I am convinced that congregations learn more theology (good and bad) from the songs they sing than from the sermons they hear. Many sermons are doctrinally sound and contain a fair amount of biblical information, but they lack that necessary emotional content that...
The anthropological point that is of significance for theology is that singing clearly demonstrates worship—and therefore the divine kingdom and human salvation—to be an affair of the whole person, mind, heart, voice, body.
Many American churchgoers seem to expect to use the MIND in worship, but only during the sermon. It’s at that point that typical pew-occupiers open their textbook (the Bible), get their pencils ready (to take notes), and put their brains in gear. You can almost sense...
Songwriters and music publishers play important roles in the theological formation of a congregation—even more than the pastor. I’m pretty sure people don’t catch themselves humming the sermon during the week.
When someone insists that we should only use the best music in worship, I scratch my head. Is the best music simple or complex? Written or spontaneous? Short or long? Do they mean the best aesthetically, pragmatically, emotionally, or historically? We usually have in...
Worship is not a mindless exercise. First and foremost, worship is a rational activity. It arises from careful reflection on who God is (in the infinite glory of His being) and what He has done… Worship without theology is bound to degenerate into idolatry; hence, the...
The contemporary obsession with spirituality, among Christians and pagans alike, surely betokens something worthy of the church’s attention. I am not convinced, however, that the current vogue for spirituality should be embraced without making important historical and...
It is bad theology to say, “You worship that way, but let me worship my way.” We do not worship only as far as we feel comfortable in the same way that we do not make ethical decisions as long as they meet our convenience. The world might do this but not people who...
To ask the theological question is simply to ask, What does our worship say about God? or the corollary, What does God say to us about our worship? Surely, this is the toughest and most basic question to be asked, but curiously, it is often the last question we ask....
Whatever else God calls us to do, we are called to worship, to do so together and to do so in the promised company of Jesus Christ. It is in worship that our lives are expressed before God and informed and converted by God’s Word. It is in worship, that through song,...