Great post! Lots to think about…I have always looked at “worship” through the lens of Romans 12:1,2. As Christians, our entire lives, as living sacrifices, is worship. Our life purpose, according to Jesus in John 15, is to abide in the love of the Father and the Son. When I reoriented my professional life around what the love of Jesus would look like in the workplace, it changed everything! The same is true of church worship. I was a committed Protestant Christian for almost 50 years, and joined the Catholic Church 3 years ago. I was also in the military for 20 years with 10+ moves, so my family and I have experienced a wide range of “worship services.” But Catholic or Protestant, “Sunday worship” reflects the state of your heart. Do we show up on Sunday morning, ready to “hear from God” and joyfully engage in Word and song, or are we doing a “hook slide” after staying up too late the night before? What is our practice of prayer, devotion, study, service and fellowship to facilitate a move of the Spirit, either on Sunday morning, or in the course of our day to day? Life worship is like the parable in Matthew 25, where the master entrusted his servants with his property. What the servants did with the master’s property reflects their “worship” and that worship was demonstrated by either joy or fear.
I really lile your perspective on worship. So many people today in our churches, when they hear 'worship', it just means let's sing for 20 - 30 minutes. As you rightly point out, it can be so much more than that but as we look at typical services, elements of worship are actually no longer a part of a Sunday service. Personal worship is so important and I think many Christians have no sense of how to do that apart from Sunday - especially if they don't see themselves as great singers!
Great work Chris. Most worship leaders get a bit carried away with themselves, but I know this does not describe you. We must worship every waken moment.
Great post! Lots to think about…I have always looked at “worship” through the lens of Romans 12:1,2. As Christians, our entire lives, as living sacrifices, is worship. Our life purpose, according to Jesus in John 15, is to abide in the love of the Father and the Son. When I reoriented my professional life around what the love of Jesus would look like in the workplace, it changed everything! The same is true of church worship. I was a committed Protestant Christian for almost 50 years, and joined the Catholic Church 3 years ago. I was also in the military for 20 years with 10+ moves, so my family and I have experienced a wide range of “worship services.” But Catholic or Protestant, “Sunday worship” reflects the state of your heart. Do we show up on Sunday morning, ready to “hear from God” and joyfully engage in Word and song, or are we doing a “hook slide” after staying up too late the night before? What is our practice of prayer, devotion, study, service and fellowship to facilitate a move of the Spirit, either on Sunday morning, or in the course of our day to day? Life worship is like the parable in Matthew 25, where the master entrusted his servants with his property. What the servants did with the master’s property reflects their “worship” and that worship was demonstrated by either joy or fear.
I really lile your perspective on worship. So many people today in our churches, when they hear 'worship', it just means let's sing for 20 - 30 minutes. As you rightly point out, it can be so much more than that but as we look at typical services, elements of worship are actually no longer a part of a Sunday service. Personal worship is so important and I think many Christians have no sense of how to do that apart from Sunday - especially if they don't see themselves as great singers!
Great work Chris. Most worship leaders get a bit carried away with themselves, but I know this does not describe you. We must worship every waken moment.