01178 – Worship: The Church’s Offering to God
Dawn, Marva J.

Every act of worship should be understood as part of the Church’s offering to God. “Any action that does not meet with that qualification does not deserve to be a part of a worship experience.” [C. Weldon Gaddy, The Gift of Worship]

All the music, from prelude to postlude, offers to God instrumentalists’ talents, “producing sounds that please God and serve the purpose of helping people to worship God” (p. 39). Prayers of thanksgiving, confession, and intercession–whether from individuals in silence or spoken corporately aloud–are presented to God as worshipers’ gifts.

The sermon is not just the gift of the preacher, nor are choral gifts simply the contribution of the choir, but both involve the offering of themselves by all members of the congregation.

Though at certain worship moments gifts of finances, talents, time, and commitments to God are offered, these cannot take the place of participation in every aspect of the service. Because “the entire act of Christian worship is a gift to God of the entirety of the worshipers’ lives…”

from Reaching Out without Dumbing Down

action(s) | C. Weldon Gaddy | choir(s) | choral | church(es) | commit(ments) | confession(s) | congregation(s) | corporate | deserve(d) | finance(s) | gift(s) | God | individual(s) | instrumentalist(s) | intercession | music | offer(ing) | pleasing | postlude | prayer(s) | preacher(s) | prelude | qualification | sermon(s) | silence | talent(s) | thanksgiving | The Gift of Worship | time(s) | worship service(s) | worship(ed)