Posted: 11/19/04
Worship is an end in itself, not just a means
to an end, Hardin-Simmons professor insists
By Ken Camp
Managing Editor
SAN ANTONIO–True worship focuses on God, not on self-fulfillment or evangelistic outreach, a Texas Baptist music professor insists.
Clell Wright, professor at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, led a workshop on “Rethinking Blended Worship” during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in San Antonio.
“In our consumer-driven society, we have made church and we have made worship about us–about what fits our needs,” Wright said.
“When it comes to worship, it's not about us. It's not about our desire for self-fulfillment and what appeals to us. It's not about what effectively reaches a particular group of people. …
“We have made worship a means to an end. We have forgotten that worship is an end in itself.
“It serves no other purpose than to extol God–to praise him as Creator and Father, to glorify him as Savior and Redeemer, and to experience him as Counselor and Comforter.”
Teaching by example, Wright invited workshop participants to experience a worship model based on diversity, rather than a lowest-common-denominator blending.
Using the analogy of baking, he noted blended ingredients lose their identity when someone bakes a cake.
In contrast, he called for a worship model in which each element maintains its distinctive identity.
Wright advocated an approach drawing from a variety of traditions, cultures and societies from around the world.
When it comes to musical instruments, he urged worship leaders to be stylistically true to the music–using organ for traditional hymns, guitar for praise choruses and bongos for worship music from the Caribbean or Africa.
“Worship is a reflection of who we are, and we are creatures of culture,” he acknowledged.
At the same time, he encouraged churches to incorporate a wide range of worship practices from different cultures–“not out of ulterior motives” but out of awareness that Christians benefit as they learn from other members of the family of faith.
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