Well...over the past week i've been pondering ideas about worship. Like, what is worship? Is it a ritual act or sacrament? Or is it who we are, what we do, how we act?
What's it all about?
I see worship as a lifestyle. As long as we do things for the glory of God and to honour him, then its worship. Every mundane thing we do interests God. I think sometimes i forget that. If your heart is in it, then its beautiful to him.
This morning in a lecture at Uni, one of the BTh students, who is on their way to being an Anglican Minister, suggested that it was inappropriate to expect people to partake in worship that was not the style they were comfortable with. She suggested that, as leaders, we should do some sort of 'market research' to try to work out what people like and dislike and find something that the majority are comfortable with. It just majorly struck me that actually that shouldn't be the reason for worship. It is not about us. The way we worship isn't about how we feel, or what we think of it. Its about God. It's all for his glory.
Another point that was raised was that people shouldn't be expected to sing upbeat songs if they are not in a good mood, or if they are having a hard time. It just got to me that they really firmly believed that worshipping in that way was about how WE feel about it, and what WE like to do, and what WE see as acceptable. It seemed silly to suggest that if we're not in a good mood then we shouldn't be expected to give God glory in our worship. Can you imagine what would have happened if Jesus decided he couldn't be bothered to glorify God, by dying for our sins because he wasn'tin a good mood, or because he didn't feel like it?! Somehow I think we need to re-think that idea, and realise again that no...it isn't about us.
A lot of the time we think that acceptable worship is only what is beautiful. What sounds good, or looks nice or fits into our comfortable idea of what is right. But sometimes the most beauty comes from the unexpected. God loves every sincere worship we offer to him.
Are aestheitcs important to God? NO! But that doesn't mean we should just give him any old rubbish. But at the same time, we shouldn't ever think that the worship we offer to him is not good enough, just because it doesn't seem perfect to us.
Sometimes I find it hard to take part in and act of worship without thinking too much about why i'm doing things a certain way, or about the way I act or the way I look. But if I take a step back, I can see that none of that is important. If my heart is in it, then it can't be wrong.
"I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You,
It's all about You, Jesus"
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1 comment:
I agree that worship is a lifestyle... Frances of Assisi is quoted as saying::
"Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary , use words"
I love that! The idea that people should know about and see the bible and the word of God just from how we act every single day! Hope that makes sense!
The other thing i was thinking after reading your last paragraph was the song lyric... "if your hearts alright you'll do, you'll do...." silly i know but hey!
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