As a church worker of nearly 8 years I am no stranger to the touchy subject that is corporate worship.  I have seen worship (as it relates to music) divide and estrange many an individual from church.  There are a vast array of opinions as to how this solution should be solved.  One is to have distinct gatherings, one being traditional (ie hymns only) and the other being contemporary (songs that have been written in the past ten years only).  Another solution is to have what is known as a blended gathering where traditional and contemporary music are both used to help people celebrate and reflect on the greatness and kindness of God.  One final solution is to completely make the style modern with virtually no traditional music whatsoever. 
    Since the area of corporate worship has become my responsibility over the past year, I have wrestled with what avenue would work best in helping people who already go to church engage God while remaining culturally accessible to those who are investigating the claims of Christianity.  This past week  I had the opportunity to present this question to a church consultant who specializes in cultural trends as they relate to the church.  He agreed as I do that all of the above solutions have positive and negative consequences.  He looked at me and said "maybe we need to be asking a better question."  Rather than asking what worship music/style we want to hear maybe we need to be asking what kind of worshipper we want to be?  
    The question served as a reminder that worship is completely about Jesus. While I know that that statement is glaringly obvious it becomes very easy to  let our preferences distract us from this truth.  We are commanded by Scripture to worship God in Spirit and Truth.  That means that while worship does affect our emotions and can at times be an "emotional experience" it ultimately starts with an objective choice to meet with God.  Sometimes we don't feel like worshipping God for various reasons. Our family gets in a fight on the way to church.  Work situations look bleak.  We don't like the music that's being sung, or we are just not in the mood to worship.  That's why scripture refers to the offering of compliments and praise to God as a "sacrifice"  We choose to do it out of obedience and sometimes that means sacrificing our preferences and security for the greater purpose of meeting with God. 

    This conversation was a healthy reminder for me to instill and model this value in front of our church people and the world.  I am quickly reminded of the lyrics penned by Matt Redman:

"I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about You, it's all about You Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it when it's all about You, It's all about You Jesus."  The Heart of Worship

May these lyrics be our prayer to God as we seek to honor Him in all areas of our life