Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Abbotsford
Presented by Emmanuel’s Worship Committee, December, 2009
Maria Wiens, Marcia Janzen, Della Friesen, Frank Klassen, April Yamasaki, Jurgen Schonwetter [scribe]
What is worship? Worship means honouring, respecting, esteeming, revering, with passion and affection God Father, God Son, and God Holy Spirit. Worship is based on a relationship: The worshiper and the object of devotion. Since humans are cognitive and spiritual beings, in worship they focus and engage their minds and souls in a deliberate attempt to connect with God.
Christian worship is Christ centered. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6. It is the Christ Who personifies divine truth and whom, ultimately, we encounter in worship.
Worshiping God includes a two-way encounter. This encounter has a hidden element, a spiritual reality not fully apparent. God makes His knowledge available to ALL Christians through the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers cannot understand because they do not have the Holy Spirit living within them. 1 Cor. 2:14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. NRSV
Worship does not counter human intelligence or sense perception. However, it goes beyond that. It is implicit in “we have the mind of Christ” 1 Cor. 2:16b
Christian worship is bathed in Scripture. The Scripture provide us with two dominant components which characterize worship: a presentation of divine truth and a response to that truth.
Examples:
Nehemiah 8.1-6
“So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”
Matthew 28.9. “Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.” προσεκύνησαν
Among Orientals, especially Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead is an expression of profound reverence. In the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage.
These examples portray that worship involves a response to an act of divine revelation of truth. This is the essence of biblical worship: God initiates and we respond. That response is an act of worship.
Worship aims at the worshiper’s reason or the rational. It reaches the will; it appeals to cause and effect. It challenges priorities, opinions, values. It provides meaning to life for now and for the future.
Worship aims to affect the worshipers’ emotions. It inspires feelings; it elicits pleasure and delight. It elicits worship, enthusiasm, love, compassion.
Caution. Emotionalism, per se, is discouraged for it means a shallow immediate gratification. Affections toward God are at the core of true worship.
Without a purpose, there is no reason. Without passion, there is no reason for existence. 3pp ad in Time 96-3 by Acura
Methodology in worship should be driven by our theology. This is what we think about, this is how we express ourselves before God and each other. Since our congregation is made up of diverse people with differing cultural and religious backgrounds, we respect and include individual preferences or tastes as we prepare for worship. We develop our worship methods in community, and attempt to meet the various worship needs if at all possible. We strive for harmony.
The components include prayer, the reading and proclamation of Scripture and its interpretation and application. We celebrate Communion as an ongoing observance to commemorate Christ’s death and resurrection and coming again. As a response to worship, believers and unbelievers are called to repent. The final thrust of our worship is now what, or the practical application of the worship experience to daily living.
God desires worship. He delights in receiving homage and esteem from His people. Scripture portrays distinctive ways of worshiping God. These are not in isolation but complement each other. Consider personal worship and corporate worship as the two sides of a wheel. The rubber that meets the road is lifestyle worship.
Meeting God on a personal level is as essential to life as breathing oxygen. Communicating with God on a regular, daily basis in having God talk to us through Scripture, devotional literature and in other ways; and speaking to God through prayer is considered spiritual breathing [Rosalind Rinker].
The gathered community as participants. A worship service aims at having each person be a participant. We seek to engage each person in the corporate worship experience.
It is clear from the pages of both Testaments that God expects the community of faith to congregate in small groups or larger groups to worship Him. Examples:
Psalm 149.1 Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The most general term includes lifestyle worship. For a believer it is expected that her/his whole life is lived before God and others in reverence to Christ, aiming to become more Christlike every day.
In worship, God reaches us, and the congregation reaches out to God.
First and foremost, we need to lead and invite all who come to allow God to speak to each worshiper. The primary medium is the reading and proclamation of Scripture. Not everything will go, though. Competence is expected.
Although it is a God-given that our worship has a sense of the hidden and the mystical, we are determined to make our public worship accessible, intelligible, and relevant to all people attending our worship services.
The following is a direct quote from our church’s Council meeting of May 15, 2001.
Worship Committee Responsibilities
Purpose: In our life of worship together, we recognize that the church includes people of all ages, from different backgrounds, and at different stages of faith development. As a Worship Committee, we seek to encourage this diverse, intergenerational, and multi-ethnic congregation to develop faith in Jesus Christ, to express that faith in a life of Christian discipleship in accordance with Anabaptist principles, and to grow in spiritual maturity.
In Sunday morning worship and in other events, we desire to focus on God and the larger issues of life; to worship Jesus; to celebrate the new life that comes from knowing Christ; to grow in our relationship to God, to one another, to our community, and to the world. To this end, we encourage the participation of all ages; we seek to recognize and express the giftedness of the whole people of God; and we incorporate a variety of expressions of worship (e.g., Scripture and the spoken word, music, visual arts, drama, children’s features, youth services).
The worship leader should be well prepared for guiding the worshippers into the presence of God and one another. To gently steer the worshippers away from personal concerns and usher them into focusing on the object of worship: God. It is of utmost importance that the WL not call attention to her/himself in dress or demeanor. This would be considered “static” or “noise.”
Worship teams should be well prepared for guiding the worshippers into the presence of God and one another. To gently steer the worshippers away from personal concerns and usher them into focusing on the object of worship: God. It is of utmost importance that the WT members not call attention to themselves in dress or demeanor. This would be considered “static” or “noise.”
In worshiping our God, we are instructed to do so with our whole being, vertically and with horizontal outcomes.
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (Deut. 6:5) This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (Lev. 19:18)