As many philosophers and theologians have observed, music is close to “spirit”—a non-material medium of receiving and conveying a sense of the world. In our deepest attentiveness and encounters with certain forms of music, we are opened to a depth of awareness; a...
Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.
We image God in the music we make and perform. When the program is hit-or-miss, we show forth a God who lacks purpose and direction;…when our performance of music lacks vitality or artistic grace, we portray God as inert; when our musical choices revolve around taste...
Worship often includes words and actions, but it goes beyond them to the FOCUS of the mind and heart. Worship is the God-centered focus and response of the inner man; it is being preoccupied with God. So no matter what you are saying or singing or doing at any moment,...
Worshiping is not just singing the songs from a hymnal or overhead projector. It is letting those words flow from your heart to His. This is the worship that will usher you into the courts of the Most High. from Inside the Fire: Giving Today’s Youth Something Real to...
The worshiper’s journey is complete": from the broad reaches of God’s creation through the guiding lines of Scripture to the disturbing inner recesses of the heart, there remains only the prayer. May the God praised with and without speech find acceptable the words...
Why should a church teach hymns? One basic reason is that hymns are a means of communicating the message of the church. Some hymns are paraphrases of Scripture and others are based on specific Scripture verses. Hymns also effectively convey the church’s theology....
Sometimes joy is compounded of many elements: a touch of sadness, a whimper of pain, a harsh word tenderly held until all its arrogance dies, the casting of the eye into the face that understands, the clasp of a hand that holds, then releases, a murmur of tenderness...
Each of us is called to prophetic agony—to speak the Word, to do justice and righteousness. We are most truly ourselves when we live within God’s insecurity, acknowledging Yahweh’s sovereignty over creation, taking full responsibility as contingent creatures who yet...
In our zeal for mass conversion and standard strategies, we overlook the fact that evangelism requires far more than effective methods. The gospel is not a consumer product to be marketed by drawing from a strategic tool kit. People come to faith in Christ through a...