Consuming Worship
Let us worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire.
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March 21, 2010
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Question of the Week #1
17 Sep2009
Yesterday I re-entered the blogosphere, and mentioned I am working on a couple of books. I also said those of you who wanted to would be able to help out. Here's your chance. Please answer this question in the comments.
What do you think are the most common misconceptions about worship?
Let me tell you ahead of time that, while I many engage in some discussion here, I'm really looking to answer these questions more in the forth-coming book. I appreciate any and all comments you might have.
Popularity: 4% [?]
- In: Worship| Worship Theology
- Tags: Worship, writing
9 Responses to Question of the Week #1
Kevin Riner
September 18th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I'm part of a forum on the web and we had this conversation already and I thought I would share it with you so you can weed through it. Good luck on your book. I too and writing a book along the same lines. Just not so exhaustive. Mine is on many different concepts of church and worship is one (but could be many) chapter.
http://www.worshiptherock.com/forum/topics/top-10...
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Jason
September 18th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
as a worship leader in a small church I think a common misconception for us worship leaders in smaller churches is that worship is 'better' with more people present and singing – obviously not true, but it is easy to believe at times.
http://gangwish.wordpress.com
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Jason
September 18th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I think that there is a belief that finds its way into our thinking at times that, the more people in attendence – the 'better' the corporate praise / worship is.
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Eric
September 21st, 2009 at 2:51 pm
That it is about "me" and my personal enjoyment level. Somehow so many get caught up in the corporate "experience" and not letting the moment be between them and God. Good luck on the book – as a point of thought, it would be wonderful if it is written for the either 1) non-worship leader or 2) how to help the worship leader engage the corporate worshipers.
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Jeff M. Miller
September 21st, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Thanks for the link, I'll look it over. I wish you blessings on your own book as well.
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Jeff M. Miller
September 21st, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Absolutely. There is no doubt many church going people get caught up in that idea. There is also no doubt there does seem to be a kind of "group consciousness" at work the larger the crowd. This is actually one of the issues I'll be talking about in the book. On one side you've got people who get caught up in the crowd dynamic and think they've worshiped because of a false emotional high, but there is also the ability in a large crowd to drop inhibitions and be more freely expressive.
The challenge is to lead people into genuine and freely expressive worship regardless of crowd size.
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Jeff M. Miller
September 21st, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Yes! Totally agree on the comfort level idea. In fact, the longer I do "the job" the more I'm convinced times of worship should make us feel equally comforted and uncomfortable. Notice the word comfortable never enters the conversation. Worship should challenge us to "work out our salvation in fear and trembling," while at the same time comfort us in the love and grace and mercy of Almighty God.
As for the audience, it is my hope to write more toward the pew sitter than the leaders. The problem with that is marketing. If I do ever get the book into print, just because of the vagaries of publishing, it's more likely to sell to ministers rather than general members. I guess we'll worry about all that whenever I get done and try to sell the thing to a publisher.
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Jason
September 21st, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I'm intersted to read your book and comments on this peice of corporate worship. The question I ponder as I think further on you question is: "Were the misconception in the old testament the same they are today?"
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Jeff M. Miller
September 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I think it probably goes without questions that OT concepts of worship (even early NT concepts) were completely different than ours. This isn't to say there were not problems in the OT times. You can see in Scripture evidence of people who got into the idea that if they just brought the fatted calf or whatever offering was appropriate, they though they were all good regardless of any heart attitude or change. Sounds a bit like folks who just show up on Sunday and sing a few songs and listen to a sermon and then go on about their lives with no change.
As for corporate worship, much of what I'm writing about in the book will not focus so much on corporate worship, rather than what does genuine worship entail. I do comment on corporate worship in the book, but mostly to dispel misconceptions and as a jumping off point into the wider worship discussion since people are familiar with Sunday worship.
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