Recently I was asked, “What are your suggestions for a Christian to experience meaningful worship?” What a great question! It can be answered in a variety of ways, but here I will limit my response to the weekly worship gathering. In this post, I would like to summarize a few observations that I have made over the last ten years. These are merely opinions, so feel free to disagree, but I have found that these factors have led me towards more meaningful worship. * Time. My most meaningful worship experiences often occur after focusing on God for an extended period…
How can we honor God in our worship? Although Exodus 20:22-26 is not frequently quoted in the context of worship, it provides some direction for us. In speaking to Moses, God gives the Israelites four instructions. They are simple and helpful, even for us today: 1. Do not worship anyone else beside me. (v.23) 2. It is absolutely necessary to worship me. (v.24) 3. Where I am worshiped, I will bless. (v.24b) 4. I deserve to be worshiped reverently. (v.26) These instructions may seem familiar, but they serve as a helpful corrective for us. Does the worship in our lives…
Very rarely do I post links to other websites, but this one is so beneficial, I couldn’t resist. If you are interested in worship or lead worship at your church, Sovereign Grace has graciously posted 37 audio sessions on their website at: http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Events/WorshipConference.aspx Worship conferences usually cost several hundred dollars, so this is a blessing for those of us without such resources. Although I did not attend the conference, these audio sessions are the next best thing.
Several weeks ago I wrote that art does not create truth, but “uncovers truth,” as an artist chisels away stone. In other words, art discovers truth, but does not create it. Whatever the form, it is important that art never gets so self-consumed that it loses sight of the original Source of Truth. On the other hand, maybe even “uncovering” is giving ourselves too much credit. My reason for second guessing myself is this A.W. Tozer quote from “Theology Set to Music”: Hymns do not create truth, nor even reveal it; they celebrate it. They are the response of the trusting heart to…
“Tom Beaudoin reveals four themes that shape the theology of many Postmoderns: (1) all institutions are suspect; (2) personal experience is everything; (3) suffering is spiritual; and (4) ambiguity is a central element of faith.” (source) To respond to each of these, it would seem that the Church should: (1) embrace people more than programs; (2) focus on interactive, communal worship; (3) provide more opportunities for service; and (4) explore more gray areas in our teachings and discussions. What do you think?
Theology is different from other “ologies” in the sense that if we only engage our subject intellectually, we miss the mark. We may understand hundreds of propositions about God, but if our imaginations are not involved in the process, I would say that we have failed. (By imagination I mean “envisioning what we do not rationally know.”) Over at Signs of Emergence, Nick Hughes was quoted as saying, “I wish that someone, some group, something, somewhere would develop a theological project that captured the imagination. All the good ideas are elsewhere.” He is a graphic designer, not a theologian, but…
My new worship EP is now available for purchase online. You can download tracks, or the entire EP of A Thousand Names, at DiscRevolt.com. Just click HERE to find the Joel Jupp page!
Whether it’s verbalized or not, a church’s music style communicates doctrine — or at the very least, it communicates values. That’s not something that we often think about. Unfortunately, we are usually more concerned with the sound than the substance, and we don’t stop to contemplate the greater implications of our style choices. What does style communicate? For the hymn-singing church, it may be that “Church tradition is inherently valuable.” For the blended church, it may be that “Everyone should get along.” For the contemporary church, “Sunday morning ain’t so bad.” For the modern church, “Newer is better.” And for…
I recently led worship for 300 children. You never quite know how kids will respond, but they all like to have fun. So I began by asking them, “Are you guys ready to have some fun?” And of course, that was all they needed to hear. All of them were excited and ready to go. The projector wasn’t working, so there were no lyrics; but we laughed at that. Most of the kids couldn’t read the words anyways. I invited the children to sing if they knew the songs and to sing the echo parts after me. From the first…