Tay Tay, Take That and Corporate worship

Or: what’s been going on in stadiums this Summer?

There’s been something going on in stadiums this summer and I think we need to talk about it…. Whether you’re more of a Swiftie or a Thatter, there’s been a plethora of options to get your music fix this year. From Anfield to Murrayfield the grass has been covered over and music fans have arrived in their thousands to hear new favourites and old classics, belted out live and loud into the spring evenings.

And who am I to judge…? I’m one of the thousands.  In May I joined the throngs of (mainly) women heading to Middlesborough for Take That’s ‘THIS LIFE’ tour. My third Take That gig, but the first in an open-air stadium and the lads (… middle-aged men?), did not disappoint. No, they did not. From costume changes to crowd pleasers, set changes to fireworks, the experience was a total high. We stood for over 4 hours, danced and sang, made new friends, flung our arms in the air and were rewarded with memories that haven’t faded yet. I loved it and so did my friends. We drove home chatting about nothing else.

But what was going on? Why did it feel like this, why did it feel so good, why was it emotional as well as enjoyable? It made me question whether there was actually more going on across the UK this summer, than expensive tickets, queues for toilets and pop stars making more millions.

You see, I think the experience of standing on the halfway line, with thousands of others and seeing your heroes belt out songs that have shaped your life, been the soundtrack to your ups and downs is … corporate worship. Admittedly it’s directed to completely the wrong person, but it is corporate worship.

Thousands of people in the same place, for the same reason, sharing the same love, for the same person, the same focus of their shared adoration. Thousands of people who have one massive thing in common. It might only be for an evening – but it’s tangible, it’s real.

And what about the euphoria created when football fans share in mutual adoration for their team? We saw it again and again in England’s Euros run this year. Where else are tens of thousands of grown men singing and weeping together? The songs blaring out over speakers in German grounds were tapping into a lifetime of football fandom and emotion: Vindaloo, Sweet Caroline, and of course the bittersweet Three Lions on a Shirt.

And when the stadium becomes a concert venue, as the crowd unites around the object of their love, unity appears. The people around you are not total strangers anymore because you speak the same language, you clap and dance the same way, to the same tunes. No-one needs to tell a Take That fan when to put your arms up in ‘Never Forget’. You know it. The people next to you were strangers, but now they’re sharing personal and emotional experiences with you. Sharing how this song means so much to them because their husband passed away in February. Sharing how an unknown stepdaughter turned up on their doorstep 18 months ago and Take That has been one of the soundtracks to these life-changing moments. Both these women’s stories were shared on a field on a Friday night with me.

This is not normal life in the UK. This is not how we treat strangers, or how we express ourselves to others  – normally.

Which made me think again – why? Why do people enjoy this so much?  I think worship is the key. We’re made to worship. We’re made to adore and love and celebrate someone who is far greater than we are. But it’s not Tay Tay or Gary Barlow and friends, or Gareth Southgate and the lads – it’s Jesus. The one man who deserves the kind of worship which is going on in stadiums across the country this summer.

So, maybe next time you meet in your church and participate in corporate worship, imagine what it might be like to stand in a stadium and sing with thousands of others those words of praises to Him, to sing along to songs that are the soundtrack of our lives. Next Sunday let’s really embrace the joy of worship we have in Jesus, the joy that we are blessed to share with our church family every single Sunday. And let’s pray for all those who head to concert after concert searching for the same highs again and again – worshipping something but not Jesus. Pray they’d find the one who is really and truly worthy of their worship. Worship that can be large and exuberant, real and emotional – directed to Him who is the only one worthy of all our praise.