Sally Morgenthaler has been known for her passion for relevance of worship in the post modern world. It is interesting that even in the midst of her belief in the use of digital technology and well crafted worship, she contends that we have a great need to return to Biblically based worship.
If not careful, contemporary worship becomes simply need-oriented; too focused on human needs, feelings, and perceptions.
Rather, as time moves on, we are seeing a movement toward focusing on who God is, who we are, and who we were created to become. That takes our worship discussion from anthropology to theology. A Biblical basis for proper anthropology is: God's revealing the human condition and the need for reconciliation and forgiveness. It is the recovery of God's story and how our stories become connected with Him.
We don't need more of our culture in worship from the world we live in. The Bible teaches clearly that the church is to keep three relationships to our culture at once. It is part of the culture; it is the opposite of the culture; and, it is called to transform the culture.
As we see how these things are held in tension with our culture, and give thought and understanding to the truth, we will see our worship becoming more Biblical and authentic and probably simpler in nature.
I believe we have come through years of emphasizing what man needs from worship rather than having God-centered worship. Bottom line, may we be more concerned with being Biblical in our worship. After all, as we have said before, it is about Him. He is our audience of one in worship. mjm