Worship Archives
The more acquainted we are with the full breadth of human expression and experience in the psalms, the deeper our relationship with God will be. It is the diversity of the psalms that stretches us. The wide variety of psalms challenges us to know God in ways that go beyond our comfortable routines.
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Alternative worship stands in marked contrast to what most Christians
(especially of the evangelical persuasion) have inherited, that is, a
Christianity that is deeply suspicious of tradition, ritual, and embodied worship of any type. In contrast to this modern suspicion, the full heritage of the Christian faith possesses a rich history of sacred art, icons, incense, stations, gestures, postures, smells, sounds, and tastes.
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We cling to a vision of ourselves at the center of the universe and God at the periphery. Corporate worship shatters this illusion, and in the process, spiritually transforms us. Worship invites us to give God the highest place in our hearts – the first place – so everything else can be put in its proper place, in relation to God.
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Two recent books offer the ultimate “outsiders” perspective of the Christian Church - that of atheists. But how will atheists – who dogmatically reject the existence of any transcendent, supernatural reality – accurately evaluate services intended to celebrate and respond to a transcendent and supernatural reality?
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Ultimately, what Marva Dawn desires in worship is what all good Christians should pursue: a complete engagement of all that one is with all that God is for us in Christ through the Spirit - worship that is not superficial, faddish, reductionistic, or, in her words, "dumbed down."
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God ordained worship to be full of sweet fragrances and pleasing aromas. True worship was meant to smell good. Those immersed in worship would go away bearing this smell into the world. The scriptures call us to make our lives a fragrant aroma to God. The very name “Christ” carries with it the memory of sacred smell. “Christ” is Greek for “the Anointed One.”
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Worship, not evanglism, is the number-one function of the church. The way we worship is directly connected to effective evangelism. There would be a newfound excitement for church if it truly was what it is supposed to be -- a place to meet with, hear from, and respond to God.
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What are the current weaknesses in contemporary worship music? The absence of Trinitarian language and recounting God's story, a low regard for the church, an over-reliance on romantic ideals, the lack of a social justice vision and expressions of human pain and suffering - these are all problematic in the large scope of Christian faith and practice.
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We will never really take advantage of the fullness of worship possibilities until we include all the church has to offer over her long history of worshiping God.
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