Relationship and Trust

We [NEPC Music] are a community of worshipers
who glorify God,
serve one another,
and lead in worship.

Last week Maria delved into the concept of community. We have adopted a mission statement for NEPC Music that identifies us as a community of worshipers. So, what does it mean to be a worshiper?

I’ll never forget a specific moment, way back when my husband and I were dating, that he shared with me something he’d never shared with anyone else –  when he revealed the deepest parts of his heart to me.  My goodness, it made me love him even more and increased the trust between us!  That was when I began to learn what intimacy was really all about.

Over the years, whatever we’ve been going through, we’ve seen the importance of sharing our hearts – of revealing what’s going on deep down inside (even if it isn’t pretty), in order to maintain and deepen the intimacy and trust between us.  I can live in a house with my husband and know every fact there is to know about him, but if I do not know his heart I will not experience an intimate and trusting relationship with him.

Worship and Intimacy

At its core, worship is about revelation and response.  God reveals Himself – shares His heart – and we respond with love and trust.  I propose that worship should be about cultivating and celebrating the intimacy we have with our Heavenly Father. Scripture tells us that because of the death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus, “we have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Cor 2:12). We have the opportunity to know the heart of God!

We cultivate intimacy by drawing near to the heart of God and growing in faith and trust as we respond to what He reveals. This isn’t just about gaining head knowledge. This is being in relationship!  In every area of life – in our joys, in our pains, in our successes, in our failures – as we seek His heart, His ways, and His kingdom, we begin to trust Him more and live out of that trust. In this we are living lives of worship.

Within community is where we celebrate intimacy.  When we, as individual worshipers of God, come together to worship corporately, whether in church services or just in smaller groups, we create, in a sense, a cocoon of communion! We learn from each other, build one another up, and bolster one another in our faith. As musicians, we have the added bonus of getting to worship through song, celebrating what has been revealed to us and the response of our hearts together!

We are each uniquely created and individually gifted for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ.  Each part needs the other parts to function to its fullness.

“We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

This is what it means to be a community of worshipers and is how we are equipped to glorify God, serve one another, and lead in worship.

Kerri Roberts, Assistant Director of Music

Check out the songs we’ll be singing in Contemporary Worship (11:15am) this week:

NEPC Contemporary Setlist