Sullymusic: Worship Among Mennonites

[ohio jones]

Back in 2012, the late Sullymusic composed some thoughts on the subject of Worship and distributed them to those who were interested. In his memory, I am posting it here (in multiple parts, due to length). Minor editing has been done for readability, but the content is his. Of course, not everyone here is in the setting he directed this to, but the rest of us may also find his thoughts worth considering.

WORSHIP AMONG MENNONITES

To start out my discourse, I am using these gleanings from individuals who had an understanding of the true nature of worship. Everything in quotes is the writings of others, except for [bracketed] comments. I was delighted to find there are men out there that can articulate a clear and concise understanding of worship. I have underlined some of the critical points below. Make sure you read them. After you carefully read these, I have my lengthy comments that reflect my agreement with what these men have stated.

As long as we are culturally bound to the unfortunate English word 'worship,' we need to keep our understanding biblical rather than anchored in church traditions. A worshipper must be a humble person who is willing to express gratitude and praise toward God.

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed to one or more deities.

The reverent love and devotion accorded to a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.

Genuine worship is a direct meeting with the Holy, Almighty God and will result in life changes in the worshipper, not just an emotional experience for the moment.

True worship is a choice made by the worshipper, not something that happens. True worship is not measured by emotional responses, but by a change in the life of the worshipper.

Worship is one's heart expression of love, adoration, and praise to God with an attitude and acknowledgment of his supremacy and Lordship.

Worship is an act by a redeemed man, the creature, toward God, his Creator, whereby his will, intellect, and emotions gratefully respond in reverence, honor, and devotion to the revelation of God's person expressed in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit illuminates God's written word to his heart.

Worship is conversation between God and man, a dialogue that should go on constantly in the life of a Christian.

Worship is giving to God and involves a lifetime of giving to him the sacrifice he asks for: our total selves.

The heart of true worship is the unashamed pouring out of our inner self to the Lord Jesus Christ in affectionate devotion.

Worship is the ability to magnify God with our whole being – body, soul, and spirit.

Worship is a vertical interaction. Much happens on a horizontal level [honor and glorifying] when we praise; we speak to one another, and we declare his praise before each other. But worship is more private and is much more preoccupied with the Godhead.

“Real worship defies definition; it can only be experienced.” How true this is, for worship was never intended by God to be the discussion of textbooks but rather the communion with God experienced by his loved ones.

True worship has no selfishness in it. It knows not the act of getting, but of giving.

Many times because of preconceived ideas or traditional opinions, we miss the correct
meaning of some profound Biblical truth. Without proper Scriptural examination and spiritual revelation, incorrect beliefs and opinions continue to persist. This is certainly true concerning the traditional ideas of praise and worship.

In most religious circles of modern Christendom, the act of praising God is minimal, but it is safe to say that the meaning of true Biblical worship is seldom mentioned and that the act of worship is totally neglected. [AMEN]

No doubt the vast majority of today’s modern Christians have never worshiped God. If ever approached on this subject, their retort would be that they go to church on a regular basis, read their Bibles, and sing the hymns of praise in a congregational setting. This may be proper and good, but it is not the depth of true Biblical worship. [AMEN]

One of the natural traits of a truly righteous person should be the giving of praise to God. The Psalmist says, "Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous; For praise is comely for the upright" (Psalm 33:1). This word "comely" in the Hebrew language means "suitable" "beautiful" and "becoming." Offering praise unto God should be a big part of the daily spiritual experience of the righteous. The definition of the word "praise" means "to set a price on" or "to commend the worth of, to express approval or admiration of, to laud the glory of, to extol." To the righteous, praise is our response to God for what He has done. True worship is to engage oneself in the act of reverence and devotion to acknowledge the honor, dignity, greatness of character, and the high rank of Deity. It also involves a genuine expression of intense love and deep admiration for the Person of God Who is being worshiped.

No doubt much of today’s prayers and praise by modern-day Christians is self-centered and subjective in that they are either begging God to do something for them or "buttering Him up" – so to speak – in order to convince Him to do them another favor. On the opposite pole of the subjective approach to God is a purely objective worship toward God in recognition of His Person, regardless of what He does or doesn’t do for us personally. Too many times, we have been taught to use praise and worship as tokens to purchase the benefits of God, only to be disappointed.

[ohio jones]

Again I reiterate this post is for our Mennonite churches that hold to a visible nonconformity and do not use music instruments in our sanctuaries. I am addressing the brotherhood in my realm only because this is the group to which I am accustomed and interact with. To those outside of our circle, you may equally read and analyze this treatise but it is not directed to you. I also want to reiterate this is not an exclusive circle, just the group I want to admonish for failing to realize that tradition has infected us to the point that little or no worship currently exists in our Sunday morning service. 45 years ago I was one of those in a song leadership position to affect the direction of what worship should be and failed to do it because I didn’t know any better.

Several years ago, I realized in Bible reading and study a distinct difference between worship and honor and glorifying, and looking at our Mennonite churches of like practice, I found that they did virtually no worship. I found many of the statements gleaned above concerning this to apply to us. What is the difference? True worship in the scriptures was always vertical – no exceptions. True worship was always to God. Make note of that because I will be enlarging on that frequently in this discourse. You will also notice that in the above gleanings of worship, that this is clearly stated. One thing I want you to understand is that honor and glorifying is intrinsic to worship. It is interwoven in worship. The meaning of honor is to lift up and make known and the meaning of glorify is to magnify and enlarge. That is why it is intrinsic to worship. Worship is not intrinsic to honor and glorifying. Honor and glorifying on the horizontal level has no worship associated with it because it isn’t vertical, it’s not to him but rather about him. It is not inferior to worship but a different aspect. I will be repeating this phrase often because we have a problem using the word worship instead of honor and glorifying because it seems to make us feel like we have done something we really haven’t and in the end, the Godhead comes out on the short end.

Another illustration of trying to differentiate between worship and honor and glorifying is using celebration and commemoration as an example. This may be somewhat abstract but it gives the picture. Commemoration is intrinsic in celebration. Celebration is not intrinsic to commemoration. When we celebrate we are always commemorating. When the World Series or the Super Bowl is won, the home town has a gala celebration usually with a parade through town with streamers and confetti flying. The celebration is a commemoration of winning the event. When we commemorate 9/11 each year, there is no celebration. When we commemorated the infamous Nickel Mines shooting of the Amish girls there was no celebration, just a reflection on that which brought upheaval to a small Amish community. Do you get the picture that commemoration was an integral part of the celebration but celebration had no integral part of the commemoration? The point here is also that commemoration is not inferior to celebration just expressed in a different vein. I use this to illustrate the difference between worship and honor and glorifying. Honor and glorifying is an integral part of worship but worship is not an integral part of honor and glorifying because of the vertical nature of worship (to God) and the horizontal nature of honor and glorifying (about God). Again I repeat, honor and glorifying is not inferior to worship, only a different direction. If you do not believe this explanation regarding the difference between worship and honor and glorifying, then be assured that you will continue your current practice of honor and glorifying while calling it worship, and the Godhead will be left without any vertical interaction which they really seek.

[ohio jones]

Many of your Sunday morning schedules that you posted have striking similarities. We are doing just what the writer above said about our typical service. We come to church, sing a couple songs, have devotions, have Sunday School class, maybe have sharing, maybe not, lift an offering, sing a couple songs, have preaching, another song, a benediction, and dismiss. In the course of that entire 2 to 2½ hours, not a single thing went vertical except possibly the offering. That is the only time in our service where I attend where He gets 2 minutes of our time. We sing a meaningful worship chorus while lifting the offering and then the ushers take it to the front where the deacon offers a worship prayer to the Lord. Outside of the offering there was not a single bit of worship from start to finish and everybody leaves and pats themselves on the back and thinks what a great service that was while God and Christ can only be disappointed, and sadly shaking their heads that there was nothing for them. They sat in the heavenlies and listened to us but could find nothing offered up to them. It was only all about them. Yes, our God and Savior love to be honored and glorified which was done, but how much more they would also have loved to have been addressed corporately yet singularly by those whom they had redeemed.

Consider this: Sunday school has no real biblical basis, but its roots were started in England by a spiritual man who saw the children of the miners, who received no spiritual training because of unsaved parents, going in the wrong direction. He started to hold this Sunday school, which was geared to children, before the church service and then dismissed them before the church service started. This is the origin of our modern day Sunday school. While it has no biblical basis that does not mean it has no place in our Sunday morning exercises. I must confess that I love our men’s class where it is like MD except we see each other in person and have great interaction. Many times we wish we could keep on but time has expired. In all of this God was and is honored and glorified. Everything was about Him or His word and how to apply it to our living, but there was and is not a shred of worship because it was all horizontal. Our song leader gets up at the beginning of Sunday school and says “Let’s open our worship by singing #----.” We are opening no worship. This is Sunday school. There isn’t any but he says that because he doesn’t know any better. I probably said the same thing 40 years ago. After Sunday school, we come to the sanctuary and have announcements and lift the offering, where the only worship of the morning takes place for 2 minutes. Then we sing a couple gospel songs; possibly one or two of them is a hymn, but since no one knows the difference, it just goes over their heads. Then the preacher gets up and greets the congregation and says “We will continue our worship” which to this point has been nothing except for the offering, and he isn’t going to continue worship because there is no worship in preaching, only honor and glorifying. He will proceed to give us his text and then feed us from the Word what the Lord has laid on his heart, and faithfully exegete the Word which will be all about God or his Son Jesus or the writings of the apostles, how we should live, maybe some new truths, everything which honors and glorifies God, but no worship because preaching is not worship. If you’re not convinced yet, go back to the top and start reading all over again what worship is. If you just want to generalize worship and call every avenue in our service “worship” then be assured God and our Savior will get short shrift.

Worship should be the single most important priority in our gathering together on the Lord’s day. If we do nothing else, this should and will be done at some point in the service if the brotherhood has a clear understanding of what constitutes worship. Sunday school, sharing, preaching, and any other programs will be secondary and built around the remainder of the service. We should not forsake the assembling of ourselves so that this hallowed day becomes a day when we corporately gather so that we all together give Him true worship that is vertical. This is not fulfilled in Sunday school, preaching, or sharing. In these we honor and glorify Him.

So how are we to accomplish this worship? The first priority is to have a redeemed heart that is full with an offering of praise that wants to recognize that in Him we live and move and have our being and there is none other. If this premise is missing, then your worship is without merit. Somehow we have failed to understand this can only be done vertically. My question is: Why do you not want to go vertically and address the Godhead and deliver to them a groundswell of adoration and praise? This should be at least twenty minutes, but a half hour is better. If you say we don’t have the time, my question is why do you have time for lesser things and no time for the most important? You either make the service longer or drop some of the traditional dross. If you are one of those traditional time constrained churches you have already revealed a weakness and flaw in your morning service. There is a practical remedy for that, but it would take a change of tradition which may meet with opposition. Drop the two songs and devotions at the beginning and go straight to class. This is Sunday school, not part of the church service. Unfortunately our traditions have molded them together. You can keep the same amount of time for Sunday school but now you have more time for worship. Take that opening time and transfer it to be used for the worship service where it will have much greater benefits and rewards and give our Lord and Savior what He really wants to hear from us and produce a sweet smelling savor. Our Lord and Savior loves to hear us honor and glorifying Him by telling each other about what He is doing for us in our sharing time, and how He is meeting needs and blessing us and others, and how He helped us through difficult times, and He loves to hear His word faithfully exegeted, but it is no substitute for worship.

[ohio jones]

Now read carefully this practical illustration that will describe to a T the difference between worship and honor and glorifying. If you can’t see the difference in this illustration then I pity your spouse and the Lord. Twenty-five years I attended some marriage counseling. I rehearsed to the counselor the good qualities that my wife had. His come back to me was “Do you tell her?” There, brothers and sisters, is exactly where I am coming from. Does your spouse hear you extol her virtues to others and yet never hear you tell her? It is honoring to her to hear you praise her for her qualities to others, but if you never tell her to her face, you have missed the mark. If you are faithful in doing that to her, then why don’t you want to do that on the first day of the week when we come together to meet the Godhead? We have spent our daily lives and Sunday morning services telling everyone what Christ means to us and not once do we take the time to tell Him. That is why I think God and Christ are so disappointed in us because we can share and tell others what they have done for us, but fail Sunday morning to corporately look up and tell them. We like our nonconformity and go through the motions of having church but I have not been in a service where the Godhead has received their due. I have been in a service at a large modern contemporary church where they have what they call worship time, with decibels at an obscene level and drums and instruments blazing away with a four person worship team and some kind of song that was geared toward God. I was wondering why we don’t have the vision to hold a worship service that is done in a way that is befitting to our way of life and practice and to our Lord. I am always left to wonder if God is more pleased with getting that racket with a contemporary hymn than not getting anything from us. At least they called it worship but I couldn’t really tell from all the noise.

Now here is an illustration that comes from the OT, but the principal has never been negated in the NT, just made voluntary instead of law. In the OT, God required the first fruits of their labors at harvest. When we give Him our tithes and offerings in worship on the Lord’s day, this is our first fruits and then we have taken care of our obligation to Him and the rest He trusts to us in faithful stewardship for our well-being and service to Him. He expects us who have surrendered our lives to Him to use the remainder in a manner consistent with our profession, and this is honoring and glorifying to Him. Just as we bring our monetary tithes and offerings to the Lord on the first day of the week and offer them to Him as the first fruits of our labors, there should be for the redeemed a time of vertical first fruits offered to Him when we come together on the first day of the week. Since we understand true worship is giving, that is the only proper response to our Lord and Savior by giving the first fruits of our praise and recognition corporately of His great benefits toward us. When we take care of this vertically in a proper spirit of worship, we now free ourselves to honor and glorify Him the rest of the service, the rest of the day, and the rest of the week until the next Lord’s day, when we do a repeat of this vertical aspect just like we will again with our monetary tithes and offerings. I believe we should go vertical in worship individually each morning when we rise and start the day with upward praise and worship to Him whether by a psalm, hymn, or spontaneous response from our heart, and when we do this we are now free to honor and glorify Him the remainder of the day in whatever we do. We have given vertical worship to Him first and now we may ask for His blessing and help and guidance in faithful living so that our honoring and glorifying will be pleasing to Him on a horizontal level.

[ohio jones]

I would like to further point out some examples from scripture of the difference between worship and honor and glorifying. In Genesis 24 we have a story of Abraham sending his trusted servant Eliezer to find a bride for Issac. When Elezier went on his journey and stopped by a well at evening, he laid a fleece before the Lord. He said “And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac.” Continue reading on and it says he had barely got the words out of his mouth to God when Rebekah showed up and fulfilled his request to God exactly as he had prayed. Now notice in verse 26 that he bowed his head and worshipped the Lord. The word “worshipped” is used here and it is the right word and a true example of worship because he went vertical by addressing the Lord and praising him for his faithfulness to his master Abraham. Now fast forward to verse 33 and continue reading. He was made to sit down with them for the evening meal, but he told them he would not partake until he had told his mission. He then proceeded to tell them how he entreated the Lord to fulfill his master’s wishes and how the Lord responded exactly as he had requested and how he bowed his head and worshipped. Here we have a classic example of honor and glorifying God in a horizontal mode. There is no worship here. Genesis 24 is a great chapter of classic examples of both worship and honor and glorifying because the worship went vertical and the honor and glorifying went horizontal. The honor and glorifying was not inferior by any stretch, only a different direction.

One of the greatest examples of worship in the OT is found in Nehemiah 9. The children of Israel were in a confessing mode and experiencing revival, and starting at the end of verse 5 is as true a picture of genuine worship one can find. Read down through at least to verse 15. They were addressing God and they said “Thou hast” over and over while they extolled the greatness of God. Maybe you would like to count all the “Thous” down to at least verse 15 to reinforce the quality of worship here. There was nothing horizontal here. I hear on occasion a popular radio minister that I have little in common with, but the night David Jeremiah broadcast this message, he had a resounding Amen from me. He was preaching on worship and used Nehemiah 9 as his text and read this portion. He spent his time explaining what true worship was composed of. He closed that evening and made this point: “WORSHIP IS TO GOD, NOT ABOUT GOD” and the evidence is clearly brought to the forefront in this chapter. If we have any desire to know what it is to worship on the first day of the week and are looking for an example when we come together corporately, it is right here. All I see is looking up to Him and extolling His attributes.

In II Samuel 12 we have the account of David and the death of his firstborn to Bathsheba from his illicit liaison, and how he laid prostrate on the ground begging for the life of the child. When he ascertained from the behavior of the servants that the child was dead, he rose and cleaned himself up, and it says in verse 20 that he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. We can find his worship in the Psalms and it is always vertical.

We have too many instances of idol worship among the leaders of the children of Israel, and I don’t want to take the time or space to rehearse them all, but some notable ones are Ahab in II Kings 16 and in verse 31 it says he set up altars and served and worshiped Baal. Worship there denotes more than just talking about him to others. The 400 hundred prophets of Baal exhibited true worship to Baal and in their attempt to prove it to Elijah that they worshipped a living God, they went to extraordinary measures to no avail. None of this is new to you, but it brings out the vertical aspect of worship, which I am trying to expose is different than honor and glorifying because of direction.

In II Chronicles 20:we have the account of the Moabites and the Ammonites (descendents of Lot) planning to pillage the children of Israel during Jehoshaphat’s reign and how God intervened on their behalf by giving them a message of hope through Jahaziel that the victory would be theirs, and in verse 18, Jehoshaphat and the people fell before the Lord and worshipped Him. This is a clear case of vertical praise and thanks to God in faith before it had yet taken place. I would venture to say by the results, which you can read about in the remainder of the chapter, that the horizontal honor and glorifying to friends and neighbors was of great magnitude. There are so many more recordings of false and true worship in the OT that one could write a book on and see how true worship was always upward.

[ohio jones]

I would like to observe a few interesting points in the NT regarding worship, one that is related to us by Jesus Himself on the mountain with the devil. When offered all the kingdoms of the world if He would but worship the devil and make obeisance, Jesus’ reply was “it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve.” Here is a clear concept of worship and honor and glorifying. Jesus is saying God commands both and He was not going to give either aspect to the devil; the worship being vertical and serving being horizontal. The one is not superior to the other, just different aspects. To do the serving part (horizontal) without the worship (vertical) leaves him with a longing just as a wife longs for the “to my face” expression of praise instead of always hearing it told to others.

Another incident in the life of Jesus where He separates the worship aspect from honor and glorifying is in the Lord’s prayer. His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, and it is interesting to me how Jesus used the worship aspect to open the prayer and the honor and glorifying aspect to finish it. He said when you pray, say “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Here is worship plain and simple. He establishes a vertical connection that the creature confesses and recognizes the attributes of the one being addressed, and confessing that God has the authority and power to rule however He sees fit. This is the giving part of worship to God. It establishes the groundwork for the rest of the prayer. Then He switches to the honor and glorifying aspect: “Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation.” We honor and glorify him when we fully believe that we have a God who has the power and ability to meet all our needs, both physically and those that deal spiritually with our fellowmen, and asking for help in overcoming the devices of the evil one. Do you not grasp when we ask Him for His help, He is honored and glorified because this is the proof that we trust His power and ability to keep us when we seek His aid. The worship is when we recognize and give to Him His due, and the honor and glorifying is when we ask to receive. Aren’t you honored when someone comes to you and asks you for help in some form of service? What the individual is saying is he believes you have the qualifications to make his wishes a success. I would like to relate an instance where I was deeply honored, when a man who directed a noted chorale asked me to sing in it. To think he believed I would be an asset, to me was a great honor. God is the same way. He is honored and glorified when we come to Him for help because that is an admission that we believe He has the power and ability to bless us in our endeavors.

Another incident in the life of Christ where I see a difference between worship and honor and glorifying is His meeting with the ten lepers in Luke 17:17. This illustration is strictly on principle and not a literal worship account. The ten men were outcasts because of their leprous condition. Standing a way off, they called to Jesus and asked for healing. Instead of His usual responses, He told them to go see the priest. I have often wandered if they had so great a faith or so great a desire to be united with their families that made them go. I am certain when they saw the priest and were declared clean, they returned home and showed and told everyone (honored and glorified) what had taken place since this was a most unusual circumstance, and I am sure there were many people surprised to see them back in the camp. We are not told the reaction or response of the priest who had put these men outside the camp and now finds them back completely healed. However, we have one man who retraced his steps and approached Jesus and delivered his thanks (worship). Nine went home and honored and glorified Jesus, and one returned and worshiped and then went home and honored and glorified Him. This story is a great example of how we should exercise the principle of worship and honor and glorifying.

In the last half of Matthew 14 we have the incident of the boisterous sea and the disciples having troubles controlling the boat, and then we have Jesus walking on the water toward them. They were in fear until He was close enough for them to realize it was Jesus. You know the rest of the story, but when He stepped into the boat and the wind ceased, they were overwhelmed and the scriptures reveal that His disciples worshiped Him saying “Of a truth thou art the Son of God.” True worship: “Thou art.” Telling God His attributes to His face.

In Matthew 21:9 and Luke 19:37 in the final days of His life on earth, we have one of the crowning instances of worship to our Savior. Crowds laying down their coats, cutting down boughs, waving palm branches, and saying “Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the Highest.” It was a frenzy of worship. Can’t you just hear and feel the emotionally charged atmosphere? Luke records that the Pharisees were irritated and told Jesus to shut them up. His response: “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” True worship was not to be squelched on this day.

My final illustration of true worship is found in Revelation 4:10-11. Here the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sits on the throne, and cast their crowns before Him and say to Him: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” The final and greatest worship is when we fall on our faces before Him and tell Him that sits on the throne who He is and what He is.

What more can I say regarding worship and the difference between it and honor and glorifying? There are so many more but here I have listed some of the outstanding irrefutable illustrations of worship to Him.

[ohio jones]

What do I think a true worship service should look like?

For starters, true worship starts with one thing only: A heart that has been redeemed and recognizes the Creator and Redeemer as being the One who has provided redemption, which fosters a grateful and overflowing heart. True worship can never exist in an unregenerate heart. The next thing is a tongue, and the Creator provided that in the creation of man for those who have a desire to communicate that overflow to the Creator/Redeemer both in vertical worship and horizontal honor and glorifying to those around them. I would have you notice there is no other requisite for worship. I remember being told 50 years ago that musical instruments were an aid to worship. I want to say irrevocably that that is a falsehood. I am not going so far as to say that one cannot worship with them, but to say they are an aid has absolutely no merit. When we fully grasp that God is creator and we are the creature, there is no creature-made instrument that can influence anything in worship to our God. He gave us the sole necessities, tongue and voice, to accomplish this and to insist on adding a man-made instrument to improve on it is to deceive ourselves. I realize this will bring a barrage of refutation, citing the worship of David and his people to God with instruments. I am not denying this, but the instruments were not an aid to that worship, only tolerated. They did not make for a better worship, because true worship to God is not enhanced by man-made instruments. David also in the Psalms urges praising the Lord with singing and stringed instruments. I am personally not opposed to instruments as I own several and play them, but they are for recreation and not for worship. Invite me over for a jam session sometime. My personal worship does not comprehend external trappings, but rather removes as many distractions as possible so I can focus on Him. In Amos 6:5, I do not see God being impressed with the instruments in David’s worship. I cannot find anywhere this being a NT model for worship. I often wished there would be views or illustrations of worship in the NT, but they are few except for Revelation; otherwise there is very little except for some generalizations. In the OT the account of the Levites leading worship in Nehemiah 9 and David’s worship has many details and one can almost picture the scenario. There is no mention of any instruments in the NT. Some use this illustration as a viable reason to refrain from instruments, and the other side views it as a license to use them since there is no commandment against it. For me, the most scriptural position is without instruments because an honest individual will have to admit that they can be a distraction and can be a hindrance in focusing totally on Him. Again I reiterate that true worship does not comprehend instruments, dancing, gyrations, or even four part harmony, but only a redeemed heart expressing itself vertically to God with the voice whether speaking or singing. Lifting holy hands is comprehended in worship and is acceptable to God.

We have always believed singing is one option we have in worship since this is brought out and encouraged in many instances in scripture. Four part singing is the medium which our more conservative churches use in our services, but that is not a requisite for worship and we don’t read of it anywhere in scripture either. The Old Order churches refuse four part singing in the Sunday morning service, but some will use it in other settings such as singing for old folks in homes or Sunday evening sings. Singing can be one of the best avenues for worship to God but is not an exclusive form. Singing has an aspect that is known to lift the heart. It has been known to soften the heart of a sinner. Even in the field of medicine, music is known for its ability to aid in healing. Singing for old folks and shut-ins has therapeutic value for them. Singing is a true gift from God to be used in both worship and honor and glorifying.

[ohio jones]

If we as a church really want to get back on track with worship, we will change our service to include a time for vertical worship. This should be a minimum of twenty minutes, but a half hour is better as I mentioned previously. You can never give the Godhead too much, but He at least deserves a fair share. I can already hear the comment “We don’t have that much time.” No time for worship? On what basis do you say that? Didn’t He pour out enough blessings the past week? In this worship experience we do not need song leaders who stand up front and beat time to the songs they are leading, like our traditional forms that we currently use. We keep the song leaders for after the sermon and any other times outside of the worship experience where we need a song. We do need worship leaders who prepare a worship experience for the people to go to the Godhead in this worship time. It will take the worship leader almost as long to prepare this as preparing for a sermon. This will consist of singing true worship hymns and worship psalms and readings, but it will all be totally geared exclusively vertical. The leader will also be making comments as he moves through this worship time that will be drawing the people into this worship experience. My recommendation would be to use an overhead projector or PowerPoint. We have the ability to scan in worship hymns out of our books and place them on these projectors. My reason for this is I feel we should make this as free of distractions as possible and try to keep the continuity uninterrupted. I would suggest the leader be sitting down and using a mic to lead the worship time. Song leaders up front going from one page to another and changing books can be a distraction. This is not a time for perfection, but an opportunity to pour out our hearts to God in praise and adoration. I would encourage the leader to get the people to focus on what is about to take place and then move from song to song or to a psalm or a worship reading and make this a time when the participants know they are truly meeting with the Godhead and giving Him His due; corporately but individually putting aside all other thoughts and giving Him our undivided attention by singing true worship hymns and incorporating psalms that acknowledge His deity and attributes. A good worship leader will ask individuals a week in advance to prepare a true token of worship to add to this time between songs. Reading a Psalm or a script by an individual in the worship time can add meaningful worship to God. A good worship leader will have this planned out to create a worship experience that will not be quickly forgotten when they leave that morning service. That is something that is basically unknown in our current setting. If this seems radical to you, try it at your church before you trash it.

[ohio jones]

My next part encompasses what are true worship hymns. That is the saddest part today in our services in my opinion. I think I can safely say that most of our people have no comprehension of the difference between a hymn and a gospel song. I am only going to give several true hymns here because I don’t have time to list hundreds of true worship hymns. Again, a hymn is one that looks God in the face and tells Him who He is, what He does, what He has done, and lauds all His attributes. It also uses the words “Thee” and “Thou” frequently, indicating our realization of His divine attributes. Let me list some of the pristine hymns that have been renowned down through generations, and have never lost out in the shuffle of contemporaneous pseudo hymns, because of their great and lofty message. Very few contemporary hymns can even feebly relate to these hymns. The very best include:

• Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
  Holy. Holy. Holy
  Before Jehovah’s Aweful Throne
  Eternal Father, When to Thee
  Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
  Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
  Jesus, Thou Mighty Lord
  Come, Thou Almighty King
  In Thy Holy Place We Bow

These are true hymns that go up to the throne. My question to you is: Does the Godhead deserve any less than these pristine hymns? Remember, these were contemporary hymns once upon a time. My suggestion is for you to take one of our good hymnbooks and go to these hymns and carefully read the texts and let the worship of God sink into your mind and spirit. An interesting side comment is that these pristine hymns did not come from Anabaptist circles, which reveals the depth of the spiritual lives of the individuals who could articulate such lofty, truly meaningful praise to God and Christ outside of our Mennonite church. There are hundreds more hymns that accomplish the same worship and one can find enough that a worship service doesn’t need to duplicate every month. If you don’t know these songs, get the new “Hymns of the Church” that just came out by John David Martin. There is a vast amount of hymns there. John knew what a true hymn was and what the church really needs. I believe if we would really do this we would come to realize this is a spiritual experience that we really know nothing about and it would take our morning worship to new heights. I will add that Sunday morning worship is no time to learn new songs. If you don’t know that many hymns, then use your prayer meeting or set up other occasional meetings to learn new hymns. Our spiritual lives really need it.

In my frustration at the lack of worship at my congregation, I decided to go out and visit other churches and see if anybody out there had a concept of worship. Negativity is not a desirable trait, but to say I was discouraged from my visits is an understatement. I realized we had lost in this generation what it means to worship. I visited at least 12 churches and no one had anything in their service to indicate any kind of worship. They had no hymns because they didn’t know any better. Were they not spiritual people? Sure they were, but worshipping was foreign to them just as it was to our congregation. We have so traditionalized our Sunday morning service that we have become disconnected to true worship to God. All God and Christ could do was sit and listen to their people talk about them. Now that is not all bad and again as I mentioned earlier they honored and glorified Him. However, in my wildest dreams I never imagined sitting in a Sunday morning service that was considered to be worship in churches where outside the sign said “Worship –10 AM” and inside the song leaders were leading these songs:

• I’ll Fly Away
  Often Weary and Worn
  My Latest Sun is Sinking Fast
  Come Every Soul by Sin Oppressed
  Power in the Blood
  Each Day I’ll Do

… and on and on it went. In one service I visited, the song leader asked for selections from the audience, and me (a perfect stranger) had to open my mouth and suggest one because I was dying for a good hymn, the only one that was sung. I saw several prominent top respected song leaders fail to lead a single hymn in those services. My dear brothers and sisters, is it any wonder we go through a whole Sunday morning service and nothing happens in the way of worship, but we walk out thinking it was a great worship service when all we did was sing some gospel songs and talk about Him. I realized the correct answer is that they didn’t know any better. Why don’t we know better? We have failed in this area to teach what should be sung in the Sunday morning service and to educate the current generation in leading worship. Even great songs like

• Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
  I Stand Amazed in the Presence
  Christ Liveth in Me, and
  Wonderful Grace of Jesus

have no place in a worship service. They have a definite place in the life of the church, but not in worship because they are not vertical hymns. We just need to learn where to use these songs. When did we lose it? I never cease to be amazed that in 1927 a group of men from the Mennonite church compiled a hymn book called the Church Hymnal and had one of the best collections of worship hymns until the Mennonite Hymnal came out in the late 60s and was one of the most widely used books in our Mennonite churches. These men had a vision of what a hymnbook should contain for worship. They knew more about worship in 1927 than we do today in 2012. The most unfortunate part is as we drifted away from true worship, we exchanged the hymnbooks for gospel songbooks like Zion’s Praise and the Christian Hymnal. If you have any knowledge of hymnody, you won’t call them a hymnbook. Do they have a place in our churches? Absolutely, just leave them in the bookrack for the morning worship. When you have an inspirational song service or prayer meeting you can use them. Why can we use them then? Because prayer meeting and song services are not worship services.

[ohio jones]

There is currently no greater hymnal that one can currently use than John David Martin’s “Hymns of the Church.” It is better than the Church Hymnal in that he adds a large repertoire of new hymns while maintaining the old. The Eastern Mennonite Church is collaborating with the Washington Franklin Conference to bring out a new hymnal for their churches, and I believe it will also be an excellent book because they also have a concern for the quality of hymns being used. I was accorded an honor by them in being asked what I considered good hymns, and they gave me forms to list the songs I would use. I have been in consultation with them and I think we will definitely see another top hymnal available, but that is still in the future a couple years. I have witnessed several of our churches switching to Protestant hymnals. I have examined these books and while they have some good hymns and acceptable songs they still do not come up to the quality of hymns that our Mennonite compilers have put together. I am disappointed when I see this because these books include songs that espouse that which we in the Anabaptist churches do not embrace. My personal opinion is that this is a step backwards.

Since I took all this time expressing my concern for worship, I would like to add to this also about our choosing songs for other occasions. To me this is an indication of a knowledgeable song leader that knows how to choose songs for the occasion. That is a greater asset to the church than many people realize. One of the other main areas is in revival meetings. Now revival/renewal meetings are not worship and never will be, but are a very important part of our spiritual life where we stop and take inventory of where we are in our relationship with Him and whether we have in any way compromised our first love. I find that many of our song leaders do the same here as on Sunday morning. In the case of not knowing any better they choose songs that have nothing to do with evangelism/revival meetings. Again I have been frustrated to go to revival meetings where we follow the same Sunday morning tradition of 2 songs, devotions, and then the message; or the evangelist might have a little something for the children first. Here are some of the opening songs in evangelistic services that I have attended:

• Day is Dying in the West
  We Bless Thy Name, O Lord
  Now on Land and Sea Descending

... and more of the same. Is it any wonder that we handicap our evangelistic services from the beginning of the service with this kind of opening which tends to carry though the evening? Why would someone do this? The answer is they don’t know any better. We are not teaching our song leaders the importance and value of proper songs for the occasion that add meaning to a specific service. We have literally dozens of the greatest songs to open these services that will set the tone for the evening and take the participant’s mind in the direction for the spirit to work in his heart. I know an evangelist who remarked about a certain song leader who would choose songs that would set up the service like no one else could. Brothers and sisters, it can be done. It just requires that you find somebody that has knowledge of what songs to use for the occasion. A good song leader for evangelistic meetings gets up 10 minutes before starting time even as people are walking in and leads songs with an evangelistic thrust that prepares the heart and turns the mind toward the inward look (don’t bring worship hymns here). After all, that is really the purpose of these meetings. For starters, here are some songs that can set the tone for the evening:

• Spirit of Holiness Descend
  Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride
  Jesus Saves
  Who At My Door is Standing
  The Ninety and Nine
  There is a Gate That Stands Ajar
  Love Lifted Me
  The Haven of Rest
  The Light of the World is Jesus
  Jesus the Crucified Pleads for Me
  Where He Leads I’ll Follow
  No Hope in Jesus
  Is My Name Written There
  Where Will You Spend Eternity
  Almost Persuaded
  Lord, Thou Hast Searched and Seen Me Through
  There’s a Stranger at the Door

… and many more. Try it some time with these songs. Start out with 5 of them in a reverent way and see if you can’t change the atmosphere of your service.