Left in Wonder
Do we have to settle? Have you? Should we be all inclusive and accommodating? Are you? Is our worship readily identifiable to the guy off the street? Should it be?
I really wish that I knew the answers to these questions...I really do. I really wish that I could leave them forever behind me and forget that they ever existed in my consciousness, but I can't. I really wish that I never experienced authentic worship in a rock medium that was strongly rooted in the bedrock of the gospel, but I have. I now realize had sad that last sentence is as I read it over again...but, I'm desperate.
In Matt Redman's new book Face Down, the afterword addresses styles of worship:
As different traditions and practices of Christian worship develop, they take on distinctive characteristics. Traditional cathedral worship is thought to convey the grandeur of God; charismatic choruses to convey intimacy with God; songs from Scotland's Iona community, the earthiness of serving Christ in the world; and so on. It would seem that the answer would be to mix and match different styles and traditions if we are to convey the breadth and depth of God in Christ and worship Him as He deserves. The trouble is that this answer ends up with acts of worship that lack coherence, acts in which everyone endures elements that they neither like nor feel they can express from the heart. A better strategy is to expand the scope and vocabulary of each tradition so that it more adequately carries the breadth and depth required of all Christian worship.
So, what say you? Do you see a lack of coherence? Do you choose to endure undesirable elements or unexpressed sentiments for the common good? Are you comfortably numb?
Please remember that I raise these questions to build and not to break. I love the bride and only desire for her to reach her full potential, instead of settling in a place of comfort in the name of tradition. It seems to me that comfort rarely equates to growth.
I jokingly asked Amy what a purely alternative worship service would look like and if she could dare imagine it. I was laughing as I posed the question then and as my laughter fades, I'm left in wonder. Oh that our services today did the same.
I really wish that I knew the answers to these questions...I really do. I really wish that I could leave them forever behind me and forget that they ever existed in my consciousness, but I can't. I really wish that I never experienced authentic worship in a rock medium that was strongly rooted in the bedrock of the gospel, but I have. I now realize had sad that last sentence is as I read it over again...but, I'm desperate.
In Matt Redman's new book Face Down, the afterword addresses styles of worship:
As different traditions and practices of Christian worship develop, they take on distinctive characteristics. Traditional cathedral worship is thought to convey the grandeur of God; charismatic choruses to convey intimacy with God; songs from Scotland's Iona community, the earthiness of serving Christ in the world; and so on. It would seem that the answer would be to mix and match different styles and traditions if we are to convey the breadth and depth of God in Christ and worship Him as He deserves. The trouble is that this answer ends up with acts of worship that lack coherence, acts in which everyone endures elements that they neither like nor feel they can express from the heart. A better strategy is to expand the scope and vocabulary of each tradition so that it more adequately carries the breadth and depth required of all Christian worship.
So, what say you? Do you see a lack of coherence? Do you choose to endure undesirable elements or unexpressed sentiments for the common good? Are you comfortably numb?
Please remember that I raise these questions to build and not to break. I love the bride and only desire for her to reach her full potential, instead of settling in a place of comfort in the name of tradition. It seems to me that comfort rarely equates to growth.
I jokingly asked Amy what a purely alternative worship service would look like and if she could dare imagine it. I was laughing as I posed the question then and as my laughter fades, I'm left in wonder. Oh that our services today did the same.
posted by lee at 2:42 AM
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