Consumer or Worshipper

Read Psalm 145.

"I just have to go where I'm being fed, right?"

This was from a conversation that happened soon after I arrived in Terre Haute. Someone recognized me at Starbucks as "the new pastor in town," and this person felt the need to tell me why they no longer attended the church I serve. (This wasn't the first time I'd heard that explanation in my ministry.) I don't know when they had left, or why they approached me, but it left me thinking about the purpose of church and worship and the impact American consumer culture has had on both.

I've actually been thinking a lot more about that since my experience with "tourist Christians" in Israel. I've come to believe that the same mindset that produces "tourist Christians" at holy sites also produces "shopper Christians" back home. We've come to treat the church as a commodity, as an item we buy at a store and when this "brand" no longer suits us, or when something else more shiny comes along, we change brands and buy a new product. It works for butter, cheese and cereal; why won't it also work for church?

It's because church is not a brand (though we do have "brands" like Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and so many others), nor is it a commodity. Church is a worshipping community. Its primary purpose is not to make me feel good, or to "feed" me, or even to cater to my needs. The primary purpose of the Church is to worship God. The word "worship" comes from an old English word meaning "worth-ship." It means "to give worth to, to ascribe meaning to." Further back than that, the word had to do with weight—implying that whatever we worship has "weight" in our lives. It matters. So to even speak of "getting my needs met" in worship is ludicrous. Do I honestly believe the whole church gathers to give ME value? No, the church gathers to affirm GOD's value, GOD's worth, not mine.

I invite anyone to show me in the Bible where it says the church is required to meet MY needs or "feed" ME. It's not there. The Biblical focus is always on the community. WE not ME, and above WE is the ONE we gather to honor. When we find our needs "met" or when we are fed spiritually, that's a bonus. The church's primary role is to worship God with word, song, deeds and our very lives.

The question that comes to us today is whether we are worshippers of God or worshippers of self. American Christianity and culture pushes us toward being worshippers of self. (Witness the divisiveness in our country today that centers on what "I" want.) We "shop" for a church that "meets our needs" and when it no longer does, we move on to another place. Certainly, we should find a church that matches our spiritual priorities and where our gifts can be used, but once we have found a community, it is no longer about us. We are called then to serve and worship God, not our own needs.

And that, then, will change everything. Such a mindset might even change us.