Reflections on Worship (Part 1) - What is worship?

This post will be part 1 of what will be a series of reflections on worship.  Writing helps me process my thoughts, and it is also helpful to hear and receive feedback.  So feel free to critique, question, suggest and agree with any of what follows.

What is worship?

We usually evaluate and critique worship in light of our personal preferences or emotional responses to the stimuli that is worship.  But we rarely if ever consider worship to be a verb – something that we do!  It is more something to be consumed and critiqued than actively engaged with our full participation.

Why?  Where does this come from?

It seems that our worship expressions and expectations are conditioned more by our culture than on Scripture and more influenced by TV and media than truth and tradition.

That’s a loaded word – tradition – but it is a viable aspect of our worship.  No matter where you stand on any spectrum, you come to anything with a “tradition”  - a story that has led you up to this point.

Some people come from a formal church tradition such as Presbyterianism, Methodism, Anglicanism, Catholicism, where worship reflected a strong stand on history, usually at the neglect and expense of innovation.  I would call this “traditionalism” – where everything we do is based on the way we’ve done things in the past, rather than careful reflection on the historic applications in light of contemporary audiences.

There are others of us who come to church and worship with no formal background, yet, we find ourselves shaped by suspicion of any and all authority structures (e.g. “traditionalism”). Our tradition is “skepticism”, and the burden of proof lies on everyone else to convince us that what is being said, taught, instructed or done is really “true” and the way it should be, and that I should do anything about it.

Both ends of this spectrum represent a fallacy to worship.  In both instances, worship is something that is done for me, rather than something that is done for God.

If worship is to be truly biblical, faithful to the tradition of the Bible and rooted in history to Christ’s church, and engaging His church in the world today, then it must be, what one author calls, “a royal ‘waste’ of time,” (Marva Dawn, A Royal “Waste” of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans; 1999]), where God is both the subject and the object of our worship, where we spend ourselves in the splendor of our great creator and covenant keeping King, and where we delight our selves in, and subject our emotions to, the full-hearted devotion to His Son that His Spirit enables.

Worship then is the engagement of our whole being in faithful service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Does God run interference in your life?

Best book on Acts I

Having just finished the “Acts” portion of my Acts and Paul class yesterday (part of the reason why my activity has been minimal on here), I thought I would share a significant quote on the christian life and God’s interaction.  This quote comes from The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption by Dennis Johnson.

Let me just say, if you are personally studying through Acts, or planning on teaching, do not do so until you have gotten and read this book (or at least, read it along your study/teaching schedule).  This is a great book, and it really shed some light on the significant thrust of the book of Acts, instead of offering up random insight into mot of the particular events.  Well worth the money and the time to read The Message of Acts.

Here’s the quote:

“However correct their statements in Bible studies or Sunday school classes may be, in practice many Christians really assume that God’s ‘interference’ in people’s lives pretty much came to a halt sometime in the past - perhaps in the apostles’ time, perhaps at the Reformation or some revival of bygone days, but surely before our time.

Would we say this out loud? Never!  But our meager prayer lives, our anxiety, our dependence on novel techniques in evangelism, our hope in technology to solve spiritual problems, our doubt that loving discipline can restore wandering brothers or sisters to repentance and reconciliation - all these testify to our unspoken assumption that God’s real action is in the past and in the future, but not in the present.”

Fellow brothers and sisters, God is continuing to work in our lives.  Believe that, then go live in light of it.

Thoughts on Thursday: Whatever presses upon them…

Today’s thought (or, quote) comes from John Owen, in his book Communion with the Triune God, a book well worth owning and digesting slowly.  Here it is:

“‘His banner over me was love’ (Song 2:4).  The banner is an emblem of safety and protection - a sign of the presence of a host.  Persons belonging to an army do encamp under their banner in security.  So did the children of Israel in the wilderness’ every tribe kept their camps under their own standard. It is also a token of success and victory (Ps. 20:5).  Christ has a banner for his saints; and that is love.  All their protection is from his love; and they shall have the protection his love can give them.  This safeguards them from hell, death - all their enemies.  Whatever presses on them, it must pass through the banner of the love of the Lord Jesus. they have, then, great spiritual safety; which is another ornament or excellency of their communion with him.”

From John Owen, Communion with the Triune God, 141.

Darrin Patrick on Michael Phelps, Greatness and God

Darrin Patrick has some good thoughts on the idea of greatness, sparked by the recent accomplishments of a certain Olympic swimmer (Michael Phelps, in case you have been out of it).  Check it out here.

Greatness reminds us that there is a God who is THE Greatest. Humans, reflecting the image of God can be awesome, but God is the one who is freakin awesome.

The Dark Knight

Finally, a worthy critique!  Click here.

On a more serious note, I did find this movie to be entertaining and thought provoking, though not in an intentional way.  Ray Ortlund, a great man and pastor whom I respect and admire caught onto something of this (click here for post), in a way that I almost missed.  While I did not leave with the same passionate conviction he did, I totally agree that the “story” of the movie was not as redemptive as some people might want to make it out to be.

Some of us go to the movies for a relaxing, entertaining evening; others to engage in our culture and discern either false truths or echoes of eden.  These are both good reasons.  What I am afraid of is something someone over at Ray Ortlunds blog commented on: that we may become too numb in our entertainment driven culture to discern the stories being communicated.

What I found interesting in The Dark Knight is the question it held in tension:  when does righteousness become unrighteousness when dealing with unrighteousness?  A question under this one would be:  Did the Joker ultimately prevail in his endeavor?

[Spoiler alert - If you haven't watched the movie, and intend to, don't read the rest.]

I found the the resolution to the story of The Dark Knight to be a great conversation starter, but an unsatisfying solution.  We leave the movie supposedly swallowing that Batman is the hero because he and Gordon cook up a “spin” on the truth:  Batman takes the blame; Dent takes the heroic credit.  Batman is a self-imposed martyr for the sake of a people who don’t appreciate him like they should.

While this has a faint odor of the gospel story, it betrays something fundamental.  In this story, evil is not dealt with, but covered up.  And in the process righteousness is defined only in terms of the end, and factored out of the means of reaching it.

It doesn’t matter how we get there, just so long as we do.

But this betrays righteousness at its very heart.  And this is not the gospel story of the Bible.  Jesus Christ was the one who “became sin for us” but also the one who “knew no sin.”  The life of Jesus and his death on the cross, as the means to the end of our being made righteous before God, was righteous itself.

In the end, the Joker prevailed after all.  This is not the story of the gospel, but rather a Nietzsche-esque Yin Yang symoblism that passes for our contemporary worldview of life.  Evil is present, rampant and pervasive, and instead of truly dealing with it, we need to co-exist with it in a way that does the least damage for the most people.

Thoughts, comments…

Personal Reflection Tool (Part 2)- Moved Affections

A very wise and humble guy

So, part 2 of this series is entitled “Moved Affections.”  I got this from a podcast interview between Joshua Harris, Jeff Purswell and C.J. Mahaney over at the Soveriegn Grace Ministries blog.

In this interview, C.J. Mahaney brought up a good point, and something worth asking regularly.  He said that if he were sitting across from a pastor who is tired, he would try to distinguish between them being physcially tired, or spiritually weary.

One way to do that is to uncover what has affected them lately.  Is there a presence or absence of affections for the Savior and His work for you (I’m paraphrasing here). One way you can check this for yourself is to ask, “During corporate worship, am I moved when singing to the Savior of his work on my behalf?”  If not, then you probably need to do some heart/soul reflection.  It is imperative as pastors, but also just as children of God, “to keep a close watch on our life” as well as our doctrine, (1 Tmothy 4:16)

From this, along with some of the other articles and insights I was gathering, I compiled a brief bullet point list of things to consider along these lines.  So here is Part 2 of my Regular Reflection Grid: Moved Affections (You can read Part 1 here).

II.    Spiritual Affections: What has moved (affected) me this week?  Am I numb or sensitive to:

a.    God:  who God is - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and how he has revealed himself.
b.    The Gospel: what God has done on my behalf, and behalf of the world.
c.    Relationships: the people God has put close to and around me.
d.    Concerns: the state and welfare of others I have been made aware of.

Personal Reflection and Regular Evaluation (Part 1)

Great book for cultivating a healthy soul

I spent my day yesterday taking a much needed “sabbath” day.  I have been convinced and convicted of my need to take some form of regular time to process my heart, reflect on the care and nature of my soul, and just rest, refuel and recharge.

I too often keep going and going and never really rest.  So, Maggie and I purposely built into our monthly calendar 1 day (approx. 12-14 hours) where I just go and get away from the house and the seminary and spend time reflecting and processing some of these things.

The challenge with this is actually utilizing the time to rest and reflect.  So I of course had taken a few tools with me.  One was the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero (which I highly recommend).  I took some notes from this book, in addition to some other material (which I will be sharing over the next week or two in subsequent postings), and created a template that I will be using on a weekly basis to do some “quick stop” evaluation.

Here is Part 1: Emotional Evaluation

I.    Emotional: What emotions are you experiencing or have experienced in a pronounced way this week? What instigated these emotions?

a.    Anger: fury, hostility, irritability, annoyance
b.    Sadness: grief, self-pity, despair, dejection, loneliness
c.    Fear: anxiety, edginess, nervousness, fright, terror, apprehension
d.    Enjoyment: joy, relief, contentment, delight, thrill, euphoria, ecstasy
e.    Love: acceptance, trust, devotion, adoration
f.    Surprise: shock, amazement, wonder
g.    Disgust: contempt, scorn, aversion, distaste, revulsion
h.    Shame: guilt, remorse, humiliation, embarrassment

Look for more segments, as well as what resources I found helpful, in forthcoming posts.

[If you would like to know or find out  about Peter Scazzero and his ministry, go to the website Emotionally Healthy for more.]

Justice Problems in Prison

Does the Gospel, really, bear on every aspect of the world? Does this include prison, and criminals? Should we care about prison rape?

Yes…

But by and large, we seem to find more humor than outrage in these crimes. In part, this simply reflects the nature of our criminal justice system, which has become decreasingly rehabilitative and increasingly retributive.

Here are some other interesting quotes.

“In the 1970s, as economist Glenn Loury has written, “the corrections system was commonly seen as a way to prepare offenders to rejoin society. Since then, the focus has shifted from rehabilitation to punishment and stayed there.”

“Morally, our tacit acceptance of violence within prisons is grotesque. But it’s also counterproductive. Research by economists Jesse Shapiro and Keith Chen suggests that violent prisons make prisoners more violent after they leave. When your choice is between the trauma of hardening yourself so no one will touch you or the trauma of prostituting yourself so you’re protected from attack, either path leads away from rehabilitation and psychological adjustment. And we, as a society, endure the consequences — both because it leads ex-cons to commit more crime on the streets and because more of them end up back to jail. A recent report released by the Pew Center on the States revealed that more than one in 100 Americans is now behind bars. California alone spends $8.8 billion a year on its imprisoned population — a 216% increase over what it paid 20 years ago, even after adjusting for inflation. That’s money, of course, that can’t be spent on schools, on job training, on wage supports and drug treatment. Money, in other words, that can’t be spent on all the priorities that keep people out of prison. Money that’s spent instead on housing prisoners in a violent, brutal and counterproductive atmosphere. And there’s nothing funny about that.

Ok, so anybody have any thoughts on this?

Should the gospel have an impact on the way we allow prisoners to be treated?

Should the church have and take responsibility for this?

Thoughts on Thursday: Gospel-Centered Scandal

Today’s thought & quote comes from Miroslov Volf. I’ve recently begun reading his book Exclusion & Embrace and am being challenged greatly by many of the things he writes.

This thought has to do with the scandal of the cross, against the backdrop of the world as we know and often experience it - less than perfect!

After reading the quote, tell me: What do you think?

Is self-donation a viable expression of the Gospel? If so, how should we identify with the concept of self-donation, when in this life we will experience more exploitation, than reciprocity?

“A genuinely Christian reflection on social issues must be rooted in the self-giving love of the divine Trinity as manifested on the cross of Christ; all the central themes of such reflection will have to be thought through from the perspective of the self-giving love of God…

“Would not a world of reciprocal self-donation…be a ‘world that which none better can be conceived’ because it would be a world of perfect love? The response is good, provided the condition of reciprocity is fulfilled. But one of the reasons we can conceive of a much better world than the one we inhabit is that the condition of reciprocity is so rarely fulfilled. Self-giving is not met with self-giving, but with exploitation & brutality…

“The ultimate scandal of the cross is the all too frequent failure of self-donation to bear positive fruit: you give yourself for the other - and violence does not stop but destroys you; you sacrifice your life - and stabilize the power of the perpetrator. Though self-donation often issues in the joy of reciprocity, it must reckon with the pain of failure and violence. When violence strikes, the very act of self-donation becomes a cry before the dark face of God. This dark face confronting the act of self-donation is a scandal.”

- Miroslav Volf, Exclusion & Embrace, 25-26.

What did Jesus really mean?

I’m tired of hearing myself, as well as others, ask the above question as an attempt to soften the blow of what the Bible often tells us to do.

Case in point:  How many of us would actually do this?

Could it be that there actually is a way to live that is counter-cultural - that cuts across our unevaluated biases that we possess?

Maybe Jesus was on to something, and we would be wise to take Him at His word.

Fellas: what keeps us from doing this ourselves?  Thoughts, comments or other provocations…please.