What's Important; Part III Insights of Worship

4 new insights to consider for your expectation of worship. Here is where I share my heart for worship. 

1. The primary work of church is worship.
Most people think evangelism is primary work. It is important, but worship is our primary function. Everything we do should come from our love of God. Evangelism flows from that. Missions flows from that. Discipleship flows from that.

2. Worship is a source of renewal. God speaks and acts in our service. The sermon is not just an educational or motivational tool. It is another way to hear God through our Pastors. Worship is not a rule or chore, it is something to look forward to. I always remember Carl saying people don't ever say they are taking a day off from going to a ball game or going to see a movie. Why do people take a day off from coming to celebrate Christ? Our service celebrates Christ. One great thing about our church is our Anglican faith. One of my heroes Andy Piercy says Anglicanism gives us tools, not toys. Tools are useful, toys entertain us. These tools are traced back to the early church. We follow a prayer book with hundreds of years of history. It frees us from inventing a way to draw close to Christ, or inventing a new way to celebrate Christ.

3. Worship is an active experience. Worship is God speaking and acting to us like He did to the prophets and apostles. We sing together. We pray together. We read scripture together. Scripture is not just a book, we hear God speak. We can respond to God, to his word. 

4. I desire a return of arts to the church. Music, banners, dance, drama, color. God came to us through flesh and blood...he died a physical death. Emmanuel, God with us. Thomas wanted to see the scars. We use art to help us in worship. Backgrounds, images that enhance the message. Flowers, banners. And when we sing, we use songs not to entertain, but to enhance our service. We hear His Word in the songs we sing. I really want to talk a bit more about this part. I know a priest who refuses to call the musicians in his church Worship Leaders. His reasoning includes the explanation that all of the service is worship, therefore, the priest is the Worship Leader. I agree with him, but I would add that our service is led by the Holy Spirit, and many people share in following the lead during our worship. The prayers of the people are led by the people. The Gospel is read by one of our Deacons. At any point of the service, a person other than the priest could be leading. At that point they are the appointed Worship Leader for that time. My time is to lead the church in song. I take this seriously. Every week I seek God to find a theme for Sunday. Sometimes I find it in Scripture, sometimes I find it through prayer, and other times, such as this week, I find it in where I feel God is speaking to me. After attending the inaugural meeting of our new Anglican Mission Society, I felt the Spirit saying we needed to steer the focus away from organizations and the work of people. What does that look like for me? I heard clearly God was reminding me that He alone is Holy and worthy of praise. Our songs today reflect that. The opening hymn was O Worship the King. During our time of singing our praise to God, we sang Holy is The Lord God Almighty, I Cannot Hide my Love, How Great is our God, and "my Jesus, my savior, Lord there is none like you", in Shout to the Lord. Our praise time is as purposeful as the scriptures we use every week. It doesn't end there. I want our music to reflect the words we are singing. This is done through the arrangement of our songs. Arrangement not like as in the order of songs, but directing how the music will sound in each song. We shouldn't be singing 3 different parts in a song that claims "we are all as one." We shouldn't have drums beating like running horses if we are singing "Soaring on the wings of an eagle". Is it too much to ask for details such as this? To get back to the stage, story and scene, an actor portrays a different person by his or her costume. They can speak in an accent. They use props where detail is important. All of this is like arranging a song. Words are the script. Our instruments are the props. When detail is important we leave nothing to the imagination. We paint the image of calm in the way we play. We display the image of majesty in a well-played trumpet part.

All of this is to say worship is more than a trendy band with electric guitar and drums. But those trendy bands can bring our culture into the church in a way that people identify with. The line between being trendy for the sake of entertainment and bringing the music of the church into relevance is a fine line.  If we walk that line in the context of the stuff I already mentioned above, we will probably be ok.