Focus on the Fundamentals
A few years ago while visiting the Baylor University journalism department where I earned my degree, I learned that while their new name – Journalism, Public Relations and New Media – is a nod to all the new forms of communication that exist, the focus is still on the fundamentals of strong reporting and writing. For that reason, The Baylor Lariat – the daily newspaper that I worked on 30 years ago – is still the centerpiece of the program. That’s remarkable given that the paper’s primary readership has grown up with texts and tweets.
“Focus on the fundamentals” and “stick with the basics.” We hear coaches talk about that all the time as the key to success. It’s trite, it’s cliché, but it’s true. Whether you’re talking about education, parenting, medicine, sports, banking, politics, whatever, there are always some foundational principles or disciplines that shouldn’t be overlooked.
I believe it’s true for what we do on Sunday mornings too, and for me the chief fundamental of good worship is reverence. Without reverence, I believe worship drifts into the realm of entertainment, and what’s the point of that? Do we really need more entertainment? We spend the week bombarded with images and sounds that push, prod and provoke us, and every source of this input tries to be louder than the next. Can’t we set that aside and give God an hour of our reverent attention and devotion? Or more time than that if we break away during the week for quiet worship on our own?
Call me old fashioned but I prefer serious pulpit preaching to casual coffee talk, hymns and anthems to praise songs and choruses, reverent head-bowing to hand-raised hallelujahs. That’s just me. At least for one hour on Sunday mornings.