In the mid-20th century, the Bell system launched a campaign to promote what in retrospect was an early form of virtual reality—long-distance phone calls! They used the tag line “It’s the next best thing to being there.” In 2025 that seems quaint, even to the older crowd, and probably just plain weird to anyone born in the last 40 years. Ours is a world of virtual everything. You can log on to meetings, Bible studies, classes—experiences of all types—no matter where you are. You can practice a Franck chorale on the organ of St. Clotilde, Paris, without leaving your living room through the wonder of digital sampling. Virtual reality games and headsets, cinematic virtual reality—it’s all the next best thing to being there.
However, one thing “virtual” will never be able to replace is worship. We can livestream anything, but that’s just a delivery system. As Robert Webber famously said, “Worship is a verb.” It’s a life-transforming encounter between living, breathing people gathered in active community and our very real God. VR can create the setting and curate the aesthetics, AI can spit out the words of liturgies, prayers, and sermons, but actual worship requires actual participation in the intimate encounter of souls with their Creator—our spirits with the Spirit. There’s nothing virtual about that.
That said, if we’re not prepared for that encounter, we can distract ourselves into a type of virtual participation by allowing worship to go on around us: parroting words and notes, half-listening to Scripture, and allowing worship leaders to “perform” the rituals, read the prayers, and represent us before God. Box checked. It can happen to people in the pew, it can happen to people in the choir loft, it can happen to people in the pulpit. It’s NOT the “next best thing.”
Into this reality King David interjects a series of his own verbs:
Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done wonderful deeds.
His right hand has won a mighty victory;
his holy arm has shown his saving power!
…Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
break out in praise and sing for joy!
Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song,
with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn.
Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King! from Psalm 98, NLT
In her blog post last week, Heather Sorenson made a compelling case for the discipline of noticing God in big things and little things, and the practice of rejoicing. As so many of the psalms remind us, this kind of active engagement with the Person and works of God is worship, and that type of personal discipline is what keeps our worship “live” and alive.
Happily, we are the purveyors of music, and music is one of the best disciplines to help us experience a non-virtual encounter with God. When we open ourselves to worshiping through music, the Holy Spirit meets us in the notes and speaks to us in the words. Mourning, lamenting, praying, rejoicing, looking in wonder, listening in awe—God responds with comfort, assurance, attention, joy. Once we experience this kind of spiritual “communion,” we’ll never happily settle for the “next best thing.”
So how do we make the most of this treasure we have to share? As we begin this ministry year, please don’t settle for “let’s just rehearse” or “we’ve never made that much fuss about it before.” The people we lead (and to whom we minister) need more. We are living in a time when nerves, patience, careers, relationships, and finances are straining. We probably have very little idea of everything that individuals in our choirs and our worship teams are dealing with, let alone the people in our congregations. We are the curators of the antidote—the Good News of God’s presence and promise expressed in music. How do we deliver it? How do we help our people “Sing a new song… Shout for joy… Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King?”
Start by engaging in the discipline of worship yourself. As I’ve written here before, you will receive from your choir/team/congregation a reflection of what they see in you. What music is in your head when there’s nothing specific you have to think about? How many hymns/worship songs can you call from memory? Which ones speak to you at different times in your daily life? Those are your devotionals—the streaming service that can instantly connect you with the Person and promise of God. Challenge yourself to remember and expand your repertoire of praise.
Use the music of worship to create a climate of worship in your rehearsals. Take the time to sing uplifting, worshipful hymns and songs as people gather. It will NOT be time wasted. Let the sheer joy of singing God’s praise unite your ensemble before you tackle the nuts and bolts of preparation. Review the hymns and liturgical music for the upcoming service, not only for familiarity, but to deepen peoples’ appreciation of the meaning of the text and the beauty of the music—these are gifts from God on the page in front of you!
Finally, and I cannot stress this too strongly, do everything in your power to see to it that when the people of the Resurrection gather for worship, there is an obvious spirit of joy, assurance, promise, and hope—no matter the reason or theme of the gathering. This creates true worship
—the life-transforming encounter between living, breathing people and our very real God. This will invite people into active, personal engagement in worship (the verb). Our people (including ourselves) deserve nothing less.
You are a light on the hill, O people:
light for the City of God!
share the flavor of life, O people:
life in the City of God! – Marty Haugen
from Bring Forth the Kingdom, © 1986 GIA
