Monday, September 20, 2010

Blog #006 Celebrating New Life

Greetings Friends!
Sorry we missed the post last week.  But we have a really good reason. We were in eastern Washington state meeting our new granddaughter. She's absolutely beautiful. (sneak peek below) She and mom and big sister (17 months old) and daddy are adjusting well. We are so blessed to have been able to be there and to help out in the first few days of this new life and the next adventure for this young family.

New life and the next adventure ... We believe that's what worship is all about: celebrating new life in Christ and the next adventure God has for us.

Worship theologian Robert Webber writes this comment, "Worship is a celebration. It is a celebration of the event of Christ-his death and resurrection. To celebrate Christ, not my devotion to him, frees me from having to create or invent my worship. Both preaching and the Lord's Supper celebrate Christ and through them Christ is given to me. Consequently, I am spiritually nourished by what God is doing for me through the Scriptures and the Communion Table." (Worship Is a Verb: Celebrating God's Mighty Deeds of Salvation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing, 1992), 9

When congregations become embroiled in a "worship war" it's probably because they have forgotten to remember their primary reason for gathering - to celebrate what God has done for them in Christ's death and resurrection and to look ahead with eyes of faith to the Christ-likeness He is calling them to pursue.

Let's remember to not forget!


2 comments:

  1. "To celebrate Christ, not my devotion to him..." Pretty powerful words. Good stuff. That's the worship I'm longing for the most; entering into God's story rather than inviting him into mine.

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