I’ve grown up with the assumption that actions without feelings are meaningless and that it would have been better to not act at all.  The wrong feelings would compromise integrity, epitomize hypocrisy and nullify any good that came of the action.  This view was especially true for me in worship.  I felt like the worship as action without feeling was empty and lifeless.  But maybe this is just our latest way of justifying our inaction.  We ignore the reality of a situation and the required action because we do not “feel” it.  Raising “feeling it” above the “needful action dictated by the situation” places undue importance on our perception of reality.  Our feelings are tied to our conclusion based on a limited understanding of our situation.  Our feelings are valid in that they are a response to our understanding, but they can not trump action dictated by situation.

Eugene Peterson writes in his book, The Long Obedience in the Same Direction, that “Worship is an act that develops feeling for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship.” p. 54  I’m starting to see the truth in this statement when I consider Peterson’s other point about how worship realizes a structure (context) for life.  Worship provides us with a structure for reality that will dictate needful actions based on situation, regardless of feeling.  In this case, worship provides us an understanding of reality where we are on common ground with all of mankind before a God who is our savior, king, father and friend.  If what worship helps us see could be likened to bones, then I would say that actions are like the muscles on the bones and feelings are the skin on the muscles.   It is not a strict analogy by any means, but here is what I hope to illustrate.

  1. Muscles surround the bones and are covered by skin.  Skin reflects both the muscles and ultimately the bone structure, just like feelings can be a reflection of our actions and ultimately a reflection of the structure that worship reveals to us.
  2. If muscles, skin or bones are missing, then the picture is incomplete.  If muscles are missing then the skin has no support.  When worship is a result of only feeling, those feelings become merely reactive to our limited perception of reality.  Muscles fill out the bones, just like actions fill out the structure of worship for our feelings to be founded on.  We can know in our head our context as Christians, but without action there is no concrete manifestation of worship. Without skin, the picture would be lacking the finishing touches.  Feelings enhance our understanding and perception of the world around us while actions are often a doorway for opportunity to understand and perceive our world more accurately.