Welcome to our new blog!
I say "our" because it is not MY blog, it is for you, too. I hope to share in some meaningful dialogue about worship, writing, and all things rightly related to them. There is a beautiful phrase in Christian liturgy, "It is right to give our thanks and praise," and "worship write" intends to play on that idea.
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Let's have fun thinking some meaningful things through together.
Write on!
"My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe."
Psalm 45:1
Ok Ms. McLean. Here is my 100 word assignment on what I believe to be true worship. Upon reading this assignment, I discerned the Bible to be the primary source from which to gather information concerning this topic. Romans 12:1 states, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." In the footnote for this verse in the bottom of my Bible, it suggests another translation for the word "spiritual" to be "reasonable;" this is your reasonable act of worship. I think that is so cool. God is teaching us through His Word that our only reasonable response (our worship) to His mercy is to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. This is so true, and the remainder of Romans 12 gives us some practical instructions on how we are to worship God through the way that we live our lives. Verse two proclaims, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind." Following verse two, verses nine through twenty-one give instructions on loving one another, honoring one another above ourselves, being faithful in prayer, practicing hospitality, etc. These are all means by which we offer our bodies to God (worship Him) as living sacrifices after our hearts have been transformed and saved by the power of the gospel. Worship isn't simply singing songs to God, and it isn't even about music. Worshipping God means that we adore Him, we live solely to glorify and honor His name, we love Him with all of our hearts!
ReplyDeleteI do not think that there is any one, universal definition for "true worship". However, based on personal experience, I have found that true worship (for me) occurs when the "unintentional acts" (as in, our day-to-day living) coincide with the intentional acts, such as praising God through song or dance. I consider worship to be giving glory and praise to Christ, and although it is a means of cultivating a relationship with God, the primary focus is to glorify Him. Worship is a lifestyle, not just music, dance, or anything else (although these are ways to express worship). So when our specific acts of song, attending church, or the like are combined with our overall lifestyle of serving others and really exemplifying Christ-like love and living, this is what I would consider to be true worship.
ReplyDeleteWorship, in reality, is more than just the singing of songs to, for, and about God. It is not just about giving praise, thanksgiving, or adoration. It is, in fact, a way of life. Worship, in my opinion, is the act of living your life (the way you speak, the way you act, the way you think, etc.) for the Lord. As Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." It is living your life, where everything you do is in the name of Christ, and making sure that your actions and words and everything you do is bringing glory and honor to His name.
ReplyDeleteIn a lot of ways, worship is servant-hood. By serving others in the name of the Lord, you are performing an act of worship. Worship is also striving to live a life in the Spirit, as God has told us to do. Washing off the old self, and putting on the new.
Worship is not just something you do one Sunday morning; it is a lifestyle. In order for us to worship fully, we have to understand what we are doing. I think that when we worship, we surrender ourselves to God. I know that when I worship, I want to give everything I have to God. I want to give Him all of my fears, my sins, my struggles, my praise, everything I have, but like I said worship is a lifestyle. that means that anytime we start feeling like the world is giving us more than we can handle, we need to trust God. I think that that in itself is worship to God, because it takes a very dedicated person to trust in God completely. We were created to worship, but that does not mean that we will do it perfectly. It is something you have to be conscious about.
ReplyDeleteTrue worship to me is a true expression of the heart. I think that in order to be able to worship one must have a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We worship good as an expression of what it is he has done in our lives. And also who he's been to us. Without the love of the Father there is no worship. Just think of the scripture that says God first loved us that he gave us Jesus it wasn't us first loving him and now we love. No love comes first from God and then out of that love we love on God and people around us. The same thing happens with worship, we worship after receiving the expressions of God's love in our lives and then with it we pour it back on him. So true worship I believe starts with the goodness of God and end with us receiving that as love and pouring it back on God as worship. I also believe worship isn't songs but our daily lives. Worship is caring for a child, helping out a neighbor, being there for a friend, or anything in our daily lives. Worship is more than songs it's the very fabric we are made of and are compelled to partake in because frankly it is what we were created to do. So true worship is us yeild up our lives to God to have every hour, minute, and even second of every day to be worshipped as God in our lives.
ReplyDeleteLee Davis
What I think true worship is to me is giving up yourself to God. Not just musically but with your whole life. It is not something that you do because you feel like it or because you have to but because you want to. Its something you do because its in your heart to do. Worship is a free act that one gives because God is more than worthy of it. Yes God tells us to worship him, but I think its because he knows how worthy he is. True worship is done as a result of Gods goodness and not as a result of anything on our behalf. Its all about him. But that is not the only form of worship. Giving back to others whether that be through time, love, money or any other form is also a form of worship. Its how we give out of our hearts what God has so lovingly put into it.
ReplyDeleteWorship is full and utter surrender to God. It means laying aside all other distractions of the outside world and giving that time to God. Worship to me doesn’t mean it has to be in a church or with other believers with music. We can worship in our every-day lives in everything we do. This could mean thanking God for the day or whatever else is going on in your life while walking to class or driving to work. We can also worship through the gifts and talents God has given us. When I practice my guitar, I see it as worship to God, for example. The biggest thing that we need to be intentional of in worship is that we worship in spirit and truth. We see this in John chapter four: “23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth” (NKJV).
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ReplyDeleteTyler:
ReplyDeleteWhat is true worship? To me true worship is a daily practice. It's like when Jesus is in the garden and he tells the disciples to pray constantly, I believe that worship is also constantly done. I believe true worship is when you praise God for anything weather it be getting a good grade on a test, landing a great job, or anything else. I believe true worship is praising and thanking God for all he has done, and not saying what we will do. Worship is more than music. It can be art, drawing, spoken word, or even testimony. I believe that true worship has to be done in private for someone to see you truly worship in public.
So I'm sort of a definition geek, but I wanted to look up the definition of the word Worship. Google says worship (as a noun) is "the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity." As a verb it says worship is to "show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites." And yeah, worship for us is music, because we've been called to do that. But If we define worship by music, that automatically discounts people in the world, who are not moved by music. Sure worship to me is expressed by enjoying and being moved by music, because that's my thing. That's my worship. But true Worship as a worldview for one God, I think simply should be our adoration, and expression towards God. So that means when we turn the corner on our way to school, and we see a really cool house, or a rad lawn, or when we encounter a great conversation with someone, or when we save a buck on gas, we throw that into our adoration of God, because he is responsible. True worship is constant recognition that God is super great, and constant thanks, and love.
ReplyDeleteBlog #2 - Royal Waste of Time
ReplyDeleteOne reason that we gather corporately to praise God as opposed to individually, (although it is beneficial and necessary to have personal times of worship) is that we simply cannot praise God enough on our own. We need to be surrounded by fellow believers to be encouraged to praise God together! In chapter 18 of A Royal “Waste” of Time, Dawn points out that one main reason for corporate gatherings is to spur one another on in the faith. We are gathered to remind each other of God’s goodness and grace, and of His sovereignty and grace. When we see someone next to us singing praises to God, it encourages us to do the same! The danger in worship becoming more self-expressive is that people begin coming to church for worship in order to experience an emotional “high” rather than to give thanksgiving and glory to God. Our worship should not be self-focused (since God is the ultimate focus of our worship), but outward (upward) focused towards God! Our songs should contain lyrics of substance teaching us theology, and about the nature of God (his sovereignty, love, mercy, gentleness, justness, etc.). Dawn communicates that singing worship songs or hymns with more substance may not be as rewarding initially (they won’t provide the emotional “high” until the depth and meaning of the lyrics is fully realized), but they will engrain strong theology that will help us stand firm in times of trail and chaos. Personally, I have noticed a trend in “pop” worship songs (Christian songs that are aired on the radio), and even in corporate worship songs, that these songs are written from a first person point of view. The focus is on “me.” “I will call upon your name”, and “keep my eyes above the waves.” Aren’t we supposed to be a body? Let us take the focus off of ourselves and place it on God, where it belongs.
Blog 2
ReplyDeleteWorship is a gift from God and it is an expression of the heart. Worship is an outward expression of inward process taking place inside someones heart. God starts worship in his goodness and we respond. So in thinking about this subject I realized that worship in the sence of congregation is something that I can't say whether it should be like this or that because worship is about the heart. Worship is about God and it deals strickly with the heart. Who but God knows and searches the heart. I don't understand how we can judge worship when it deals with the heart its not up to us to define whether or not something is worship its up to God to judge not us. In my opinion people should be free to worship the Lord in what ever way they choose. When People are free from bondage and are free to worship. When I think about Moses and the children of Isreal God said to Pharaoh let his people go so that they may be free to worship him. That's what I believe the heart of the Father is concerning worship, it is that his people would be made free to worship him. And when we as worship leaders and writers create that atmosphere of freedom God's people will respond in the correct manner because it will be our God in them. When I look at the story of the woman at the Well we see something very important about worship. She asked Jesus about the correct place to worship is it here or there. That's our questions always which one is right but really we want to be right. But Jesus said the time is coming where the true worshippers of God will appear. I believe when stop worrying about who's right and who's wrong. Where's the right place to worship and just focus on Jesus we will become a church of true worshippers. When we stop letting stupid things divide us and keep us apart in religion and tradition then we will embrace the heart and lifestyle of a true worshipper and become who it is that the Lord has called us to be.
Hmmm…I have mixed feelings about this topic. Worship is a fun, yet challenging topic when it comes to talking about self expression. Here is my opinion on this.. Worship is something unique for each person in the way they express their adoration to the Lord. There is no set form or pattern of worship that is king and transcends through all peoples, languages, and tongues. The way I worship the Lord is not going to be the exact same way that my brothers worship, or the way that people living in Central America or Africa worship the Lord. I believe that self-expression is a very important thing for individuals when it comes to giving praise, honor, and adoration to the Lord. So, in my opinion, self-expression is not necessarily a bad thing. I do, however, believe it becomes a problem when our self-expression turns into self-adoration and self-love… when it becomes something that points to ourselves instead of to the Lord.
ReplyDeleteMarva Dawn talked about two things in her book, “A Royal Waste of Time,” that I liked and agreed with, though. In chapter 18, she talked about how the Jewish roots (of our faith) had a thing called B’rakhot, which was essentially a way that they found God in every situation. No matter what it was, they would find something to thank Him for in the situation they were in. This is a form of worship that I think is important, and we should all be practicing. The other thing I liked that she brought up was in chapter 19 when she spoke about how people seem to be emotionally driven in their time of praise… something that I have noticed is that we cannot let our emotions drive us.. Our emotions go all over the place, and so sometimes our “self-expression” is just an emotional response, instead of true worship. I think we just need to be aware of how and why we are worshiping, in order to make sure that our self-expression is not just because we are on an emotional high.
To me worship is who you are. Its what we as human beings were created to do from the beginning of time. The way I feel about worship is that you are who you are. And in that I mean that if you can't be who you are all the time rather its in church or not then it's not true worship because worship is who you are. I honestly don't believe there is one set way to worship. My worship is not like your worship and your worship is not like my worship but its because our worship is a reflection of what God is doing in our lives individually. So when it comes to worshipping in the church, if you are living a way that doesn't propagate a worshipful atmosphere outside of church then comes to church and try to propagate an atmosphere for worship, its fake. Those that worship me, let them worship me in spirit and truth and I feel like thats in your everyday life. God created each of us individually and I'm sure he don't want me to worship him just like you. What is the beauty in that? Im just sitting here thinking and shouldn't our worship be a self expression. Shouldn't we express to God what is on our hearts to express? Well, what if whats on my heart is different from whats on your heart in that moment? To me true worship comes out of what is on your heart to do and not doing something just because my brothers are doing something different. Be you and in that true worship will emerge.
ReplyDeleteI believe that true worship is really giving yourself up to your creator and showing God how much you love and adore him, not because it makes us any better in his eyes or better as Christians, but because God is truly worthy of our praise and I know that he enjoys it. Yes, at this point in time most people think worship is just the music they play at church, but music was just a gift that God gave to us in order to better understand and share worship. Don't me wrong I love music and it's what I want to do with my life, but it is not the only way to worship. True worship is giving yourself up to God and his plan.
ReplyDeleteBlog #2
ReplyDeleteWe were created to worship. We were also created to have community with others around us. This is why we worship together. It satisfies our desires for worship. The problem with congregational worship becoming more about self-expression is that sometimes we do things just because we are in a congregation. when congregational worship becomes more about self expression, it can also take away from the community worshiping together. It can become a distraction more so than worship. I do think that worship is meant for God though, so it is not truly our concern. We cannot tell how true someone's worship is. everybody worships in a different way.
That is something to think about. we judge people's worship a lot but is it really our place to do so?