A friend of mine, Doug Hill, wrote a post on his blog and it really got underneath my skin. Here is an excerpt. You can read it in full on his blog.

My personal discontent is in the way I worship, or the way "we" (as the Church) worships. I don't mean New Life, the Vineyard, Southwest, etc. I mean the "Church" with a Big "C". We are in this grove that worship is a 20 - 30 minute set of songs, a time of prayer, offering, and a message delivered by a staff pastor segmented and divided by short announcements. I begin to wonder, is there more to it than that? I truly believe New Life is tracking in the right direction with the emphasis on relationships, however I wonder if God feels like He's watching re-runs of a cheesey drama or sitcom each week as congregations around the world gather to worship? I wonder if He thinks...I am the master artist and Creator and the best that my greatest creation (man) can come up with to worship Me is a few songs, and a sermon?

Ultimate worship is lived throughout our daily life. We talk, we relate, we sing, we write, we compose, we draw, we instruct, we give, we encourage, we bless, we love, we live a life of worship. Why is it then we box it up and only exercise a few when we gather to worship with our faith community? What would a worship gathering look like with these ideas exercised?

I'm afraid that this new wine would just fall into old wine skins in most faith communities. Our culture which thrives on the blood of consumerism often doesnt see a worship gathering, but rather a worship service. Service, as if they were an automobile and they are coming into the service station for their weekly refueling and maintenance. They go into that moment looking for what they will "get" or "come away with" from the service. Instead, we should go into a worship gathering with two thoughts only, how we can bless and worship God, and how we can strengthen, encourage the body of Christ. I have found myself too often looking for that Premium High Octane fill up during a weekend gathering. The Holy Spirit has really been working on me in this regard.