Defined Worship

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. 2 Samuel 22:2-3


Oh Praise Him all the earth; proclaim His goodness from the heights! Sing aloud with passion and joy for He is our deliverer and His faithfulness has settled the troubled sea. I was lost and now I am found, returned home—and so let the whole world join together their hands and voice in one accord; let us please our God, maker of the heavens and earth and all that is good; for His delight is in our fullness and our salvation! He is both the shield which protects me and the horn which proclaims His joy in salvation. Let us in return proclaim from the east to the west His glorious name!

Is that not what worship is, the righteous bearers of God’s name held in the deepest gratitude, shouting to the four corners of the earth? And yet so often such a combination of words sounds so doctored? Instead of altering my praise I rather say: Let all see; let the lost sheep examine my life that they may see and hear the never changing but ever active song of salvation, the work of my Lord. The salvation of the ages, we together with the saints, shall see the Lord as redeemer. Earth once trembled by the weight of His spender and so it does now, ever turning.

In song I closed my eyes and found myself swept away, my imagination surrendered, among a great cloud of witnesses; joy was present in the form of all senses. Tangible, visible joy which would have confounded this world as I know it—and there I stood, part of a light like nothing I had ever seen. Suddenly I saw something I could not escape from. Beaming eyes and brilliant robes penetrated my heart and a myriad of angels enraptured my imagination as I fell to my knees, suddenly alone. Tears filled my eyes but any emptiness was soon filled with a music, which dancing about my ears, circulating about me. And I looked up to a hand which lifted me to my feet. And it was He, smiling. At that very moment I knew salvation, so undeserved. It was the hand that lifted me, the very hand which bore such stripes and pain. And though my sins once nailed Him, no guilt remained for I was home—and so should the praise continue.

Each song which tells the story of salvation, Christ lies at the center of. We have been given, each distinctly, a story which tells of our comings and goings, our losings and winnings, and most importantly of the final victory to which we proclaim the name Christ! And to each is given, his own life of worship and his own transformed heart; it is a gift more precious than anything the world could and will ever offer, the gift of unity made possible through the cleansing blood of Christ. Life is a zealous story of victory and worship is a mere giving back, the people called to be saints whom I will call brother shoulder to shoulder.

....but...why?

Is asking "why?" dangerous? ...It is, sometimes, depending on your expectations.

God works in mysterious ways, and His character is made clear in the Bible, but the way He works remains largely a mystery. I had a conversation with my friend's dad about this and came to the conclusion myself that, although you can have faith and pray for something, really the best thing you can do (in addition to praying in faith) is ask God to help you understand why He worked the way He did in this situation; why things happened the way they did.

However, I began to think about how dangerous asking "why?" is. It is because I personally like to know things NOW, rather than later (It's the reason that Wikipedia can send me on so many rabbit-trials--a lot of subjects just catch my interest and I want to know it all, now). I also know that the information I do receive is rarely enough; and thus, always wanting more evidence, I'll begin to doubt, even the very tenets of my faith. Verification and the desire for empirical evidence can become an appetite like any other; that's why I believe some of the theological arguments that take place are unprofitable--because more evidence doesn't ever prove anything; it just provides due cause for doubt. And clearly, some things we're never going to know; should we have faith enough to allow it to be released in God's timing? I know that the universe is so infinitely big and our scope is so infinitesimally small that there will always be enough reason for two conflicting ideas to be true, at least as people perceive (and just speaking philosophically, one perception is equal and not greater than another perception); it's the nature of paradox, or as I would like to say, our limited understanding!

To be clear and conclusive, I believe you should ask God why, but you should not get angry when you don't get enough information (because, by definition of appetite, hunger is natural). A person should seek to get more information, but learn to accept our finiteness.

lifting my hands

Who else gets distracted while worshiping God in public places? It's such a horrible thing to say, but I sometimes do. I sometimes quiet my voice if I hear an off-key note or if I am surrounded by people that look like they could potentially want me to be quiet... When I lift my hands up, I rarely don't care what people think and when I close my eyes, my imagination rarely transforms beyond my blank eyelids. I think it's funny when people talk about worship and reference Jesus' quote to the woman at the well in John chapter 4. "My people will worship in spirit and in truth." I think people misrepresent this terribly when they speak of how we should worship Christ, in our spirits. That's silly to me.
I believe that part of the beauty of being human in earthen vessels is having the limitations of humans and challenging and exploring those limitations without getting hyper-spiritual. I think that we worship with our senses to honor the bodies that God made us with. They are, after all, what enable our spirits to act; I believe that any limitations of the spirit are only those of the body (but this is tangential). And here's back to my original point, inhibition in worship. I've felt it and so have you (if you're anything like me).
Is it supposed judgment? I'm not really sure to be honest. There's a few things I have learned though. I know that sometimes I will think to myself during a song, "I wonder how "so-and-so" likes this song" or "I wonder what he's thinking." That's one of my main inhibitions, thinking about other people when I have my time a lone with God. It seems only natural as worship is communal and guided/instructed by a leader that freedom would be hard to experience, but it doesn't have to be that way. Did God intent for there to be litany in services? For songs to go through once and the chorus to repeat twice and the last two lines to repeat again and perhaps again...? I believe God does, at times, direct the praises of His people, only so it is performed "in a fitting and orderly way" (1 Cor 14:40).
I know that if you do care about the people around you in worship, one of the best things you could possibly do for them sometimes is to ignore them and have your "alone" time with God (clearly, worship isn't always alone time). That's sometimes where your imagination comes into play; it doesn't exist so you can shut everybody else out of your worship; imaginations, sanctified imaginations exist so we can invite God into our worship. Psalm 22:3 does say that God inhabits the praises of His people--and that suggests that people praising together was how it was meant to be. Extolling the NAME of Christ is fulfilled when God catches you up in that moment and you open your eyes and realize that this is what Christianity is about. It's not about the inhibitions, but it's about the unity of believers lifting up Christ's NAME.

I know there's so many questions regarding worship, expectations and no expectations. I just know that in worship, I remember what my faith is all about. It's so encouraging to to see people really trying to do what's right. As a side and closing note, I think I'm starting to realize something: when someone is really offering his/her life in a single act, he/she will not refuse help. Worshiping God is hard. When someone refuses help, it's just he/she doing his/her own thing. Don't let it discourage you; commonly people do their own thing most of the time.

pointings towards truth..

Mercy points towards truth. This in all my reason (as the Holy Spirit guides my Scripture reading, etc.) this is the conclusion I've come to for now. I realize that I can logic my way towards truth and for me, truth can be settled in myself, but when I deal with others, it isn't fact that points to truth; it's some sort of deed. I'm still working through this logic, but it kinda makes sense to me. A counselor should be quick to listen and slow to speak, quick to show mercy and quick to reserve judgment.

a random quote picked from a conversation

People that seek out a treasure are at one point or another disillusioned by its allure. People that look around and find a treasure in what they already have are the treasure hunters in my book.

cultivating for growth

growth in church, just like growth anywhere else cannot be forced. What's it mean then to cultivates soil? Well, it's giving to soil the best environment to grow; it's being focused solely on making sure you do everything in your power to provide the right environment that something may grow in. Not focused on the growth (and that means not being focused on the success), but being focused on doing the best at what you do (as the farmer).

So the two things introduced were a correct environment and the hard work/mastery required to provide the proper conditions. To do that you have to know the soil type, you have to know what external forces influence what you have control over. A proper environment that may stimulate growth is not only non-hostile, it is honest, caring and serving/giving. In the short term, things can grow if you care about the success of it; however, one thing to consider is that God defines success very differently than humans do. A successful "anything" allows God to use it and allowing God to work..cuz sometimes God doesn't want things to work out... a right environment is hard thing to cultivate, but it should be at highest priority.

a new thought on responsibilities

I was under the misguided understanding that as an unhitched college student I have very few, if not any, responsibilities. Again, this was misguided. I was wrong and I don't mind admitting it.
Of course, legally I can justify so many immoral things with almost minimal effort, but this isn't really how I (or anyone else if I may venture a guess) want to live my life.
If a person doesn't do what God wants him/her to do, sure he/she is affected, but who else is directly and indirectly affected, too? If Joshua never and faith, Israel would have never seen the promise land. There, clearly an entire nation is affected by the choice of one man. Here, however, is a new example (which I heard from Andy Stanley). If Esau, not having children at this point, took his identity very seriously, he wouldn't have sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. His children wouldn't have lived in constant warfare; neither would their children have. And the Messiah who would redeem the entire world would have come from his line. Instead of curses and hatred from the Lord, Esau would have been blessed as the firstborn grandson of Abraham. So, who is affected now? Your children! Your children who you will one day never want to hurt and want the best for. Their best will now only be the half battered future which you laid a foundation for. It's a sobering thought and it's all related to a silly bowl of stew.
It was one of the worst trades in the history of mankind, but to Esau when he traded it, it wasn't bad at all. Esau thought he was going to die of starvation. And here's the thought even further... we all would have sold our birthright. Of course we would have if it was the right bowl of stew. If it would satisfy the right appetite--I see it all the time. Marriages fall to pieces because stupidly one sees a bowl of stew and at that moment forget his/her children. He/she forgets the legacy that will ensue and such a beautiful strong thing such as marriage is NOT WORTH A BOWL OF STEW!