Pride, Prejudice, and Preference
The Church has been at war with itself since shortly after its birth. The topic of arguments has ranged from deep-seated theological issues to the color of the carpet in the sanctuary; anything is up for debate. We fall into a hole of preference and “my way or the highway” mentality. And the worst part is we don’t even care about the disunity caused by our stubbornness and pride. When it comes to the worship style of any church, we can usually categorize the attitude of the people in three ways: pride, prejudice, and preference. If we let these three attitudes pollute our churches, they will be as empty as the sanctuary pictured above.
Let’s take into account the most dangerous of the attitudes, pride. Pride in worship style will lead to significant disunity and totalitarian thinking. You may think totalitarian may be a strong word, but I beg to differ. When we put our thoughts above everyone else in our local body and fall into the “my way or the highway” mindset, we are letting those that disagree with us know that we are better because we are “right” and they are “wrong.” We make worship style a primary issue instead of a secondary one and judge other believers’ salvation based on their worship language. This type of mindset is unacceptable for the body of Christ because, as Paul states in 1st Thessalonians 5, we are called to build one another up. When we let our pride get in the way and focus on being “right,” we lead ourselves into turmoil and disunity.
The second attitude, prejudice, is like pride but differs in one way; this is a preference that you cannot explain. the definition of prejudice is “a liking or dislike for one rather than another, especially without good reason.” This attitude in worship style means that no matter how much a church is growing, they are wrong because they don’t share your worship style. This attitude means you can listen to the exact type of music on the radio in a different genre and be okay with its sound and instrumentation. Still, as soon as it is applied to the context of worship, you disagree without reason. The most infuriating argument for a particular kind of worship is when whatever preference is argued with the conclusion, “I don’t know why I feel that way, I just do.”
As a millennial, it is undoubtedly easy to guess my worship style preference, but as a Worship Pastor, I cannot affect how I lead. For the sake of the church’s health, I must lay down my preference to speak to each member of my congregation in their worship language somehow. This does not mean that I am not allowed to have my taste, but it does mean that I must crucify that preference to serve those around me better. This mindset is not unique to Pastors only but to the entire church. If we are to be a healthy example of the nature of Jesus, we must lay down our arms. We must strive to love and care for another in all things, including our worship language. We aren’t called to be correct; we are called to be servants.
My wife and I (and our toddler) love the kids’ show Bluey about a six-year-old blue heeler and her family, and in the episode “Grannies,” Bluey and Bingo, Bluey’s little sister, argue about whether or not grannies can do the floss dance. When Bluey insists that she is right and Bingo can’t floss while they are dressed up as grannies, Bingo shuts down and doesn’t play with Bluey anymore. Bluey rushes to her parents to tell them what happened and says, “Why won’t she play? I was right.” The girls’ mom answers, “Would you rather be right or for Bingo to keep playing?” This same sentiment can be applied to the Church, oddly enough, for matters of secondary issues such as worship styles. We have to ask ourselves, “Would I rather be right or to be in unity with my brothers and sisters in my local church?” I don’t know; maybe that six-year-old Blue Heeler’s mom is on to something.
