4 Things to Consider as We (Awkwardly) Worship at Home

Undoubtedly some “awkwardness” has set in as we’re cooped up at home. If you have any teenagers, I’m confident they’ve told you so in the last two weeks. We can be tempted, like those teens, to run from the awkwardness. In fact, we often try to encourage the “socially awkward” to act normal, to be more like us, or to have more confidence.

But what if that awkwardness is… our homes? Think about how close you are to one another. If you have kids, have they fought yet? What about spouses? In fact, I know one of you is seated in a bare apartment, waiting on your new home to be ready for the move. How awkward is that?

And worship. What should we think about worship in the “awkwardness” of our own home? This last week, Madeleine and I live streamed a sermon from my sister-in-law’s church. As their praise band came on screen and began singing, we all sat there for a moment looking at one another. Should we sing? Should we hum? What’s the least awkward thing to do?

So let’s think about that right now. What does the Bible say about worship, and specifically how can we worship, during a time of staying at home and “social distancing”? Here’s 4 things I want us to consider as we worship in the awkwardness:

1. We Worship Everywhere (Jn 4)

In John 4, we have that famous interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. We remember well the woman’s awkward deflection when Jesus tells her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true” (Jn 4:17-18). Immediately she shifts the attention off herself and on to a difficult question. She says, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (Jn 4:20). Her question is simple: Where should we worship?

Jesus’ reply is, quite honestly, stunning: Everywhere (Jn 4:21-24).

This tells us more than just that our worship doesn’t involve pilgrimage to Jerusalem every year. It tells us that our worship is more than geographical location; as the Psalmist says, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psa 139:7). Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that worship is not primarily focused with where someone is, but rather who someone is, who he is.

That is to say, Jesus teaches us that worship is not ultimately about a church building, though these are helpful. Worship is not ultimately about what makes us feel good (nor what makes us feel awkward!), the familiar, or our preferences. Rather, worship can and should occur at all times and in every place.

As we find ourselves worshiping in our own homes, then, what should we think? We should think, on some level, that this is normal. Worship should have already been filling our homes, and now God is revealing to us specifically not only how difficult it is, but how necessary as well.

2. We Worship All the Time (Rom 12)

Think about Sundays in our current situation. We could show up to the couch, in our PJs, coffee in hand, ready to watch a livestream or recorded sermon. Just as easily, we could be distracted by our devices, the aroma of lunch coming from the kitchen, or even the legos we left on the floor down the hall.

This touches on what we’ve all heard a thousand times: “All of life is worship!” It may be hard to see in our situation, but it’s incredibly important. Because it’s one thing to say we must worship in all of our actions by obedience (including listening intently to a livestream), but I think it’s another to say that God cares about the attitude behind the obedience as well.

Here’s what I mean. God says in Psa 50 that he has come to rebuke Israel. In fact, he goes so far to say he won’t accept sacrifices from their cattle, and before telling them why he tells them what it’s not about: “Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me…” (Psa 50:8).

You see, the worship of God is more than just obeying the specific commands themselves. Jesus likens someone who only does the commands to a cup which is cleaned on the outside, but filled with filth on the inside (Luke 11). All of life as worship is not mere and simple obedience, but a recognition that God is to be prioritized above all earthly things. This is Paul’s meaning when he says,“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1).

When we come to the question of worshiping at home, we run into the same principle: when we sit down with our families on the Lord’s Day to read, pray, and sing, we need to be aware that God won’t rebuke us for that action. Yet, he will rebuke us for not prioritizing himself over our desires. We should strive for distraction-free worship, in addition to worshiping God while putting together the Lego Millennium Falcon.

This tension can be awkward; after all, you’re at home! No one is watching you pull out your phone, or sneak away to stir the soup. Why force yourself into a box like this? Simply because God is worth it. So set aside the awkwardness of distractions when worshiping all the time at home.

3. We Worship Together (Heb 10)

Yet, on a different level, the awkwardness isn’t okay, is it? Singles and widows might be experiencing an incredible loneliness they haven’t felt in quite some time, or for the very first time. We can tell that something about this isn’t just awkward, it isn’t normal.

I want to affirm that awkwardness as a good feeling. The Pastor of Hebrews tells us in chapter 10 that we have an incredible high priest, Jesus Christ, who has opened a way for us to worship God and be reconciled to him. And concludes this magnificent praise of Christ and description of the Gospel with this: “…let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:24–25).

Notice that, at least to the Pastor of Hebrews, the gathering together of people isn’t about personal gain or benefit. It’s not about how fed or unfed we are. It’s about how we can encourage one another. You see, the normal way for God’s people to corporately worship is with one another. This awkwardness, then, reminds us that what we’re dealing with isn’t normal, and that it’s actually good for us to feel awkward!

Instead of being comfortable in being by ourselves, we should really embrace this discomfort of being apart as a way to long for the presence of one another in worship! This is why Paul makes a distinction in that oft quoted passage: “For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit” (Col 2:5). The distinction Paul is making here is easy to grasp. It is not good to be absent in body! Yet, we are nevertheless united in spirit. Look up just a few verses from that, and you’d see Paul lamenting he hasn’t yet had the opportunity to encourage the believers at Laodicea “face to face” (Col 2:1).

To borrow a turn of phrase from the Pastor of Hebrews, then: Let us anticipate and long for one another during this time. Don’t let the awkwardness become normal, but embrace it as a temporary thing, even if it lasts weeks or months.

4. We Worship A Living Savior (Rev 21)

This one seems obvious, and honestly a bit cheesy to end on, but hear me out. It’s almost mathematical, isn’t it? If you add the first three points up, you inevitably get #4:

We Worship Everywhere + All the Time + Together

So what do you get? You get the New Creation! In the glorious New Heavens and New Earth which John speaks of in Revelation 21, we see all these factors. We’re told that there will be a massive city, the New Jerusalem, wherein God shall dwell with his people forever (Rev 21:3). You see, everywhere man is, God shall be. Man shall praise God all the time, for this will be our eternal home. Indeed, what a home it shall be, with us all together in one place, glorifying the Lamb who once was slain.

Worship is all about Jesus because Jesus is alive, and bringing us, a living people, into worship in an eternal home, where there shall be no sickness, no viruses, no sadness, no death, and, yes, no awkwardness. Worship is not a ritualistic, mechanical thing, because our savior is not ritualistic or mechanical. He is like us, living as we shall live, and worthy of all worship and praise.

So is your family worship awkward right now? Of course it is. Everyone’s is. On the one hand, that’s really on us, isn’t it? We need to realize we may not have been so good at worshiping God to begin with, and that we’re naturally prone to distraction. Let’s own that, and commit to doing better. However, some awkwardness is natural. It tells us that this isn’t the end, and gives us a longing for one another, and for our living Savior and his eternal home he gives us freely.

So go and worship awkwardly, but reverently and with awe.