility to my statements. I’m simply sharing some of the knowledge of human behavior patterns that I’ve learned in my profession.

The relation is this:

• If the decoration distracts from the information, the whole exercise is pointless.
• Conversely, if the distracting decoration is considered necessary, the information is probably worthless.

On this blog I’m not willing to debate how these statements relate to web design, though that would be a great discussion. I do want to make some pointed references about how they relate to the worship of the most holy God. My church is not perfect, but I think great care has already been taken to ensure its worship follows these guidelines, so I will try to use it as a positive example.

If the decoration distracts from the information, the whole exercise is pointless.

We have no music or worship leader. The pastor announces the hymn, and the piano accompanies (with no ornamentation or improvisation) the congregation in singing all verses. There are no additional instruments, not even an organ. The hymns are intended to relate to that portion of the service, whether it’s adoration of the Father, confession of sins, or praise for divine providence. They are sung reverently, with the continual recognition that they are poetic representations of either Scripture or the heart’s need.

One of our elders mentioned from the pulpit that he was visiting another good church but realized during the worship that something was missing: prayer. Given the number of churches I’ve attended in my lifetime, I understood that he is just spoiled. There is as much time dedicated to prayer in our services as there is to singing. I must interject here that I am completely against the Pharisaical and flowery prayers of those that stand on a metaphorical street corner to be seen of men. I’ve heard the mistake made that long public prayer equals hypocrisy. Not always so. Our prayers are divided into specific purposes. We confess our sin and need of Christ in one, bring petitions before the throne in another, and simply exalt the Father for being Who He is in a third. In most services, the congregation also recites the so-called Lord’s Prayer together - as a prayer. There is no better way to approach the King than as a body, using the exact words He gave.

Shortly before the hymn of praise, we read a Psalm of worship antiphonally. Later in the service we also recite the Apostle’s Creed, a weekly reminder of what our Faith consists of. Finally, the pastor teaches. The Word is handled reverently, both in exegesis and in manner. Again, the content takes the stage and there is no effort made by the pastor to perform theatrics or to imitate a well-known preacher. There is no shouting, no music playing softly in the background at the end, no final invitation to respond. The Spirit is given free reign to work as He will.

Conversely, if the distracting decoration is considered necessary, the information is probably worthless.

This is certainly true in the world of web sites, but it may be even more true in corporate worship services. I would have to guess that 95% or more of the churches I’ve attended or visited perform “worship” services that are so steeped in their own variations of tradition that true worship could only happen by accident. The decoration is mistaken for the content. Each church is different, but let me list some stereotypical distractions that are actually valued elements of “worship” in many churches.

• The pianist who’s really good and really knows it.
• The music leader who likes to control everything, so each song ends up with far more fermata than originally planned by the composer.
• The preacher who either yells, paces, gestures wildly, tells jokes, asks for a show of hands, speaks with a contrived accent, or any number of other quirks.
• The organist or trombonist who just plays too loud.
• The spectacularly done choir slash orchestra number.
• The soloist three rows back.
• The special music.
• The long-prayer guy who really says nothing of importance.
• The bashing of other denominations, individuals, or blanket standards choices from the pulpit.
• The skipping of verses in a hymn or even a Scripture text.
• The simple lack of thought about what is being accomplished (besides the sermon, I mean). This is many times considered a good thing, the antidote to overly organized, formal services.

To many, the application of the “live your Christian life better” sermon (roman numeral III) is the only thing they leave with - and is frankly all they hope to leave with. To others, the emotional thrill of hearing a big church’s congregation, choir, orchestra, piano and organ all together on the chorus of How Great Thou Art is all that matters. And those groups are probably better off than the people who just sit through it all trying to look as interested as possible to prove their ranking in the spirituality contest.

There is a real God who desires real, undiluted worship from His people. Decoration should only enhance the content, not overshadow it. As in web design, that sometimes involves stripping all the excess away to see what you’re left with.

Note about comments: I’ve decided to keep the comments open for a limited time per post to cut down on arguing.

This entry was posted on December 29th, 2007 and is filed under Worship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.