Saturday, August 07, 2010

Worship That is Grounded in History

Been reading some Glenn Packiam's blog. Processing this thought:

Our worship is not an attempt to praise God for some arbitrary attribute. Instead, as we look to God's actions within space and time-- His great works of creation and salvation-- we see who He is and begin to worship. Certainly, emotion can and often will be involved. But it is not a floating, emotion; it is an emotion that is genuine not generated precisely because it is attached to a historical event. That means a worship leader's first job is not to generate emotion; a worship leader is there to remind people of God's great acts of creation and salvation in the past, and to point them to the moment God's salvation and new creation come to pass in fullness (Rev. 21).

What are the implications here? This seems to give a grounding to our worship that we desperately need. However, I'm wondering if even a bigger picture of worship needs to be painted for our people. I agree that worship (in the congregational setting) is way more than emotion. At the same time, I wonder if it is more than reminding our people of his past/future work. Our God is the great "I AM" - eternal and ever-present.

In the setting at GCC, I believe that our people need the reminder that our God is HERE. A God whose presence is sought is surely a God who will reveal Himself. I desperately want our people to collectively and individually connect with God. These encounters, as seen in the stories of so many Bible characters, produce worshippers. I think what Glenn is getting at here is the balance of Spirit and Truth (John 4:24). So much of modern worship music is written in "the Spirit", that having a better grounding in the Truth of God's works (present and future) will helps balance our expression of worship.

Any thoughts?

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