Brandon Ives

Soren Kierkegaard said that we tend to think of church as a kind of theater: we sit in the audience, attentively watching the actor onstage, who draws every eye to himself. If sufficiently entertained, we show our gratitude with applause and cheers. Church, though, should be the opposite of the theater. In church God is the audience for our worship.

C.S. Lewis once said that he disliked very much the hymns, which he considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. Yet, what changed his mind about those old boring hymns was the devotion in which they were sung. He saw the old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, singing away, and realized that he wasn’t fit to clean that mans boots.

We fall in to the trap about thinking worship is to center around us. Our likes and dislikes, our desires and our concerns. Yet as Kierkegaard put it, in church God is the audience. As we move toward Easter, let us remember who our worship is for and let us sing with devotion to the Savior of this World.

Blessings,

Brandon

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