FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005,1:28 p.m.
Worship First, Style Later
I read an interesting blog the other day by a fellow in seminary. It seems he's been taking a course on church worship history (or something like that) and was musing on style, and how to blend the traditional with something for the modern worshipper, or whether to even attempt it.
It's left me continuing to think about worship and our views on it. We, as the church, definitely have some pretty ingrained thoughts about worship, and everyone has an opinion, including me, of course. But my thoughts are less about what style I prefer (yes, I do have a style preference, especially when it comes to musical worship, but it doesn't need to be stated here - for all intents and purposes, it is actually irrelevant) and more about the fact that style should really be an afterthought. We have been batting around the phrase "It's not about me, it's all about You, Jesus" for quite some time, yet I still think we are missing it. We still so often focus first on what type of worship gathering we like to go to, who's leading worship, and whether we "feel led into worship" when we get together.
I am more and more of the opinion that what comes FIRST is our commitment to offering GOD something that is a worthy sacrifice - the fruit of lips that seek to praise the Lord from the depths of the heart. When we come together to do only that, how can there possibly be any 'fights' about style or any disunity among the believers? Style will come later when we realize who we are as a group and the reflection of our personalities will create what style we choose to worship through - whether we sing hymns or choruses, whether we feed people in the downtown east side, or whether we sit and visit with the lonely elderly person living in a care facility. But I truly believe that our desire to bring honour and obedience to the King should be our first priority. Our style will follow, and should always be subservient to our desire to worship with abandon and authenticity.
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. (Hebrews 13:15)
It's left me continuing to think about worship and our views on it. We, as the church, definitely have some pretty ingrained thoughts about worship, and everyone has an opinion, including me, of course. But my thoughts are less about what style I prefer (yes, I do have a style preference, especially when it comes to musical worship, but it doesn't need to be stated here - for all intents and purposes, it is actually irrelevant) and more about the fact that style should really be an afterthought. We have been batting around the phrase "It's not about me, it's all about You, Jesus" for quite some time, yet I still think we are missing it. We still so often focus first on what type of worship gathering we like to go to, who's leading worship, and whether we "feel led into worship" when we get together.
I am more and more of the opinion that what comes FIRST is our commitment to offering GOD something that is a worthy sacrifice - the fruit of lips that seek to praise the Lord from the depths of the heart. When we come together to do only that, how can there possibly be any 'fights' about style or any disunity among the believers? Style will come later when we realize who we are as a group and the reflection of our personalities will create what style we choose to worship through - whether we sing hymns or choruses, whether we feed people in the downtown east side, or whether we sit and visit with the lonely elderly person living in a care facility. But I truly believe that our desire to bring honour and obedience to the King should be our first priority. Our style will follow, and should always be subservient to our desire to worship with abandon and authenticity.
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. (Hebrews 13:15)
