Thursday, July 24, 2008

More

I'm a guitar player, and a worship leader. And I have really appreciated the way that Christ followers have renewed an emphasis on expressions of worship over the last 2 1/2 decades.

But I wonder if you've noticed something. Maybe it's just me- where I'm at personally, but I think it's more than that. And as a somebody who loves worship, it bugs me.

We talk so much about "worship" today, but often that talk ends up centering around music. Like I said, music is a huge part of my life, and I recognize it to be a big part worship. But worship goes much further. Paul described it this way:

"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."
-Romans 12:1

If we accept that Paul knew what he was talking about, then surely worship includes, but must be more than, what we can experience in a public gathering for an hour or so once a week. It also must therefore be more than any one element that goes into it- like music.

Worship is also about our daily interaction with God. It's a constant conversation.

It's a lifestyle.

I wanted to talk a little about worship through prayer this week, and as I was updating the C3 Prayer Partners blog, I got a little carried away. So, I think I'll point you over there for the rest of this entry, because it just made sense to write about prayer on the prayer blog (I know, "Thank you, captain obvious.").
Hope you join me for the rest of my rant! www.prayc3.blogspot.com
In Him We Live,
Jeff

5 comments:

katdish said...

You TOTALLY have to read "The God Who Smokes". I just finished it. I promise you: You will dig it the most! There's an especially cool passage about David. I could tell you about it, but I don't want to give it away. I think you would relate to it very well. Come and get it!

Kris said...

worship is a lifestyle. it is not just 15 minutes before a sermon. good rant jeff

kw

Anonymous said...

In the case of SLCC chapel services, worship is 12-15 minutes before the introduction to the sermon. Just kidding. :)

Jeff, tell me about what you're doing with the church in Texas - I'd love to hear what's up with you guys.

Fred::Erin::Eliana said...

the only perfect comment for this post is to quote my mother after i hassled her about being late for church:

"what difference does it make, all you do is sing for the first half hour anyway."

...well, there you go.

-fred-

Anonymous said...

"Worship" is an interesting phenomena since God chooses to be pleased with an activity that is so culturally defined. There has been so much evolution of the practice - from sermons, to songs. Our modern sense of musical worship came from the Methodist revival - Charles Wesley. Kind of unbelievable since so many Methodist churches today are kind of deadpan. Anyway, there are thousands of cultural expressions of biblically sound worship just waiting for a white-bread American to enjoy!