Saturday, April 08, 2006

Worship is Relational

It is natural for the creature to worship the Creator. Randy Harris has said that worship is "the reply of the creature to the Creator." Marjorie Thompson says in her book, Soul Feast, "True worship from the heart means responding to God's glory and love with our entire being....worship from the heart joins inner reality with outward expression."

Adoration, ecstasy, falling on our face, crying and even "replying" are not ordinarily part of the worship of my fellowship. Could it be that since we have chosen the synagogue model for worship rather than the temple worship model (more about that later) we have missed out on a basic tenet of worship? When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman in John 4:23, he said, "God is spirit and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth. We have obsessed about truth so much that we failed to invite the spirit.

Some critics have faulted some of the contemporary hymns as being "too personal" and "sounding too much like love songs." Duh!!!Worship is all about God and our personal love for him. Worship is a hungry heart reaching for the Father. When one relects that we can "come near to Him" and even talk to Him, it is sobering, awe-inspiring, and wonderful.

"These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."Isaiah 29:13

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