This is what Christian Worship Should Look Like

[Clare73]

Didn't know who Eric Metaxes was, you referred to. Looked him up; Oh Yes!

Who was the Pastor?

H. Edwin Young

 

[The Liturgist]

For point of reference, in Lutheran Service Book, we are given a choice; the historic one year lectionairy that is more or less the same to the Tridentine one (actually pre-trent) and our mildly revised three year one. It is a free choice of the Pastor and Congregation to decide.

The LSB is really very good.

 

[ViaCrucis]

For me, true worship is not something which is rehersed, or a performance, but something which spontaneously rises from within you inward being. Worship is an outpouring of love and an expression of your love for God who is your all in all. Also I think that praising God has a lot to do with our thankfulness for what He has done for us. If it's not an outpouring of your Heart, then what is it?

Are we all not those who have an awareness of what God has done for us. Are there not just times when we are aware of God's touch upon our lives, are these the only times we we reach out to Him? What about the times when nothing special has happened to us, can we not still reach out to Him, because we delight ourselves in our God?

I have two thoughts when reading this. The first is that such spontaneous praise and heartfelt thankfulness is not negated by the liturgy, but rather the liturgy provides the space in which those things happen in genuine, Spirit-led, and biblically and theologically sound ways.

My second thought is that I think that there has been a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about what worship means, and what it is. By that I mean many of us have been conditioned to think of worship as an interior experience that is expressed in certain ways, or is exterior acts themselves; but for a while I've been re-thinking what worship really is.

We read in Scripture that the heavens declare the glory of God, and in Isaiah 55:12 we read that the mountains and hills will sing songs of joy and the trees of the field will clap their hands. That is, all of creation worships God. Not because the hills and mountains literally sing, or trees clap, or the sun, moon, and stars, and galaxies etc are engaging in certain actions or feeling certain emotions. But because the sun, being the sun, worships God--it does what it was made to do. All of creation does what it was meant to do (even though, on our account, creation labors and suffers the pains of death). The only creature that fails to do this is us. We're the ones who are sinful, we are out of alignment, and our misalignment hurts the rest of creation.

In that vein I've been thinking, what does it mean for human beings to worship God. And I think I would argue that it means being human, being human the way we were meant to be human. But on account of sin we don't do that, our alienation from God meant that even though all the works of His hands declare His glory and power, we have fallen into idolatry (Romans 1:18-23). And so the whole point of God's redemptive work throughout history, calling Abraham out from Ur, making His covenant with Israel at Sinai, giving the promise of David's line all leading toward Christ; and in Christ is redemption for this world. For Christ being the new man and second Adam has ended the bondage and slavery which Adam sold us all into, by His life, death, and resurrection. And it is in Christ that we are now reconciled back to God, and the whole Christian enterprise of God justifying us by His grace, working on us to mold us into the image of Christ, and thus our whole Christian life of the dying of the old Adam and the rising of the new man in Christ is worship. So Christian worship looks like hearing the word of God preached, it looks like acts of service done for our neighbor done out of love, it looks like forgiveness of our sins, and forgiving our neighbor. It looks like feeding the hungry, and it looks like us receiving the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. The thankfulness and praise that we express through word and song and prayer, the praise that erupts from our lips, that's all part of it, but it's not the feelings themselves, or the mere act of singing, of feeling, or of mere ritual that is worship.

Worship is that I belong to Jesus Christ, my sins are forgiven, and God tells me my sins are forgiven--in the liturgy that happens. We confess our sins and the pastor speaks God's word telling us, yes, we are forgiven, God forgives us. Christ died for us, we're forgiven. Christ rose from the dead, we're forgiven. Christ is here in His Supper, and we partake of His very flesh and blood here (1 Corinthians 10:16), we're forgiven. It's worship not because of spontaneous praise or because of the structured service; but rather it is worship because this is the meeting place of Christ and His Church, in Word and in Sacrament, the fellowship of the Body, the encouragement of the saints, the gifts of God's grace, the power of His word are all here strengthening us, changing us, molding us, conforming us, healing us, and directing us Christ-ward, the Author and Finisher of our faith. And in our day to day, as we carry this cross as His disciples, we get to do that in love for others, to preach the Gospel, to feed the hungry, to love the poor, to forgive those who have sinned against us, to be the bearers of and the witnesses of reconciliation. Of God meeting man, in grace, to save us and to bring us home back to Himself. As we look forward to that great day when God will make all things new.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Trusting in Him]

Personally, I am very aware that my own words are so limited, when praising God. Some of our old hymn writers wrote hymns which sometimes express my worship to God in ways that I find particularly meaningful and express some things which draw me further into my adoration for Him.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Upon St. Michael’s — Gottesdienst

 

[The Liturgist]

Personally, I am very aware that my own words are so limited, when praising God. Some of our old hymn writers wrote hymns which sometimes express my worship to God in ways that I find particularly meaningful and express some things which draw me further into my adoration for Him.

Indeed, this is my thought exactly. Thank you for sharing that with us!