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At the drop
of the word "worship" among Christians these days, feelings,
and often tensions, immediately surface. Worship, it appears,
is a very subjective arena, much like politics. Part of this
has to do with what we think of when the subject is raised. More
often than not, we think "music" when we hear "worship."
While praise through song is a primary means of worship - singing is mentioned 41 times just in the Psalms - the subject is bigger than music. And it is much bigger than our personal feelings about preferred worship forms and styles. If thinking about worship is to be transforming, we need to get past our surface preferences, to the rich substance of worship -- mainly preoccupation with the awesomeness of the One we worship and how he would have us respond to him.
Deuteronomy reveals that God intended his people to see themselves engaged, through worship, in a lifelong learning exercise in the revering of God. The assembly of God's people was to be approached with a certain objectivity: "I am here to learn something more about how I may more fully revere the LORD my God, and how I may teach my children to revere him." (see Deut. 4:10, quoted above. Also see Deut. 14:23, 17:19, & 31:12). In a real sense participation in worship is going to awe ("ahhh!") school.
The past two months, our Sunday morning adult class has been studying the subject of worship. It has been a very healthy exercise. We have had good times in that class! We have not gotten distracted with debating our personal preferences. We have looked at the Scriptures and surveyed the last 2000 years of church history in order to get at the heart of this God glorifying, life transforming and eternal activity for which the Creator made us.
As we approach our retreat on the first Saturday of this month (3/6), focused on the theme "Come Let Us Worship," and as we approach Easter week at the close of this month, I joyfully look forward to seeing how God's Spirit is going to draw us more deeply than ever, personally and as a congregation, into the reverencing of the LORD himself. That is worship. And that is exciting.
-- Steve Wilson, Pastor