What Steven Tyler Taught Me

As I've said before, my mind tends to wander a bit on Sunday mornings. It wanders to the store, it wanders to the calendar, it wanders to the mismatched paint colors above the east door. Sometimes it wanders to scripture unrelated to the message - I consider that some kind of victory, although I'm not sure it's a point in my favor, since it's still evidence that could be used against me, should someone be peeking over my shoulder.

Anyway, one Sunday this summer, my mind wandered to the Aerosmith concert we were planning to "attend" the next night. I noticed that I was starting to feel giddy, which started me thinking: Why am I 187 times more excited about that concert than about being here this morning? Why can I already feel it in my bones? What is it about the prospect of Steven Tyler screaming on stage that excites me more than being here, worshiping my Creator?

So, as I followed my mind on this little sojourn, I came to a couple of possibilities, but I'm going to land on one.

I want to be moved.

God, the God that I serve, the God who spoke the heavens and the earth into being, the God who turned the Nile into blood and parted the Red Sea, who confused the languages of thousands, who tore the veil from top to bottom - THAT God is a God who moves.

God never does anything half way. He never plays it safe or takes the easy way. God's not concerned about what might be too loud or too quiet or too intimate or too intense. God is God, and He goes for it. He moves you. His Gospel is not tame. It isn't warm and fuzzy, clouds and rainbows - it is fierce, intense, bloody and passionate, a love letter for the ages, the kind of story that should make us weep just knowing it's been written.

I imagined that day in church that true worship might sometimes feel a lot more like an Aerosmith concert than our usual Sunday morning fare. A fully engaging, participatory, whole body experience, from which you are forever changed in some way. A point in time to which you can always return because you felt it in flesh and spirit.

I picture Steven Tyler on stage and - really, is there a better example of one who "goes for it"? Can you picture him singing dispassionately? It is impossible for me not to buy into that kind of performance - to not believe, at some level, that this crazy looking person means what he sings. And I don't know about you, but one thing I've discovered about myself as a follower is that I'd better believe the person who's leading me, or you might catch me wandering.

Now, I know that my own personal spirit of worship is not the responsibility of the worship leader. I know my responsibility is to prepare my own heart to commune with my God, regardless of the style of worship being presented to me. I know God can move me however He chooses to move me, even if I am inclined more toward the electric guitars and passionate rock screams.

But that doesn't change my desire. I want to be moved. Be it loudly, quietly, intensely or intimately, I want to be moved.


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p.s., you may remember, the Aerosmith concert was canceled, so this is all speculation based solely on television performances and other concert experiences. :)