Worship in Five Acts

What difference does worship make in my life? How often do I walk away from worship knowing that I am a better person for having spent that time with God?  If I walk away from a worship experience unaffected, did worship happen?  It seem that the older I get the more I am asking myself these questions.  Thinking about this—as a Salvation Army Officer--led me to expand the scope of my questions a bit:

·         How then shall we/should we worship?

·         What difference does worship make in the lives of my congregation?

·         What burdens do people bring?  Are those burdens alleviated?

·         Has worship changed anything?

·         How do my people leave worship?

I am not suggesting that I have the answers to these questions but I am suggesting that they should perhaps be in the thoughts and heart of the Corps Officer as he/she prepares worship for their people.

 In his book Worship Matters, by Bob Kauflin, he talks about his experience when he landed his ‘dream job’ as Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries.  He writes: “As I made my way to the stage, I suddenly found myself battling doubts.  What difference will this make tonight?  Will it have any eternal value?  People will sing, raise their hands, get excited…and go home.  And I’ll do this over and over and over again.  For the rest of my life.  Suddenly it all seemed empty. Dry. Pointless.”  Ever been there?  I know that I have. Yet, as the Spirit comes to encourage us we discover that it is not empty or pointless because the truth is that worship does matter.  It matters to God because He is infinitely worthy of our worship.  He is the reason why we were created and He is why we do what we do.

 As we move forward with this blog I want to begin addressing the practicalities and practices of worship.  The architectural plan—so to speak.  To begin lets boil worship down to its bare bones.  As Gordon MacDonald pointed out at the Territorial Officers Councils,  Isaiah chapter six gives a perfect blueprint for this.  As we read through the chapter it is almost like reading an intense and action filled play.  A play that has five acts: 

·         Act 1: Vision of God

·         Act 2: Vision of ourselves

·         Act 3: God’s Mercy

·         Act 4: Our Sanctification

·         Act 5: Reentering the World

 A young boy burst into the great throne chambers of a medieval king. The boy was skipping and singing as children do. He was completely oblivious to the regal sobriety of his surroundings. Suddenly, he was intercepted by an armored solider. “Have you no respect, lad?" hissed the soldier. “Don't you know that the man on the throne is your king?” The boy wriggled out of the soldier's grasp. Dancing away, he laughed and said, “He is your king but he is my father!” And the boy bounced up to the throne and leaped into the king's lap.  What is your vision of God?

 

Next week we will begin building on each act.

 Consider: 

For six years we lived in California and Oregon.  It was a part of the world that was totally unfamiliar to us.  We enjoyed and were often blessed by the beauty of the countryside.  Commuting to work, or traveling to corps quickly became familiar, but we would often see things that we hadn’t noticed before or missed.  It became a joy to travel more and more familiar roads to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation there—even as it became more and more familiar.  Leading corporate worship is like our experiences with the western US landscape: the challenge is to discover continual enjoyment in an oft-repeated journey.