Terry V: thoughts on worship

'don't bore me with empty songs.' Terry's article

Presence of God gets manifest on planet earth.

Israel isn't the holy land, we're a holy people. Holiness has to do with where God is. When we worship we are gathering into the presence of God. Sinai was a holy mountain, so holy that not even animals were allowed to touch it and live. But what made it holy was that God was there.

"I fear that the sense of wonder in worship has drifted."

What's primary is coming into the presence of God. The church is the dwelling place of God in the Spirit. When we gather in his name our anticipation of an experience ought to be incredibly high.

Worship:

When we started things were very spontaneous, God is here and so there were gifts of the Spirit being used. Part of the concern about worship life is that we often delegate away half of our meeting to people who aren't/wouldn't be elders in the church.

Aspects of worship we ought to pursue:

Liberty - not of self-expression only, but in wonder at God's grace. It was the gospel, it was truth that freed us.

The first worship song in the Bible: Ex. 15, a celebration of the freedom that they now have.

Faith - the possibility of people's faith growing is huge. Creedal faith. Luther taught the gospel through hymns because they were a non literate people. Terry speaking to an African pastor who said: in England they sing about mountains and streams, I want to sing about Jesus! We need songs that inspire strength in the storms. Faith and singing go together. When you believe and you sing it underlines your faith. Unbelief and singing don't go together. We don't want to get into triumphalism or over the top. But is that our danger? Not so much.

If our preoccupation on Sundays is for the sinner, when do we gather to meet with God?

Devotion - We fought for a new kind of church where devotion to Jesus and heartfelt, wholehearted expressions of affection is what we do. It has a sanctifying experience on us. People make big decisions when caught in the throes of devotion: he decided to give away 7 years worth of savings. Do we anticipate wonderful things will happen in the worship? The question isn't 'shall we have gifts of the Spirit in the worship?' but the question ought to be: 'are we going to meet with God?'

Rant over.

Research: Impact of social media

From Church and Culture blog:

Instagram is ready to serve by now offering an “academy” designed to “teach teenagers how to become social media stars.” As reported by the Telegraph: “… the photo sharing app is running three days of free workshops to train would-be influencers in how to become an online success. The curriculum covers everything from camera angles to how to make your content ‘relatable.’”