What tools to use

As we consider what it means to be church, dynamically moving forward the plot of God's great story of redemption, one of the things we need to consider and reconsider over and over again is the question: Why do we do what we do? A similar question is: Why aren't we doing something else?

There are many good reasons why we do what we do. And "because we always have" isn't as bad an answer as it has been made out to be. There is something to be said for tradition, for continuing something that has had value for many years even if we don't percieve that value at this very moment in time. Sometimes, neither the baby nor the bathwater should be tossed.

At the same time, "because it's new" isn't as bad an answer as it has been made out to be, either. Newer doesn't always mean improved, despite the commercials. But it can mean that. In fact, there are plenty of times when things that we've been doing recently have been more transitional than lasting. Is anyone nostalgic for the way radiation was used to treat cancer 30 years ago compared to the way treatments are done today? Is anyone completely satisfied with the way treatments are done today? Hopefully, newer will be better with cancer treatments. But we may have some pretty painful ground to traverse in the meantime.

When it comes to worship, art, music, liturgy, preaching styles, architecture, and other trappings must be considered to be what they in fact are: tools. None of them is the goal of worship. They are all means toward a goal, a goal which has far more to do with God than with the tools we use to connect with him. But the tools we use shape the way we worship. There can be no question about that at all.

When it comes to mission, we also need to consider and reconsider the tools we use. But in both cases we need to make sure that we know what we're on about before we get too caught up in the acquisition and admiration of tools.

One of the guys I like who things pretty well about tools that are both new and ancient in the context of worship is Jonny Baker. His blog site is http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/.