Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Worship Stuff That Matters
Kim Fabricius at Faith and Theology blog wrote a post a while back on "Ten Propositions On Worship." I found it thanks to BHT. It is a very short post that says so much that is vital for people to understand when it comes to worship and it's purposes. I shall highlight but three propositions:
DO YOU?
Related Tags: worship, selflessness, King, glory
4. Does worship please God? The question's assumption is right: God is the audience of worship, not the congregation (though you wouldn't know it from many an act of worship).If we must consider an "audience" for worship, then it is God, but given the popular understanding of what an audience is, I am not sure I like that word. You see, as the word is used here, it is not who views a performances, rather God is the audience as King - we come not as performers, but as supplicants. Should we receive blessing from the occassion, it is not of our doing, but of His granting. Next proposition:
8. What should we get out of worship? Wrong question. Worship is not a utility but an offering, i.e. a sacrifice, an economy of grace that interrupts and critiques the feverish cycles of production and consumption - which is why the collection is not fund-raising but cultural critique.Those words could be unpacked and then unpacked again. As I said, anything we take from worship is kingly boon, not to be expected. But I love what this says about the collection - it is not a means of funding, but a means of sacrifice, and as such an act of worship. Do you give to "support the church," or out of obedience? Do you give out of thanksgiving or mere necessity? Finally:
10. And what about worship as evangelism, education, ethics? Of course, but as the blessings, not the motives, of worship - blessings given as worship reconditions the habits of our hearts and reshapes our disordered characters.We are vessels, not actors -- channels, not content -- puppets, not dancers. In worship we empty ourselves for Him.
DO YOU?
Related Tags: worship, selflessness, King, glory
