Prayer is…a very dangerous business. For all the benefits it offers of growing closer to God, it carries with it one great element of risk: the possibility of change. In prayer we open ourselves to the chance that God will do something with us that we had not...
To be sure, the standard choral contribution of call to worship/anthem/response is a bit tired, and certainly unworthy of the potential of the potential of those most gifted and equipped to prompt and model worship. I dare say, in most churches where choirs are not...
All the above can be boiled down into a three-part artistic dilemma that has faced the church for centuries. First, if art is beautiful, it has to be used whether it is effective or not. This is the idol of quality. Second, if art is effective, it must be used,...
The ultimate challenge of worship in spirit and truth—worship that pleases God—is not “How do I make a church meeting God-centered?’ but “How do I make my life God-centered?”
If worship does not change us, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.
There are three ingredients that must be present in making healthy changes. First, you have to love the people, genuinely be on their side. Second, what you propose has to make sense. Something totally “off the wall” and foreign to a given tradition is not likely to...
In worship we are ascribing greatness, goodness, and glory to God. It is typical that we put every possible aspect of our being into it, all of our sensuous, conceptual, active, and creative capacities. We embellish, elaborate, and magnify. Poetry and song, color and...
Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Resentments cannot be held with the same tenacity when we enter...
True worship is expressed in biblical terms, methods and patterns. True worship is defined by the truth of God, not by the surrounding culture. The challenge of worshiping in the truth of the Kingdom while living in the culture of the world has faced every church in...
Sometimes the course of one’s entire life is determined by a solitary incident—some kind of defining moment that changes everything. Mary’s decision to anoint Jesus’ body for burial on the third day after his death was just such a moment. When she arrived, she found...