Worship...worth-ship...the process by which everything is restored to its proper place, as we recognise that God is at the centre of everything.
In giving God his worth, we re-arrange everything else so that nothing supersedes him in our hearts or our lives.
It's horribly easy to get distracted, isn't it?
To find ourselves so delighted by, or concerned with, the ways in which we can offer worship that we lost track of the one for whom all our efforts are intended.
If you are "professionally" involved, it becomes even harder, because I am always so very conscious of the need to make it easy for a whole variety of people, coming from different places, with different tastes and different needs, to let go of their own agendas and be swept up in wonder, love and praise. I know full well that as surely as a well-sung anthem or a majestic voluntary will bring me to heaven's gates, so a Hillsong chorus will bring others to that same place...So, do I try to create worship that has something for everyone, try to ensure that nobody is ever distracted by words or music that grates for them?
In truth, that's impossible so the best course must be to let go of such anxiety remembering that the whole point of worship is not to please US at all...and it happens most authentically when we lose sight of ourselves altogether.
That's why nature not only shows us how to worship but helps us to do so, as long as we never mistake the gift for the Giver.
“A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying [God]. It “consents,” so to speak, to [God's] creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree” Thomas Merton
#AdventWord
In giving God his worth, we re-arrange everything else so that nothing supersedes him in our hearts or our lives.
It's horribly easy to get distracted, isn't it?
To find ourselves so delighted by, or concerned with, the ways in which we can offer worship that we lost track of the one for whom all our efforts are intended.
If you are "professionally" involved, it becomes even harder, because I am always so very conscious of the need to make it easy for a whole variety of people, coming from different places, with different tastes and different needs, to let go of their own agendas and be swept up in wonder, love and praise. I know full well that as surely as a well-sung anthem or a majestic voluntary will bring me to heaven's gates, so a Hillsong chorus will bring others to that same place...So, do I try to create worship that has something for everyone, try to ensure that nobody is ever distracted by words or music that grates for them?
In truth, that's impossible so the best course must be to let go of such anxiety remembering that the whole point of worship is not to please US at all...and it happens most authentically when we lose sight of ourselves altogether.
That's why nature not only shows us how to worship but helps us to do so, as long as we never mistake the gift for the Giver.
“A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying [God]. It “consents,” so to speak, to [God's] creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree” Thomas Merton
#AdventWord
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