You may remember the phrase “happiness is…” from the Peanuts gang.
This summer, we’ve been borrowing this short phrase from Mr. Schulz and looking at what “Worship Is” a little bit at a time. Each week through June and July, we’ve sought to complete that sentence and discuss a different aspect of worship. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve covered. You can go back and re-read if you missed anything!
Worship is seeing.
Worship happens when God reveals himself to us. We see Him for who He is. We see what He’s done in our lives. We see who He created us to be.
Worship is relational.
Worship is more than religious ritual. It is a relational exchange between God and mankind. There is both acceptable and unacceptable worship.
Worship is singing.
We are commanded in scripture to sing our praise to God. Singing is a unique, God-given gift that no other form of expression can match – and we can all sing to God.
Worship is good.
Sin entices us to do evil. We all struggle with sin and seek to do good as followers of Christ. Worship is always a good thing, allowing us to commit ourselves more fully to Him.
Worship is emotional.
God created us as emotional beings and it is absolutely appropriate to be emotional in worship. Just read the Psalms.
Worship is physical.
The scripture paints a physical picture of worship. Kneeling, bowing down, dancing, lifting our hands. We can and should worship God with our whole body.
Worship is freedom.
Worship brings freedom and freedom leads us to worship. As we submit to God in worship, He frees us from our bondage to sin.
Worship is diverse.
Worship is never tied to a single style. “Traditional” and “Contemporary” are simply labels we assign, but have little spiritual significance and certainly have no eternal value. All nations will be gathered around the throne in heaven.
Finally, worship is life.
Worship is what we were made for. Worship brings us before the God who created us and intimately knows us. Worship acknowledges the magnificence of God, the mystery of Christ, and the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 139:1-16
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Jeremy Buzzard, Director of Music Ministries
Check out the songs we’ll be singing in Contemporary Worship (11:15am) this week: