Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Making Worship a True Experience

When we think about going to church to worship, what comes to mind? For many of us, images of praise teams or choirs singing, musicians playing, people praying, videos rolling and handclapping and dancing come to mind. All of those may be part of a worship service, and if prayerfully planned by those leading the worship ministry at church, can be effective elements to enhance worship, but they are not worship in themselves.
Worship, by definition, is bowing down, feeling and expressing deep love and closeness for God. The church part, is simply a bunch of Christians doing that together. Without meeting God on that personal level, attending a worship service can be a lot like attending a great party. You can enjoy the music, mingle with a bunch of friends, but never see the host giving the party through all the noise and crowd. (I have attended a couple of services where the music or other elements of worship were great, but I wondered where God was in the service).
Before you go to church this Sunday, make a promise to meet Jesus there. If you're responsible for leading worship, make a promise to make Jesus so visible in all that takes place that the people in your church can't help but see and be drawn to him.
There is a great resource available to worship leaders to help make this happen. It's Rory Noland's newest book "The Worshiping Artist" (Zondervan 2007). The author of "The Heart of the Artist" comes through with another excellent resource to help worship directors and teams lead others in worship.
The book is divided into three essential parts:
"Worshiping in Secret" and the need for continued personal worship all week, not just on Sunday

"Worshiping in Truth" making sure we know who God really is and what it is to make everything come together to worship him

"Learning from Ancient Worship Leaders" some history for what we tend to think of as a modern tradition.

There are terrific questions for group discussion and some personal action steps.

2 comments:

Rebecca Jeffries-Hyman said...

Love this blog! I'm Rebecca Hughes, found you through your comment on http://sandysstitchingandstuff.blogspot.com/2007/09/had-blast-at-spa-day.html

LaurenYarger said...

Thanks so much! God bless you.
Lauren

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Lauren Yarger, Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists.

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run.

In 2008 she was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater with a Christian perspective for Reflections in the Light (http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/) and is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection. She also is a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com

She also reviews books for Publisher's Weekly and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. She formerly was Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp, a national theater web site bsed in New York and a reviewer for American Theater Web.

She also served as Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. and worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

She is a freelance writer and member of the Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association, The League of Professional Theatre Women and The CT Critics Circle.

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger lives with her husband in West Granby, CT and has two adult children.

Copyright Notice

All contents copyright © Lauren Yarger 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, contact masterworkproductions@yahoo.com.

Scripture from THE MESSAGE Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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