May My Tongue Sing of Your Word

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, at 176 verses. It's crazy. The Psalm is fascinating for many reasons. It was written as an acrostic on the Hebrew alphabet. The first 8 verses start with the Hebrew letter 'Aleph,' the next 8 verses start with the Hebrew letter 'Beth,' etc. It's also very focused on one topic: God's word. The Psalmist sings of God's commands, precepts, way, law, decrees, etc.

So it's word play in lyric form about God's word. It's like a BC crossword puzzle poem! I love it.

Verse 171-172 says,

"May my lips overflow with praise,

    for you teach me your decrees. 

May my tongue sing of your word,

    for all your commands are righteous."

I love this idea: that we would sing of God's word, or even sing God's word. Is there anything more helpful to our spiritual formation than to learn to sing God's word? You probably can sing from memory songs you learned in grade school: music and rhyme are powerful tools for memorization. Plato once wrote, "Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its law."* Music is a powerful teacher.

That's why, in case you've ever wondered, we try to put songs through a rubric of questions to make sure it's worth our time singing on a Sunday. The basic question: "Is this song among the best for New Cov to sing?"

We look at 3 areas:**

1.Theological Strength - Are the lyrics true? Do they represent the Bible? Do they tell the story of Scripture well?

2.Lyrical Strength - Is the text well constructed? Is it poetic? Does it connect with our imagination? Does it inspire?

3.Musical Strength - Is it singable? Is the melody memorable? Does the tune fit the text well?

Some songs will be stronger in some areas and weaker in others. But this gives us a method of evaluating any songs we include to sing on a Sunday morning. The closer we get to putting the words of scripture in our praise, I think, the better opportunity we give God to form us into Christlikeness through worship.

* I've also seen this quote attributed to a contemporary of Plato, Damon of Athens, and to Andrew Fletcher, a Scottish philosopher of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

** I learned this method from a book called The Worship Architect by Rev. Dr. Constance M. Cherry. The book has been invaluable for me as a Pastor of Worship.

Functions of Congregational Song (3/3)

James wrote to the young church, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds." Faith leads to action. So, some congregational songs are meant to call us to action.

The songs of God's people can be found throughout God's story, and they continue to be a vital part of worship. These songs not only give verse and melody to our response to God, they also instruct and develop us as followers of Christ. There are five ways congregational songs shape our worship and shape our hearts. I was first introduced to this idea by Dr. Constance Cherry's book The Worship Architect. In it, she writes that songs in a worship service can be: Prayer, Exhortation (encouragement), Praise, Proclamation and Call-to-action. The last two Sunday's blogs (here and here) focused on the first three functions. Today I'll focus on Proclamation and Call-to-action.

Proclamation - Songs that proclaim a truth about God or about faith in Christ are proclamation songs. On Sunday we sang "This I Believe." The song has a subtitle "(The Creed)" because it closely resembles the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed, both of which proclaim what we believe as followers of Christ:

I believe in God our Father, I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit, our God is Three-in-One
I believe in the Resurrection, that we will rise again
For I believe in the name of Jesus

Proclamation songs tell God's story. They also teach us God's story. They are an important part of our spiritual development.

Call-to-action - We closed the service on Sunday singing "Burn Like A Star," a song by the Irish band Rend Collective. It is a great example of a call-to-action, as are many songs by Rend Collective. A call-to-action song prompts us to do something. It might draw our attention to an injustice that needs to be corrected. It might help us focus on sharing Jesus with the world or with our neighbor. There are a variety of ways a call-to-action can call us to action; the common theme always relates to James 2:14-26, where James talks about a faith demonstrated in works or deeds.

Interestingly, I've had a hard time finding contemporary call-to-action songs for us to sing. A few examples would be "Build Your Kingdom Here," "Changed," "The Time Has Come," and perhaps "Take My Life," though that one is more of a prayer song.

I use an online planning tool called Planning Center Online, and one feature lets me look at the top songs used each week by all churches using Planning Center. Looking through this list of songs each week, I've noted that the most used contemporary worship songs seem most focused on Prayer (singing to God), Praise (exalting God) and Proclamation (singing about God). Songs of Exhortation (encouraging each other) and especially Call-to-action are less sung. Why is this the case?

Perhaps it is because we are more prone to focus inward as a society today than we were in the past. We are obsessed with learning our own personality traits, strengths, weaknesses. We are interested in finding inner peace. We workout to improve our self-image, our self-esteem, our self-worth. The Internet and data connectivity give us more opportunity to stare at a screen, instead of looking around at the world. Social apps tend to be more about expressing ourselves than socializing with others. We are told, "treat yourself," and "have it your way," and to "trust no one" besides ourselves.

And so, in worship today we see trends toward a worship service that helps the individual focus on God. Low lighting helps us block out the "distractions" of other believers around us. Songs use singular pronouns (I, me, my) more frequently than plural pronouns (we, us, our). If we're not careful, our relationship with God can give us tunnel vision. It can be a sort of faith without deeds, which James calls "dead." We might feel a closeness and intimacy with God, but we keep it to ourselves.

That's why call-to-action songs are so important. They should point our hearts outward and remind us that God has called us to be more than just a happy and healthy Christ-follower. As Tim reminded us on Sunday, we are to be salt. We are to be light. We are to live a faith that "makes its dwelling" in the neighborhoods around us.

When Sunday comes around, pay attention to the song God has given you. What is God's call-to-action for you? For your family? For your small group? For our church?

Functions of Congregational Song (2/3)

"We Lift You Up" is a clear example of a song of praise. And it happens to draw a lot from scripture. What a concept, right? This week I will talk about how congregational songs help us praise God, and I will address the importance of confession.

Last week I began discussing five functions of congregational song. There are several reasons we sing to God: to demonstrate our unity with other believers, to join the angels worshipping around God's throne, and because it is a huge part of Biblical worship. But reasons aren't always the same as functions. Each song we sing serves a function or purpose. Dr. Constance Cherry, in her book The Worship Architect, outlines five functions of congregational song: Prayer, Exhortation (encouragement), Praise, Proclamation and Call-to-action. Last week we sang a couple songs of Prayer and Exhortation. This week I'd like to talk about songs of Praise.

Praise - Songs of praise point our hearts to God. Often these songs explore the characteristics of God: his abounding love; his power; his majesty; the awesome wonder of his creation. They give glory to God for his mighty works, for all that He has done (and continues to do). Praise songs might focus on God's triune nature (Father, Spirit, Son) or focus on the character of Jesus Christ specifically. You'll find many Psalms that are a great model for this type of song. Look at the beginning of Psalm 103:

"Praise the LORD, my soul;
     all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul,
     and forget not all his benefits —"

David, who wrote this Psalm, calls the singer to worship God for "all his benefits," all the things God has done and continues to do. David goes on to sing of God's forgiveness of our sins, God's redemption, his providence, his righteousness, his justice, his compassion. He goes on and on, and so can we!

On Sunday we sang "We Lift You Up," a song written by Glenn Packiam. The song draws many of its lyrics from Psalm 71. See if you can see how God is praised in the following lines (and I'll include references to Psalm 71 where they happen):

Who is like You, O Lord, God of heaven, God of earth? (71:19)
There is none who compares with your majesty and love 
From the days of my youth, You have led me in your way (71:5,17)
Now I'll shout out your truth today

You are awesome in praise, doing miracles today (71:8)
I will come and proclaim all your mighty deeds of old (71:15-16)

We lift You up, we lift You up
For all to see your glory
Arise, O Lord, and shine on us
'Until our generation sees Your glory fall (71:18)

I'd encourage you to read Psalm 71 and think about the following: how does David's Psalm of praise speak to those around him? What is at least one benefit of us singing songs of Praise?

The Value of Confession
On Sunday we said a prayer of confession, something we don't do very often. But I feel like it's an important aspect of worship and Christian life, and I'd encourage you to make it a part of your daily prayer.

You might ask, "Why? That just makes me feel bad about the things I've done wrong. Does God want me to dwell in my guilt?" My response is, "Absolutely not!" God wants us to live in the freedom of grace. Confession of our sins is part of living in that freedom.

Theologian and teacher John MacArthur writes in The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness of two types of forgiveness: judicial and parental.

Judicial forgiveness is found in the atonement of our sins accomplished by Jesus Christ in his death on the cross. It is a one-time thing, done for us. When Jesus died, He died for all of our sins. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we come under grace: there is no condemnation for our sin. We are judged to be forgiven, thanks to Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf. Why, then, do we need to keep confessing?

It's important to note that in 1 John 1:9, which begins, "If we confess our sins..." the confession John writes about is ongoing. It's something we need to keep doing. Likewise, the forgiveness that comes in that verse: "... he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins..." is ongoing. This is the parental forgiveness. God, our Father, forgives us when we confess. Confession of our sins is important because it sets things right in our relationship with God. And it's part of the sanctification process God is carrying out in us.

When we carry around unconfessed sins, we are in essence hiding from God, like Adam and Eve in the Garden. Until we confess those sins to God, our relationship with God is, in a sense, broken. We're still free from condemnation of our sin, but we are not free of the consequences of sin. We suffer feelings of guilt, shame and other consequences of our sins. Confession might require some humility and remorse, but it's a necessary step in drawing near to God. And since He is our loving Father, "he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." That's the freedom of grace, and the way we become more like Jesus day by day.

Functions of Congregational Song (1/3)

There's something powerful about a congregation singing together, hands lifted high, eyes closed, hearts open to God's Spirit. What's more, the songs we sing give us a chance to proclaim, pray, praise, encourage, and commit together.

When I started leading worship at New Cov, I led a team once per month. And I considered it my chance to pick my favorite songs. The Pastor of Worship & Creative Arts at the time, Bill, would recommend a song or two sometimes, but for the most part it was up to me. Which I loved! I'd pick a fast song to start, maybe a mid-tempo song or two, and then a slow and prayerful song right before the message. If I could get a couple songs in the same key back-to-back, I'd figure out a way to transition between the two.

When I became the Pastor of Worship & Creative Arts, I often resorted to the same pattern. Or if we wanted to shake things up, I'd plan a fast song, a slow song or two, then another fast song to really get the energy up!

Over time, though, I started to wonder why I focused so much on tempo and flow when selecting songs. Was that the most important thing? Picking my favorite tunes for the congregation? Building energy? Having a seamless transition between two songs? Manufacturing moments of energy and prayerful attention?

There had to be better reasons to sing one song and not another. This line of questions was one of the reasons I began pursuing a Masters, then Doctor of Worship Studies degree. And one of my professors, Dr. Constance Cherry, literally wrote the book on the functions of congregational song. She has found five functions of song, and in the next few weeks I'll outline each of them with an example from Sunday morning. The five functions of congregational songs are: Proclamation, Prayer, Praise, Exhortation and Call-to-action. This week I'd like to talk about Prayer and Exhortation.

Prayer - As Dr. Cherry writes, prayer songs are the easiest to spot because they are sung to God. Where a song like "Jesus Messiah" sings mostly about Jesus, prayer songs address the Father, the Son and/or the Holy Spirit. Prayer songs are often full of emotion. They might lament and ask God to intercede. They can be songs confessing sin and asking forgiveness. They can be full of adoration, telling God how wonderful He is, or giving God glory for his character or saving works. A great example this past Sunday is "No Longer Slaves." Almost the entire song speaks directly to God. You could start the song like you would any prayer: 

"[Father in Heaven...]
You unravel me with a melody.
You surround me with a song of deliverance from my enemies until all my fears are gone.
I'm no longer a slave to fear: I am a child of God."

Prayer songs feel intimate and that's the point: we have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe, which is pretty amazing. These songs give us a voice to express our hearts to the One who formed them within us.

Exhortation - If prayer songs are about the vertical relationship (me and God), exhortation songs are about the horizontal relationship (me and you). These songs let us encourage each other. (We rarely if ever use the word "exhort," but it basically means "strongly encourage".) Some encourage us to a pursue Jesus more deeply or completely. Others, like "New Doxology," let us encourage each other (and all of creation) to give praise to God! Think of the first verse, but add "Let's all..." to each line:

"[Let us] praise God from Whom all blessings flow
[Let us] praise Him, all creatures here below
[Let us] praise Him above, ye heavenly host
[Let us] praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost"

This is a wonderfully mind-expanding and outward-focusing chorus! We remember that we dwell in the midst of all of creation, we remember the angels in heaven, and we exhort them to sing with us, praising God who blesses and sustains us! And in doing so, we are ourselves praising God.

What is your song today? Are you in a place where you are praying for God to intercede, lamenting to Him, thanking Him? Or is the song in your heart one of encouraging others to look to God? I'll cover a couple more of these song functions next week.

Defining the Relationship

A friend emailed me a question Monday morning, and it got me thinking about Sunday morning. His question: what word would you use to name the relationship between us and God?

My friend, Jerry, a former classmate at the Institute for Worship Studies, was musing on an idea. We are fond of saying following Jesus is not about religion, it's about relationship. Relationships have names: brotherhood, marriage, family. If that's the case, then wouldn't we call that relationship worship? I thought about it for a bit, and I think that yes, worship might be an apt description of our relationship with God.

Just like other relationships, worship is something we work at: it requires sacrifice, growth, investment, and time. Relationships built on mutual selflessness flourish over time. In Jesus we have the ultimate picture of selflessness, and we respond by learning to love him, learning to yield our will to his more and more each day. It's not something we're immediately good at, either. We have to constantly check ourselves: am I investing in this relationship? It may be hard to see the relationship deepening some days, but over time we see how far we have moved closer to Jesus.

Worship is the revelation-response pattern of Sunday morning: God reveals Himself, we respond. Sometimes we respond with frustration. Circumstances are given words of hurt, helplessness, even anger. There are words of joy and love spoken, but if we're not bringing our whole selves to God, we might find ourselves living a lie that hurts us. Guilt or hidden sin brings us back to the Garden, where Adam and Eve took cover when God came near. I guarantee you this: any shame we feel, any unworthiness is not the voice of God. He always loves, always forgives, always welcomes us with the open arms of a loving Father. We know this as we listen for God's voice and read God's word. Confession can be humbling, but can also restore.

And just as you become like the company you keep, or spouses become more alike over time, the more we spend time with Jesus, the more we become like him. The way Tim opened his message on Sunday is so important and so true: if you want to hear from God, you have to spend time in His word. If you want to be more like Jesus, you have to get to know Jesus. If you want to find the living water within, you have to go to the Savior by the well. When we draw near to Him, we become like Him, and He transforms us from the inside out, extending to relationships with others.

This past Sunday was a mix of emotions for me, which is also a common occurrence I've found in close relationships with others. As we sang I felt joy, peace, hope. Through the pictures of people serving and coming together on screen during the offering, I rejoiced and thanked God for all He is doing in and through New Cov. After services I prayed with others, cried with others, shared my story and listened to theirs. At the Ministry Leaders' Meeting in the afternoon I celebrated with others all that God will do this semester.

Worship is definitely relationship. So how is your worship these days? What would it look like for you to invest a bit more in seeking Jesus... on Sundays... at work... in your family... with your friends... in your neighborhood? And how will God reveal himself as you respond to him today?

A Song for Every Tribe and Nation

Take note of the following elements of yesterday's service:

- "In Christ Alone" by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend
- "Be Thou My Vision" of unknown authorship, but an eighth century Irish hymn set to the Irish folk tune "Slane"
- A contemporary version of the prayer known as St. Patrick Breastplate*
- "Build Your Kingdom Here" by Rend Collective
- The testimony of those returning from a short-term missions trip to Ireland
- "By Faith" by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend
- "Burn Like A Star" by Rend Collective

The common thread is Ireland. The Gettys, Townend, and Rend Collective all hail from Ireland. St. Patrick was instrumental in bringing Christ to Ireland in the fifth century. The theme of worship was the nation of Ireland. But why?

Revelation offers a picture of worship in heaven. Whenever we sing or praise God in prayer, we join the eternal song and eternal praise of the angels and departed around the throne. Revelation can be difficult to understand, and we can get hung up on trying to figure out every symbol and character in John's vision. If we're not careful, we see it only as a coded message to the Church, and miss all it has to say about worship.

For instance, Revelation 7 shows us a multitude before God's throne "from every nation, tribe, people and language," who cry out "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb" (7:9-10). I suppose they were crying out something like the following:

"La salvación pertenece a nuestro Dios que está sentado en el trono, y al Cordero." (Spanish)
"उद्धार के लिये हमारे परमेश्वर का जो सिंहासन पर बैठता है के अंतर्गत आता है, और भेड़ के बच्चे के लिए." (Hindi)
"Le salut est à notre Dieu, qui est assis sur le trône, et à l'Agneau." (French)
"Baineann slánú leis ár n-Dia, a shuíonn ar an gcathaoir, agus chun an Uain."(Irish)

Because Revelation tells us that every tribe, nation, people and language will be around God's throne, we must have a view of worship that includes other cultures. You may recall services in the past when we sang "Oceans" in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Or when we had the South American influences of the local band Jarana lead our music. This Sunday, we incorporated the cultural influences of a nation that is not too dissimilar, yet distant and experiencing spiritual darkness. It is important for us to sing their songs, because their cry will be raised to God around the throne.

I'm constantly reminded of Jesus' teaching that the most important commandments are to love God and to love your neighbor (Matt 22:37-39). Worship is loving God and loving  In our global culture, our neighbors include African Americans, descendants of the Sioux nation, Syrian refugees, Mexican immigrants, Chinese, Iraqi, Chilean, etc. Every tribe and nation. When we sing their songs, we accommodate them in our heart, remember them in our prayers, and make a place for them when they walk through our doors.

This week, pray for the people of Ireland. Keep their songs in your heart. And if you'd like to see hundreds of examples of worship from around the world, visit global worship.tumblr.com, curated by one of my professors, Dr. Paul Neeley.

*On Sunday, I mistakenly attributed this prayer to St. Michael instead of St. Patrick. Silly me. I apologize for the confusion.

What I Am Learning...

Almost seven years ago, I was at a worship conference in Kansas City. The conference was a sort of “choose your own agenda,” so I was looking through the optional breakout sessions when one caught my eye. It was about early church worship practices, and the instructor was with a school called The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies (IWS). I decided to attend the breakout. And thus began a very important season in my life.

See, I didn’t go to seminary. I went to UNL for a BA in Music and a BSBA in Marketing. I felt called into worship ministry a couple years after college, and was encouraged to put my resumé out there. Before I knew it, I was five years into full time worship ministry with no real sense of what that meant. I yearned for a deeper understanding of worship.

Fast forward to today. I’ve spent six years reading, studying, writing and praying. I’ve been instructed and encouraged by a diverse faculty of wise men and women on a variety of topics related to worship. I’ve attained a new title as of April 13: Doctor of Worship Studies. And while I don’t feel much different today than I did on April 12, I know the past six years have forever changed me. And I know I’m not done. Here’s some of what I learned, and what I am continuing to learn…

We need each other. At IWS I was part of a cohort: we were together from orientation day to graduation day. The exchanges I’ve shared with my classmates—who come from many denominations from around the world—over the years were sometimes eye-opening. I’ve seen my own faults, and learned to speak with love and grace, and to listen. This was a tremendous time of growth for me. I ended up writing my doctoral thesis on unity. We need others to speak wisdom into our lives.

Worship looks around as much as it looks up. Half of worship is inviting others to know God the way we know God: through Jesus. The minute we put ourselves ahead of our neighbor in worship, we start to miss the point entirely (Isaiah 58:1-11; Amos 5:21-24). Worship isn’t for me; worship is for we. How do we worship in Christ? How are we being invited into God’s story? How do we respond to the story?

God is bigger. When I started learning about the history of the church, the variegation of worship around the world, and the depth of meaning behind symbols that we tend to take for granted, I realized how limiting my view of God has been. It’s like I’ve been looking backwards through a telescope at God: He looked further away, and small. Now I see God is bigger than anything that can come my way, and He is closer than I imagined, and I have to sweep my telescope back and forth to take Him into view. Until He comes again, I will never be able to fully comprehend or appreciate God’s greatness. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.

We all have these seasons where God stretches us, changing us forever. Are you in one now? Or has God just led you through a season? Or do you feel a yearning that might lead you into a time of change? How will you respond in worship? Who will you invite along?

Story Unfolding, releasing January 27

One of the first things I was drawn to in my MWS coursework was the revelation that the Bible is a great and complete narrative. It tells God's Story from Creation, to the Fall, to Israel, to Christ, to the Church, to New Creation. It's an all-encompassing story that never ceases to amaze me. His Story has informed and molded my worldview, and it is the reason for the story I live out day by day, which is a sentence (maybe) within a paragraph, within a chapter, within a volume, within the epic Story that stretches beyond time. Heck, a sentence gives me too much. My story is like a punctuation mark. Hopefully an exclamation mark.

Living in awe of the Story has led me to desire to tell part of it. Over the past few years, most of my songs have revolved around this idea. Which is why I'm releasing Story Unfolding, a 7-song EP that will be available on January 27.

Take a look at the artwork for Story Unfolding.

The smaller story, the story of this album, started in the spring of 2012. Mark Hansen had been encouraging me to do a recording for a while, and I finally committed to a start day a few months away, in August. It's amazing what a deadline will do. Suddenly I was creating scratch tracks, rewriting lead sheets and rewriting songs and lyrics. 

The start of the recording process was a pretty full Friday and Saturday of tracking drums, guitars, and a couple vocal tracks. From there, almost every Monday and Thursday night I'd help put the kids to bed, then show up at Mark's studio around 9 and record for 60-90 minutes. Mark would add guitar and keyboard parts to the songs as he had time, and slowly each song began to take on a life and style of its own.

Tracks and stems were then sent to Eric Medley in South Carolina. Eric mixed them down, advised on changes or additions, and added his own parts. Eric also mastered the tracks.

Some songs were finished quickly. Some went through changes and tweaks. One song was nearly finished when we decided to go a different direction and had to throw out some hours of work. The process has been sometimes fun, sometimes grueling, sometimes tedious, but always worthwhile. As with most good things, it took time and work.

I'm so proud of the results. I've poured much time, energy and resources into this, and I feel it's a worthy effort.

I'll have CDs on sale for $10 at the CD Release Concert on January 27 (also featuring Daniel Christian releasing his full-length album Speak), and I've also put up a BandCamp page where the tracks will be available for download for $7 on January 27. But limited budget means I didn't have a chance to print any liner notes. Starting tomorrow, I'll post some notes on each of the songs here on my blog.

Stay tuned.

WWJS? WWPP?

A couple of fun exercises I heard of today, to challenge those of us who plan worship services:

First, WWJS?

"What would Jesus sing?"

Much of contemporary worship sings to Jesus. But Jesus would sing to the Father. In Matthew 11 he praises the Father. In John 12 Jesus says, "Father, glorify your name!" In John 8 Jesus says, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing."

So why do we sing so many songs to Jesus? I don't mean to say we should throw them out, but can we balance it with some songs that Jesus would sing? Songs that are directed to the Father, or to the Holy Spirit?

Second, WWPP?

"What would Paul plan?"

Paul is great at telling the whole story. Look at Ephesians 1:

^"3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ."

(copied from BibleGateway.com)

Whoa! He talks about grace, love, redemption, forgiveness, mystery, Christ, Christ's second coming, eternity. Paul puts in so many elements of God's story here, and we should try to do the same in planning worship services. We should tell as much of God's story as we can, as often as we can.

Maybe picking a single theme for a service isn't such a good idea, if it means neglecting the vastness of God.

Singing is Formational

One of my professors at IWS, Dr. Lester Ruth of Duke Divinity School, has been doing an exhaustive study of the language used in hymns from the 18th and 19th century and the language used in contemporary worship songs of the last 20 years. He has catalogued every noun, verb, etc. He has a spreadsheet that keeps track of it all.

Yesterday he mentioned that in the hymns he has studied, there is a theme that pops up again and again. The Christian life is seen as a journey, and so the result is a response of patience.

There is a theme found in a majority of contemporary songs of the past 20 years, too. It's that we have access to God, and the result is a response of passion.

I found that interesting.

We live in a society that is about immediate gratification. We can have whatever we want, and we can have it now. A product that you can't find in a local store can be found online. Don't have the money for it? Use a credit card.

I imagine this flows into our theology, however subtly. We have immediate access to God at any moment through Christ (which is true). He is the Way. He is the door. The temple curtain is torn in two. There is no separation between us and God anymore.

And so we rejoice in the fact that we are with God, and He, Emmanuel, is with us. And we sing variations of that over and over again, in many different keys and to many different tunes.

But what happens when God doesn't immediately answer our prayers? What happens when we watch a friend slowly die of cancer, and no healing comes? How do we respond when we feel trapped in a job, or even in a marriage?

We can always draw from the Scriptures, but in the media-driven culture that we find ourselves in, song lyrics can lodge themselves in our sub-conscious, available for reflection and reminding. Do we have songs in our head that remind us to rest in God's presence? Do we remember that God is here, no matter what we might feel at the moment? That sanctification (the renewing of ourselves in Christ) is a process that takes us all the way to physical death? That even in the hardest of times, God is present, forming us and renewing us, making us more like Christ each day, even in small increments that are indiscernable?

I've often heard people say, "I couldn't sing that song on Sunday. It just wasn't true for me."

Maybe we shouldn't be singing/writing songs that are so subjective.

Maybe we should be singing/writing songs about the object of our faith, Who never changes. Those songs are always true.

And maybe we will find ourselves steadier when the rains pour down, because we know that we stand on the solid Rock.

Step Outside Your Box

This is primarily an encouragement to my brothers and sisters at New Cov. If you've got questions or comments, you can sure leave them on this blog. But a better response would be to give me a call. Let's get a cup of coffee or lunch and talk about this.

Today marked the start of my Doctor of Worship Studies (DWS) coursework from The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies. As with every semester I spent here working on my Master of Worship Studies, we began our time together with an Opening Convocation. It was a full worship service in an Episcopal Church, including lectionary readings, corporate prayers, "passing of the peace," and Holy Communion. Keep in mind that the school is not Episcopal. But one of the churches that hosts us is, and they welcome us each semester by inviting us in to their church.

I wish you could experience what I experienced tonight.

We are a contemporary church. I love it. I love worshiping with passion, singing current songs that move me and draw me to the Father. I love our atmosphere. I've heard over and over how people feel welcome at New Cov.

An Episcopal service is almost a polar opposite of what we experience each week (in terms of worship style and structure). And yet...

It was so moving, so full of God's presence. It dripped with vitality and authenticity. Whether singing a communion song by Matt Maher or a hymn from the Liturgy of St. James, whether kneeling to pray or raising my hands to praise, God's presence was as real and as incredible as ever I've known.

The architecture: the room is shaped like a cross; the vaulted ceilings remind us of the heavenly realms; the inversion of which would look like a boat to remind us of the ark and God's salvation...

The procession: the Bible is brought in for the Gospel reading, lifted high, and all faces turn to watch it, which reminds us that Jesus is the Word made flesh...

Communion: the wafer and the wine (not grape juice) are tangible symbols of Jesus' presence with us...

All this to say...

When you read the above, do you automatically discount it? Do you label it "tradition" and turn away? Or do you try to find God in it? How often do we create a box for what we believe worship should look like or feel like? How small is our box? How big is our God?

I wish you could experience what I experienced tonight. 

It reminded me (and it has each time I've been here) that worship should not be based on our preferences or our cultural setting so much as it should be based on Christ and His saving work, and the realness of His presence wherever the Church (the Body of Christ and His bride) are gathered. That makes worship real, and authentic, and powerful. Not us, but Jesus.

Don't limit yourself to thinking that unless you are moved emotionally, unless the song is one of your favorites, unless the message speaks to you, that God was not moving with power in the worship. God is so much bigger than us.

More coming as the week moves on. I look forward to continuing to help us (myself included) understand what it is to worship.

300 Pages Toward Liking Robert Francis Taft

Liturgy is interesting to me. Not so interesting that I'd write essays to comprise a 305 page book about it, however. Robert F. Taft, though, did just that, and I'm glad I read his Beyond East and West: Problems in Liturgical Understanding.

Honestly, some of the chapters were difficult to read, and almost impossible to skim. I just don't need to know that much yet about the methodology behind tracing the origins and developments of particular parts of liturgy over several centuries.

Others, though, got me thinking. A lot. I almost skipped the last chapter in the book, which is a written response from a journal called Worship when Taft received the 1985 Berakah Award. But there are some gems in there, and I present them here for your thoughts.

On ecumenism...

"The most important new language I learned in those years, however, was the language of ecumenism. Ecumenism is not just a movement. It is a new way of being Christian. It is also a new way of being a scholar. Ecumenical scholarship means much more than scholarly objectivity, goes much further than just being honest and fair. It attempts to work disinterestedly, serving no cause but the truth wherever it is to be found. It seeks to see things from the other's point of view, to take seriously the other's critique of one's own communion and its historic errors and failings. ... it seeks to put the best interpretation on what the other does and says, to shine the exposing light of criticism evenly, on the failings of one's own church as well as on those of others. In short, it seeks to move Christian love into the realm of scholarship, and it is the implacable enemy of all forms of bigotry, intolerance, unfairness, selective reporting, and oblique comparisons that contrast the unrealized ideal of one's own church with the less-than-ideal reality of someone else's."

And elsewhere, a quote from St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises: "... every good Christian ought to be more willing to give a good interpretation to the statement of another than to condemn it as false."

That's huge. We need to come out from behind our denominational doctrines and embrace our brothers and sisters as true intellectual and spiritual equals. We're all trying to just figure it out, what it means to follow Jesus Christ, and we have so much to learn from each other. The Church (capital "C") is not about us coming to the same doctrinal conclusions. It's about embracing the rich tapestry of orthodoxy and praxis and being the Church, the body of Christ, with all its different parts and movements and strengths and weaknesses.

Another quote, this time on creativity in worship. He's talking about how creativity -- of composers, artists, liturgists, poets, etc. -- becomes liturgy (the work of the people) only when it's received by the church...

"Creativity within a tradition is a creativity guided and limited by something more important than the creator.

"Does that mean that tradition stifles creativity? To maintain that is to fly in the face of the entire history of music, drama, literature -- and liturgy. Would anyone seriously wish to argue that musicians performing a Beethoven symphony are not being musically creative unless they rearrange the movements, interpolate a few melodies of their own, and throw out half of what Beethoven composed? Is an actor no artist unless he wrote the play, a soprano no diva unless she composed the aria? Are Shakespeare's tragedies or sonnets less creative because he did not invent the genres? Is T.S. Eliot no poet because he wrote in English instead of in an Esperanto of his own making?

"I think it is time that we liturgists came out strongly against this school-play approach to the awesome worship of God, and returned to the people the tradition that is theirs, not just ours. Let us preach what the church has always told us, that the first spontaneity and creativity of Christian worship is that of hearts and minds freely raised to God in love and song and prayer.

"What I am trying to say is that I must let the liturgy speak for itself instead of trying to make it speak for me, instead of exploiting it as a medium of self-expression. Like medieval cathedrals, liturgies were created not as monuments to human creativity, but as acts of worship. The object of worship is not self-expression, not even self-fulfillment, but God."

We run the risk of setting up creativity as an idol before God. It is human nature to recognize and praise that which is unique and beautiful and awe-inspiring. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. If anything, we should always give words of encouragement to the artists around us, who are doing their best to be creators in the Spirit of the Creator.

But it becomes sin when, once we've recognized something wonderful, we don't then turn and recognize the Creator behind the creator.

Artists, I'd also venture that it's a sin to put our own self-expression above the needs and worship expressions of our churches. It's beautiful selfishness. Don't hear me wrong: be creative, absolutely! But don't use the church as a stage for your creativity. If you are bringing creativity into times of corporate worship, then serve the corporate setting. Serve the church. Serve the body of Christ that it might be built up and encouraged to do the work of God in the world. That is a noble and worthy use of our art. It's beautiful self-sacrifice, an imitation of Christ that will last long after our art is forgotten.

Liturgy

I'm reading Springtime of the Liturgy by Lucien Deiss for my Masters of Worship Studies degree. I've been reading some of the more significant writings of Clement of Rome, Saint Justin, Melito of Sardis, as well as portions of the Didache, sources of Jewish prayer, and early canticles of the church. I know, it sounds fascinating. But, actually... it is!

Unfortunately, half the stuff I'm reading makes me wish I knew more about what I'm reading about. In other words, this is becoming a survey of the topic, a scratching of the surface of a rich and complex history of Christian writings that I have up to now known nothing about. There's a coffee house my mother-in-law introduced me to called Agia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) that has shelves of books by the Church Fathers. My curiosity has presently been piqued, and I look forward to flipping through some pages over a few cups of coffee next time I'm there.

I had to share this quote, though, from the wisdom of Hippolytus, a priest in the church of Rome around 200 AD. He wrote a blessing for when someone brings an offering of cheese or olives:

"Again, if someone offers cheese and olives, let the bishop pray thus:

Sanctify this curdled milk
by uniting us to your love.
Grant too that this fruit of the olive tree
may never lose its sweetness.
It is a symbol of the abundance
that you made flow from the tree (of the cross),
to give life to those who hope in you."

The best part, though, is the footnote after the first sentence of the prayer. "Sanctify this curdled milk by uniting us to your love" literally means, "make this coagulated milk holy by coagulating us to your love."

Wow.

There are elements of ancient praxis that I think we lack in church today. Likening our union in Christ to the coagulation of milk is not one of them. Ha, ha.

The Younger Evangelicals

I'm in the second of three books I need to finish by the time class starts in June. The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World by Robert E. Webber is a challenging read, but it's been good so far. I'm still trying to decide what I think about it. I read tonight this summary of the differences in theology between fundamentalist evangelicals, pragmatic evangelicals, and what Webber describes as the younger evangelicals, the next generation of evangelical church leaders. Tell me if this resonates with you:

"The younger evangelical is at odds with the traditional and pragmatic evangelical when it comes to theological method. The method of the traditionalist [fundamentalist] is to treat theology as a science, subject, as all other sciences are, to the empirical method. Through an analysis of the data of revelation, one could be brought to propositional truth. Theology, the traditionalist says, is a system of objective truth understood by the mind. The pragmatists, on the other hand, are not theologians and care little for the nuances of theological thinking. They tend to reduce theology to Christianity 101 to make it clear and understandable to the seeker.
"The younger evangelical sees theology as the way to understand the world. It is an understanding based on the biblical narrative. This is the approach to faith that has captured the postmodern mind. Postmoderns have abandoned the modern worldview in which the supremacy of interpretation is given to science. In this context younger evangelicals are calling on us to see the world primarily through the Christian story. They believe in the God revealed in the great events of creation, incarnation, and re-creation, interpreted first by the prophets and apostles in Scripture, protected in creeds, and handed down to us in the worship of the church. This is the growing vision of the younger evangelical, a vision that stands within the historic confession of faith. Theology is not a science but a reflection of God's community on the narrative of God's involvement in history as found in the story of Israel and Jesus."

These are broad strokes in a much more complex issue, but do you see this in your church experience?

Ancient-Future Worship

I started reading a book for MWS503 this week. It's called Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God's Narrative, and it's the last book Robert Webber wrote before he died in 2007. He even writes in the intro about the book being completed just weeks before his passing.

I wanted to post a quote that I feel has a lot of weight, before I forget it. There's so much to think about in the following paragraph. Feel free to comment, or not. I'm posting this in large part for myself. In keeping with the author's advice, I went to the conclusion of the book after finishing the introduction. In the conclusion I read this:

"What stands at the very center of worship is Word and sacrament, through which God's vision for the world is proclaimed and enacted. What contextualizes this worship more than anything else is its music. Music is the vehicle that communicates worship in the language of the people. Music is also the vehicle of our personal response to the story of God's work in history. We also proclaim God's story in hymn and song, but nowhere in Scripture or in the history of the church have hymns and songs ever been held as a replacement for Word and Table. Word and Table remain the God-ordained way to remember God's saving deeds in history and anticipate his final triumph over death and all that is evil. So if you want to do ancient-future worship, learn God's story and do it in Word and Table and use hymns and songs for responses not only from the great treasury of the church through the centuries but also from music that is current."

The Essentials of Biblical Christian Worship

As a preface, let me state that the following, my final paper for MWS 501 (A Biblical Theology of Christian Worship), is not even close to comprehensive. This is a huge topic, and I have read so much over the past few months. There is so much more to talk about in this area. But we're limited to 3,000 words (the following is 2,997) so this is what I came up with.

I'm pleased with the result, and though it was difficult to write, the process of writing really helped to clarify it in my head.

So, brave reader, enjoy the following. Or fall asleep trying.

The Essentials of Biblical Christian Worship:
Responding to the Revelation of God

“Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.”[1]

Latreuein is a Greek term occurring about 90 times in the Septuagint. Based on its use in Biblical and non-biblical literature, it would probably be best translated “to serve.”[2] Yet we see it in verses like Exodus 3:12, which reads, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”[3] In other words, God told Moses that God’s people were to serve Him at Mount Sinai, as a form of worship to Him.

Do we recognize this truth? What is our concept of the word “worship”? Do we incorporate service, homage, reverence, and awe into these seven letters, or do we have a much smaller picture of what the word means?

Worship is more than activities that take place on the weekend. And yet the language of today suggests that worship is a few well-rehearsed and well-transitioned songs. We in the church ask each other questions like, “How was worship today?” This gives the impression that worship is a measure of human experience or performance. Worship leaders use phrases such as, “Now let’s continue to worship,” or “Let’s spend some time in worship.” This implies that worship is confined to a specific time in the worship service. Just as the word “worship” is full to the brim with meaning, so also do these phrases sometimes overflow with unintended connotations. Over the history of the church, and perhaps the last half-century in particular, we have limited the scope of what it means to worship.

To redefine worship, to regain the richness of what it means to worship, we must look to the Bible. The Bible is at its core God’s story, the true story of God and the world He created.[4] Creation came forth from the words of God, and to gain an understanding of what it is to worship the Creator, we must look to God’s word to us, the Bible.

God has, throughout the history of man, initiated and defined the relationship between Himself and his people. At Mount Sinai, as part of his covenant with Israel, God gave Moses detailed instructions on the sacrificial system, the building of the tabernacle, and the laws which would guide the Israelites.[5] These were the boundaries for worshiping God. In Jesus we see the fulfillment of each of these boundaries, and Christ confirmed this with his words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”[6] If we are going to understand worship, we must first acknowledge that God, through Jesus Christ, has established the foundation, and is the foundation.

With that in mind, this paper will seek to define and defend the essential elements of Christian worship from a Biblical perspective. Drawing from Scripture’s examples in the Old and New Testaments, we will explore four essential facets of true worship. First, worship needs to be Trinitarian in theology and in practice. Second, it must recognize the struggles of the present age but anticipate the coming kingdom. Third, true worship, though not limited to the “worship service,” is demonstrated by the structure and content of believers’ gatherings. And finally, authentic worship encompasses all aspects of the worshiper’s life and faith.

Trinitarian

We live in an individualistic culture that sways dangerously into the realm of narcissism, concerned with my rights, my life, my liberty, self-esteem, self-worth, self-realization.[7] It is only natural that when worshiping God, we see worship in the same light: my baptism, my offering, my church.

The problem is that this way of thinking is antithetical to one of the great mysteries of God: the Trinity. This way of thinking is—in practice—Unitarian. By contrast, Trinitarian worship recognizes the importance of the Trinity and articulates the view that “worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son’s communion with the Father.”[8] In other words, worship is not our own. Worship is participation in Christ’s worship of the Father.

One of the key elements of Trinitarian worship is belief in the sole priesthood of Christ. When God established his covenant with the Israelites at Mount Sinai, the Day of Atonement was provided to deal with the sins of Israel. The high priest would each year carry out the appropriate rites to remove the sins from the people of God. In this way Israel would remain holy and continue to be the nation that God blessed and through whom God blessed the world. In the letter to the Hebrews, we see that Jesus was the ultimate high priest, offering once and for all atonement for the sins of mankind. “The perfection of his sacrifice makes it possible for him to enter heaven itself, ‘now to appear for us in God’s presence.’”[9]

This is crucial to our understanding of worship. The only way that our sacrifice, our offerings, and our worship is acceptable to God is through Christ, our high priest. In other words, we must understand our worship as a participation in the perfect worship of Christ. We can not view our offerings as our own, but by the Spirit we participate in Christ’s worship of the Father. “It is he who leads our worship, bears our sorrows on his heart and intercedes for us, presenting us to the Father in himself as God’s dear children, and uniting us with himself in his life in the Spirit.”[10] This removes any chance of pride or performance from our worship.

Our view of worship will also carry into all aspects of faith and spirituality. John Witvliet had it right when he wrote that worship “both reflects and shapes our view of God and the world.”[11] Thus, a Trinitarian view of worship causes one to understand life in Christ as participation in the Trinity. Communion, for example, is an extension of the Son’s communion with the Father. [12] Baptism, too, is not our own, but a participation by the Spirit in the baptism, death and resurrection of Christ.[13]

A Trinitarian view of worship recognizes that worship is not about us. It is not by our own power or righteousness. Instead, worship is about Christ. The only way we have access to the throne of God in heaven is because He is our mediator, our high priest, and our lead worshiper. With this truth we can rest in the assurance that Christ has offered all the offering and sacrifice necessary to secure our salvation. Our worship is not a means of gaining favor with God, but a thanksgiving to God for his saving grace given to us through Jesus Christ.

Present and Future Age

A second essential element of Christian worship has to do with our understanding of time. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”[14] One might read this and discern that the old self is gone and we are a new creation in Christ. This is true, but the statement also points to an understanding of time. Paul was trained as a Pharisee, and as such he thought of time in terms of “the present age” (pre-Messianic advent) and “the age to come” (post-Messianic advent). Paul’s statement in Corinthians understands that the old age is passing away, and the age of the kingdom of God has now arrived in the death and the resurrection of Christ.[15]

There is a tension here, though. For if God’s kingdom has come in Christ, why is there still sin and evil in the world? In Paul’s understanding, the answer is that the old age and the age to come are now overlapping. The evidence of this is the Spirit. Paul describes the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing the fullness of the kingdom coming soon.[16] This tension recognizes the importance of the Spirit. Beyond that, there are two reasons we must understand the tension between the “already” and the “not yet.”

First, we must recognize our current mission in the “already.” One of the terms of God’s covenant with Abraham, Jacob, and the Israelites, is that God would bless the nations through them.[17] God had set them apart for this purpose, but the purpose was never fully accomplished by the Israelites. So God in his wisdom sent his Son. At the start of the gospel of Matthew, the evangelist uses a genealogy to trace the generations from Abraham, who was set apart, to Joseph, husband of Mary, mother of Christ. This connects the mission of the Israelites to the mission of Christ. Matthew ends, too, with Christ making this commission to his disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”[18]

Christ, then, is the fruition of God’s covenant with Abraham, Jacob, and the nation of Israel to redeem the world. And in Jesus’ words to his disciples, he commissioned the church to be part of the same calling.

Worship, therefore, must embody in Christians a lifestyle that is winsome to the nations. That is our purpose for this time. Our songs should sing the language of bringing Christ to the nations. Our resources should go towards evangelism, missions, and outreach. Our prayers should petition God to bring justice to the oppressed.

God has given us this time to recognize that things are not right, and we have a part in making it right.[19] And worship should be the fuel that moves us outside the walls of our church buildings. Though sin and death surrounds us, we are to be a light to the nations, pointing people to Christ with our words and indeed our entire lives.

Second, we must recognize our future hope, the “not yet.” Dr. Gerald Borchert calls this the Eschatological Perspective as found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.[20] We are to live and find hope and joy in the expectation of Christ’s return. This perspective can be found in the entirety of Philippians. Paul encourages the church at Philippi to grow in knowledge and insight “until the day of Christ.” Live according to the gospel in the knowledge that “you will be saved—and that by God.” Press on toward our citizenship in heaven because “we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”[21]

When we live in the light of Christ’s return, we remember that we are not alone. Christ is with us by the Spirit. We also remember that Christ’s final victory over sin is already won. Most importantly, we remember our security of salvation in Christ. This affects the way we proclaim Him, the way we view Table Worship, the way we minister to others, and all aspects of our faith. Our songs should point to the promise of Christ’s return.

The Worship Service

A third essential of Biblical Christian worship deals with the worship service. When most people hear the word “worship” they think of the worship service. Worship services in Christian churches around the world take a variety of styles and forms. Some churches claim their worship to be contemporary, others blended, still others traditional. Musical instruments, artistic expressions, usage of Scripture, and views of the sacraments vary greatly between denominations.

What is the Biblical model for the worship service? Is there a right and wrong way to conduct services? In Planning Blended Worship, Robert Webber wisely begins the discussion by differentiating between style, structure, and content.[22] The content of Christian worship must be Trinitarian, which has already been addressed in this paper. We turn now to elements of structure and style.

The structure that Webber strongly recommends is based on the church in Acts as well as the church through its first 600 years. This structure is the fourfold pattern of worship: Gathering, Service of the Word, Table Worship, and Dismissal.[23] In my view, the Service of the Word and Table Worship are of particular importance to this discussion, and are absolutely essential. Both activities find their roots in Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”[24]

The Service of the Word is transformative in the worship service. God’s words in the opening chapter of Genesis cause creation to burst forth.[25] Much later when God speaks to Job, Job is overcome by his unworthiness to reply and covered his mouth in silence.[26] These are just two illustrations of the power of the word of God. The written word of God—the Bible—is awe-inspiring and life-changing. It “takes up residence within us and shapes us into Christ’s likeness.”[27] Therefore Scripture must be a regular part of the worshiper’s life, and it must be an integral part of the worship service.

Table Worship should also be a regular part of the worship service. Four images have formed our understanding of worship at the Table. The breaking of bread in Acts 2:42 (cross reference Luke 24), the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:20, Communion in 1 Corinthians 10:16, and Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 14:16.[28] These pictures express, respectively, the presence of the resurrected Christ, remembrance of Christ’s death for our sins, participation in the intimate relationship we have with Christ, and thanksgiving for God’s gift of salvation to us.[29] These are essential aspects of worship. We must always recognize the presence of the resurrected Christ. We must remember Jesus’ sacrifice and give thanks for our salvation. And we must acknowledge that we are part of the body of Christ, along with every other believer.

This leads to another essential aspect of the worship service, which is also apparent in Acts 2:42. Koinonia, or fellowship, was a huge part of the early church meetings. A danger of our individualistic culture is the tendency for worship services to become based on individual experience, which creates a sort of “tunnel vision” relationship between the individual and God. While our relationship with God is obviously crucial, we should also give attention to other believers. Based on Paul’s language in verses such as 1 Corinthians 14:3-26, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, and Ephesians 4:11-16, a purpose of the worship gathering is mutual upbuilding or edification.[30] The church is the body of Christ, and it needs growing and maturing. As noted before, worship is often synonymous with service. In this case, serving each other worships God, and builds up the body of Christ in the process. “In one sense the body of Christ is already complete.... In another sense that body is said to grow to perfection… The body metaphor reflects the ‘already—not yet’ tension of the two ages. It is a heavenly entity and yet it is an earthly reality.”[31] Our worship must consider others and seek to build them up. Examples of structural elements that serve this purpose are hymns, which not only praise God, but they are rich in theology, and are thus a teaching tool. Other examples are times of discussion following the teaching, times of intercessory or healing prayer, and the passing of the peace.

The worship service, then, serves a number of purposes integral to Biblical worship. First, there must be a focus on the word of God, which changes us into the likeness of Christ. Second, there must be a proper understanding of the table, which gives us proper attitudes of celebration, thanksgiving, remembrance, and participation. Third, the worship service is not only vertical, looking to God, but horizontal, looking to those around us. These purposes of the worship service are all essential to Christian worship, because as stated in a quote by John Witvliet earlier, our worship and our view of God and the world around us are interrelated. In forming a worship service that includes these aspects, we are guiding believers to live out their faith in the world in these ways.

And what of style? Webber again sums it up nicely:

“Style is not now, nor has ever been, a matter of biblical tradition. Whether our worship is formal, informal, or a combination of both, the style of worship depends on taste. We must allow our style to reflect who we are as a people. No one style is normative for all churches.”[32]

Authentic Worship

I will conclude with a final essential of Biblical Christian worship that has been alluded to throughout this paper. True Christian worship is not confined to the worship service, but encompasses all aspects of faith and life, so that the profession of faith in worship matches the living out of that faith.

In James’ letter to believers, he instructs them to avoid double-mindedness. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”[33] Our worship, what we profess on Sunday, should be evidenced by how we live our lives Monday through Saturday.

Worship that is inconsistent with life transformation is empty and unacceptable to God. Through the prophet Amos, God tells Israel “Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”[34] To worship the Father in a way that is acceptable to Him, we must let the Spirit transform us to be Christ to the world:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”[35]

True worship shows reverence and homage to God, serves God, points others to Christ, demonstrates the wonder of the Trinity, is mediated through Jesus, and is meaningfully structured in the worship service. It is our present and expectant response to the revelation of God, and it will transform us until Christ returns.

Sources Consulted

Bartholomew, Craig G. and Michael W. Goheen. The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004.

Bechtel, Carol M., ed. Touching the Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008.

Borchert, Gerald L. Worship in the New Testament: Divine Mystery and Human Response. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2008.

McCann, J. Clinton, Jr. “The Hope of the Poor: The Psalms in Worship and Our Search for Justice.” In Touching the Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship, edited by Carol M. Bechtel, 155-178. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008.

Peterson, David. Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992.

Torrance, James B. Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Webber, Robert. Planning Blended Worship: The Creative Mixture of Old and New. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998.

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[1] Bob Dylan. “Gotta Serve Somebody”, Slow Train Coming, Sony Music Entertainment Inc., 1979.

[2] David Peterson, Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 64.

[3] Exodus 3:12, (New International Version), emphasis mine.

[4] Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 11.

[5] Exod. 20-31 (NIV).

[6] John 14:6 (NIV).

[7] Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) quoted in James B. Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 41.

[8] Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 30.

[9] Peterson, Engaging With God, p. 229-230. Hebrews 9:24 (NIV).

[10] Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, 29.

[11] John D. Witvliet, series preface to Touching The Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship by Carol M. Bechtel, editor (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008), xi.

[12] Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, 32.

[13] Ibid, 74.

[14] 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV).

[15] Bartholomew and Goheen, The Drama of Scripture, 188-189.

[16] 2 Cor. 1:22 (NIV).

[17] Genesis 12:3, 22:18, 28:14, Exodus 19:6 (NIV).

[18] Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV).

[19] J. Clinton McCann, Jr., “Hope of the Poor: The Psalms in Worship and Our Search for Justice,” in Touching the Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008), 160.

[20] Gerald L. Borchert, Worship in the New Testament: Divine Mystery and Human Response (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2008), 140-145.

[21] Philippians 1:10,28; 3:20 (NIV).

[22] Robert Webber, Planning Blended Worship: The Creative Mixture of Old and New (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 20-22.

[23] Ibid, 20.

[24] Acts 2:42 (NIV).

[25] Genesis 1 (NIV).

[26] Job 40:1-5 (NIV).

[27] Webber, Planning Blended Worship, 88.

[28] Ibid, 129.

[29] Ibid, 130-131.

[30] Peterson, Engaging With God, p. 206.

[31] P. T. O’Brien “The Church as a Heavenly and Eschatological Entity”, 111, quoted by Peterson, Engaging With God, 210-211.

[32] Webber, Planning Blended Worship, 22.

[33] James 1:22 (NIV).

[34] Amos 5:22,24 (NIV).

[35] Romans 12:1-2 (NIV).