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Modern Christianity puts a lot of stock into worship. We have big Christian worship concerts with people like Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Hillsong, or for some of us, The Gaithers. We go to festivals in the summer like Alive and Passion. Our churches spend a great deal of money on staging, and equipment for forms of modern worship, or for more liturgically conservative churches, we spend a great deal of money on ornate sanctuaries and huge organs. We’ve written lots of books on worship, and about prayer. I went to amazon.com and searched the word ‘prayer’. there were 314,704 book results. ‘Worship’ yielded 227,588 books and 6,491 CDs. One could say that we put a lot of work into prayer and worship, and who could blame us? We have the means, why not go to great lengths to praise our Lord? Yet I am here to present the highly unpopular and controversial idea that there are times when all of this work, money, and thought is for nothing. Is it possible that there are times when God ignores our prayers, and our worship? 

In the Old Testament, God entered into a covenant with his people, Israel. As a part of that covenant, there were certain prescribed methods of worship. Although our culture is very different, and the covenant of Christ we are in provides some ritualistic differences, there are actually a lot of similarities to worship now and then. We have festivals, so did they. We have weekly gatherings, so did they. We pray a lot, so did they. We worship with music, so did they. They sacrificed lambs, and goats, and other animals as atonement for their sins. Although we don’t follow those rituals anymore, we celebrate the sacrifice of The Christ, and partake in communion, which is symbolically the same thing. 

Yet, despite Israel’s devotion to ‘good worship’ and ‘prayer’ similar to our own, there is a time in Israel’s history that, by looking at Scripture, we can see that God paid no attention to their worship, he covered his ears, and he found their worship to be disgusting. 

Isaiah 1:11-15b
“The multitude of your sacrifices— 
what are they to me?” says the LORD. 
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings, 
of rams and the fat of fattened animals; 
I have no pleasure 
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

When you come to appear before me, 
who has asked this of you, 
this trampling of my courts?

Stop bringing meaningless offerings! 
Your incense is detestable to me. 
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— 
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts 
my soul hates. 
They have become a burden to me; 
I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, 
I will hide my eyes from you; 
even if you offer many prayers, 
I will not listen. 

——-

What did Israel do that made God so angry that he declares that He does not desire their worshp, that he takes no pleasure in it, and that he will not even listen to the prayers of His people? 

The context of this passage is a time in Israel’s history where some horrible things were happening. Much of Israel had resorted to idol worship, which brought with it all sorts of disgusting rituals. Worship to these false gods included the sacrificing of newly born babies, prostitution, and other forms of sexual immorality. 

Hebrew Law was partially based upon the concept of ‘victims’ rights’, where victims of crimes had the right to make sure that their case was prosecuted and that due punishment was given if guilt was found. The poor, orphans, and widows, were susceptible to being taken advantage of, but these victims’ rights laws were in place to make sure that they had a fair chance to have justice served against those who would oppress and terrorize them. In this time in Israel’s history, widows and orphans were being oppressed without their victims’ rights being defended. 

Although it is likely that only a small portion of Israel’s population were a party to such injustices, Hebrew Law gave a lot of ‘power to the people’ similar to the democratic elements in America’s foundation as a Constitutional Republic. The people had the political power to end these injustice, but history tells us that they were ignoring their civic duty to do so. This is why God goes on to say in Isaiah 1:15b

“You have blood on your hands”

If someone allows injustice to happen despite their power to do something about it, they share in the guilt for the injustice. 

and then God continues with: 

16 wash and make yourselves clean. 
Take your evil deeds 
out of my sight! 
Stop doing wrong,

17 learn to do right! 
Seek justice, 
encourage the oppressed. [a] 
Defend the cause of the fatherless, 
plead the case of the widow.

—
God told Israel that their worship and their prayers meant nothing unless they would live up to their personal and civic duty to ‘seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow’, which is what God had commanded in his law. 

Deuteronomy 16:20
“Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you”

Jesus spoke about injustice as well: 

Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”

—

Justice is very important to God, and injustice still exists in our world today. 

—There are now more slaves in the world than any other time in history. Children sold into sex slavery. People of all ages sent into forced labor. Human beings trafficked across borders. There are an estimated 27 million people in some sort of slave condition across the world, right now. 

—Since the Roe v. Wade ruling in the United States, 47 million unborn babies have been aborted. 

—In the Darfur region of Africa, an oppressive anti-Christian and now racially anti-African government has killed 400,000 civilians and displaced 2.5 million people from their homes. 

Jon Foreman, from the band Switchfoot, has written the following song which takes Isaiah 1:11-18 and replaces the cultural references with references to our times, culture, and modern mainstream Christianity: 

“Instead of a Show” by Jon Foreman

I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your praise
the hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your 
singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood 
of justice
Instead of a show

your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services
but there’s blood on your hands

you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands

Ah! let’s argue this out
if your sins are blood red
let’s argue this out
you’ll be white as the clouds
let’s argue this out
quit fooling around

give love to the ones who can’t love at all
give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all
instead of a show
I hate all your show

—
In this song, Jon Forman parellels the writings of Isaiah to modern times. The passage in Isaiah begins by describing Israel’s worship rituals (sacrificing animals, etc…), and Jon Foreman describes modern worship rituals: 

“your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services”

No element of contemporary Christianity is let loose from Foreman’s criticism. He mentions ‘shining shoes’ which feels like a reference to the more conservative liturgical Christianity, as well as ‘singing along with the band’ as a reference to modern church worship. 

Isaiah speaks of God’s response to this worship, he does not delight in it, he does not listen to it, and he turns away from their prayers. 

Jon Foreman describes a similar response from God to our worship today: 

“Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your 
singing ‘em
I hate all your show”

God tells Israel to fight for justice, and to stand up for the oppressed. 

What are the modern day injustices that Jon Foreman speaks of? 

“you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands”

First he mentions the homeless. 

Mainstream conservative Christianity sometimes has a tendency to ignore the poor, by pointing to the alcoholism, drug use, and laziness that is sometimes attached to the poor as an excuse to deny mercy and help. As Christians, we should not hold back compassion because of the poor choices and habits of those in poverty by declaring ‘It’s their own fault and their own problem’, but instead we should offer compassion more abundantly and help people overcome these personal problems that lead to poverty. We must also realize that there are causes of poverty besides poor choices and habits. Liberal Christianity, on the other hand, fools around with welfare programs, which in my opinion, only worsen the plight of the poor, and is nothing but an impersonal attempt at fixing very personal problems. Once again, it does not wish to touch the very complicated social and psychological problems associated with poverty. Yes, this is a gross-generalization, but mainstream Christianity both on the left and the right often seems to want nothing to do with the poor and their real problems. Even those of us who do care for the poor need to do better about encouraging others to do the same. *

Foreman’s reference to ‘those that don’t fit into your plan’ could perhaps be a reference to abortion. The common excuse for abortion is that ‘I did not plan for a child, thus I shouldn’t have to take care of it and deliver it’.

Mother Theresa’s words come to mind: “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

‘Those who can not stand’ also sounds like a reference to babies, who can not stand on their own.

Yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is not to mention human trafficking, child prostitution, the genocide in Darfur, and other injustices. And perhaps God’s call to justice also requires a civic responsibility to stand up for justice in every detail of public policy. Fighting to have a traffic light installed in your town, which could save lives, perhaps glorifies God and reflects his love of justice as well.

Is American Christianity ignoring these injustices? 

Not totally, but perhaps we are not doing enough. 

Chuck Colson once said something along the lines of, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that there are now more Christians in the world than ever before. The bad news is that it doesn’t seem to be making any difference” 

Just as God declares that there is blood on Israel’s hands for allowing injustice, specifically the murdering of newly-born babies, to occur… what is on our hands as we allow trafficking, abortion, and genocides occur when we have the political and economic power to do something about them? We all vote. We have access to our representatives. We have access to Washington. There are organizations fighting to stamp out these injustices. Why are we not more involved? Why is the church caught up with writing books about being better worshipers, while our ignorance of the poor, the needy, the oppressed, and the murdered destroys our worship in God’s eyes? 

Let us not turn a deaf ear to the oppressed, because if we do, will God turn a deaf ear to us? 

Scripture teaches that God hears the plight of the oppressed, why don’t we?

(From Exodus 22)

“22 “Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.”

25 “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. [e] 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, 27 because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”

We go to big churches, Christian Music Festivals, worship concerts, and we pray.. yet if we ignore the injustice around us, it is all meaningless. God does not care, and it makes him sick. 

May we listen to history! May we respond to our Lord’s calling for us to stand up for justice! Let us end these worship charades, and put an end to these shows, until there is a flow of justice and righteousness, which is a music much louder than any amount of speakers and amplifiers can match. 

I would invite you all to join the Facebook event I will be creating, tentatively titled ‘International Skip Church Day’. This will be a day set aside to remember that our prayer and worship is nothing if we ignore justice and righteousness. This will be a day set aside for us to stay home from church to pray for God to gives us ears for the plight of the oppressed, and to forgive us for our political and social apathy on issues of injustice. Take this day to find out how you can become more politically involved. Take this day to encourage and pray for the people that you know who are in politics, or law, that they will have the heart of God as they seek justice. Take this day to do something practical for the countless organizations working against injustice in our world. Take this day to give some organization some money. Take this day to become smarter about injustice, which organizations are really making a difference? What is the nature of the injustices in the world? What are the possible solutions? Take this day to raise awareness about some issue of injustice. Take this day to read Hebrew Law in the Old Testament and see God’s heart for justice. Gather friends together to watch a movie that tells the stories of God’s work against injustice through Christians, such as ‘Amazing Grace’. Read about Mother Theresa or William Wilberforce. And take this day to remember, that God does not hear us if we harbor sin in our hearts, and allowing injustice to reside in our world when we have the power to fight against it, places the blood on our hands as well. Take this day to let Christ wash our hands of blood, in His grace, to seek justice, to stand up for the oppressed, and to praise God not just through our music, but through our compassion and our actions.   http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=23851572789

Skip church. The music can wait, God won’t. 

“There is a yearning for justice inherent in the lining of every heart, and a sense encircling every synapse that tells us things are not as they ought to be in this world. But it is a glorious and unique endeavor to fight against the disconnect of our privileged culture and start to breathe and move and embody the mandate to act on the yearnings, and respond to the sense, and ultimately live as if the Gospel is true, and freedom and justice are worth every ounce of blood, muscle, and thought, we could possibly offer.”

-Dan Haseltine of the band Jars of Clay

—-

*(Jon Foreman’s song ’somebody’s baby’ is a great piece on this subject… and in my interpretation takes a stab at welfare programs by saying ‘when people don’t want you they throw you money for beer’ …which in my estimation, is all that welfare does. It ignores the personal problems of poverty and just throws money around. Supporting welfare programs in no way makes you more compassionate than anyone else who walks by the homeless and pays them no attention. Both personal ignorance of the poor, and welfare programs send the same message of ‘I don’t want to touch you, so I’ll let the government touch you by throwing money at you from a far off capital building).