Trayvon, Tebow, and True Worship

Two months ago, only a few knew the name Trayvon Martin. Now he is part of the national conversation. My referencing Trayvon is not about the justice, injustice, or politics of the case. Someone died at the hands of another, and that is tragic for those involved no matter what the circumstances. My point is about worship.

A month after the shooting, many churches focused on the incident in their worship services. For some it was in protest, for others to raise awareness, or to cry for justice. According to the Miami Herald: “In religious centers from Florida to Atlanta, New York and Chicago, messages from pulpits addressed a seemingly avoidable killing that continues to be rife with more questions than answers. Many preachers and their congregations wore hooded sweatshirts in Trayvon’s memory.”

There are two reasons why I didn’t consider doing something like that at King Street’s worship services.
1. It was too soon. The facts were not clear and still are not. They may never be. There was enough unknown and ambiguity to keep me from taking a stand, other than, it is a tragic situation.
2. It puts the focus in the wrong place. I am a zealous guardian of the direction of corporate worship. I don’t want it aimed at a cause or our country or our church or a person or a problem.

Arguably the most definitive statement on worship in the Bible was spoken by Jesus himself in John 4:24, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
• Worshiping in spirit is not to be caught up in externals, human things. Genuine worship isn’t a matter of being in the right place, doing the right things. Because God is Spirit, he cannot be confined to a building, an image, a tradition, a style, a culture, or anything physical.
• Genuine worship involves truth. It must be in harmony with what God says is true. It must be based on who God has revealed himself to be, not as we think he ought to be. Scripture must then be our guide, our spell-checker, our rule-book, a centering point.

As much as I admire Tim Tebow, I was a little concerned about his Easter Sunday appearance at a Texas mega-church. Instead of their typical Easter crowd of 10,000, Celebration Church welcomed many more. As NFL.com put it, “New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow drew a crowd of about 15,000 to an outdoor Easter church service.” That was how most new agencies reported it. Tebow was responsible for the gathering, “a big lure for people who would otherwise not have come.” Introducing Tebow, the pastor said, “In Christianity, it’s the Pope and Tebow right now. We didn’t have enough room to handle the Pope.” That’s witty. But is it possible that the event could have been a distraction from true worship?

I would like to meet Tebow. It would be cool to have an event that gathered 15,000 people to hear about Jesus. But the commotion and diversion would threaten to overwhelm worship. Here is the test. Before, during, and after, who are we talking about most: Trayvon, Tebow, or the risen Jesus?