People get really passionate about things that mean something to them. Watch Detroit Red Wings fans jump up, scream, cheer, and high five each other when the Wings skate onto the ice or when a goal is scored. Shouldn’t those who worship God have an equally intense response to who He is and what He has done?
Jesus commanded us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words, we are to involve the whole of our being – mind, will, emotions, and physical strength – in the worship of our great God.
Nevertheless, many churches today neglect aspects of genuine worship as described above. There are for example,
•Churches, which emphasize exuberant singing to the exclusion of the preaching of the Word; the danger here is that this promotes a shallow, emotions-based Christianity.
•Churches, which have solid preaching and teaching, but lack passion and emotion in singing; the danger here is that this promotes a spiritual pride as people get puffed up with “head knowledge”, but never experience what it means to whole-heartedly, humbly and unashamedly worship God with fellow Christians.
•Churches, which have meaningful and tradition-rich liturgy, but fail to engage the mind in understanding what the Bible teaches. The danger here is that this promotes the idea that God is pleased with emotionless, mechanistic routines so long as they are “religious” in nature.
The Word of God describes worship that seems richer, more balanced and complete.
When we worship at Harvest, we seek to engage God passionately and adore Him. We lift high the name of Jesus because, “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11 NIV).
And while we believe that worship should be expressive, energetic and passionate, we also believe that we should never express ourselves in ways that distract others from worship or take attention away from Jesus - the focal point and reason for our worship.
New comers should know this about us: Those accustomed to a very expressive church need to limit exuberant dancing or arm waving to their private personal times with the Lord to avoid drawing someone’s attention away from Jesus toward themselves.
Others, who may come from more staid conservative backgrounds, should understand that expressing emotion, raising hands (Neh 8:6; Ps 28:2; Ps 63:4; Ps 134:2; Ps 141:2; Ps 143:6; Lam 2:19; 1 Tim 2:8), clapping (Ps 47:1; Ps 98:8; Isa 55:12), and extended times of worshipping in song are normal parts of worship at Harvest. Each person is invited to “enter in” to worship, inviting God to draw him or her to Himself (Heb 10:22).
Each church has its own “personality.” With regards to our personality in the area of worship, we desire to communicate that Harvest strives to find a God-honoring balance in worship, allowing people to worship with heart, mind, soul and strength, but not in ways that are distracting, unbiblical, or in any way, take glory from Jesus Christ.
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