Tag: Worship
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O day of peace that dimly shines
Sometimes familiar tunes with new words can be surprising. I had such a moment in 2017 at a remembrance service in St. James Cathedral, Toronto. As the first notes of the tune commonly associated with Jerusalem (Blake’s “And did those feet in ancient time”) rang out—a melody deeply tied to English patriotism—I was jolted from my reverie.…
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Belle (2021) as a metaphor for Worship
[Spoilers for Belle ahead] How do we worship when we don’t want to worship? What is the point of church? Why do we even need others as Christians? Early this year I watched the movie Belle in theater and have been playing with this draft in my mind ever since because I think that the climactic scene…
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Unless Worship Is for Us, We Cannot Worship with Our Whole Heart—part 2
Our worship is almost always not biblical. By that I mean if you look at the psalms, a model of worship songs, the songs we pick often don’t line up. The reason for this is that the psalms are not an abstract regurgitation of God’s character and blessings. They are not only outwards towards God…
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Worship is about us-Part 1
For those who grew up singing Hillsong and Tomlin, we can be often reminded that worship is not about us. For example, in his song, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” Paul Oakley writes that “all this [worship] is for you, for your glory and your name. It’s not about me.” Similarly Tomlin writes “It’s not…
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The Gospel is not the Center of the Christian Life
One common answer given when you ask a Christian what is the center of the Christian life is the gospel. However, the gospel is not the center of the Christian faith and life. The gospel is important, the gospel changes lives, indeed it is the very power of God unto salvation for all who believe,…
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Hillsong and Evangelical Inconsistency
Hillsong is amazingly popular in Evangelical circles which have a focus on contemporary music and sometimes a sort of concert like air about worship services. However, Hillsong itself reveals a sort of inconsistency in how Christians view church and ethics within Evangelical thought. This is perhaps best highlighted by a recent news article from the…
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Worship, music, and doubt
There are few things that touch the heart as much as music and in churches we use music to worship God as the church has done since its inception. However, I must admit, there are times that I can’t bring myself to sing the words to the songs that so often fill evangelical churches. These…
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Be Thou My Vision
The Christian life is not an easy thing to do. It is fraught with danger and trial and it always has been. Indeed the Bible itself tells us that Christianity is not easy, as disciples of Christ we are instructed to take up a cross — a symbol of shame in the culture of the…
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Worshiping in Spirit
St. John tells us “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” And I think a lot of us have more truth than spirit. Certainly, my bias is towards theologically dense hymns, but there are some traditions (those less within the stream of the historically White traditions of hymnary…
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Glory to God, Forever and Ever
Liturgy, the patterns of pubic worship in a church, is an interesting thing. For many Christians, especially evangelicals, the idea of a formalized mode of worship is an idea that is utterly foreign. Set prayer? Standing / sitting / kneeling in unison? Processions? Creeds? What are these things? Liturgy as a whole is just outside…
Defined Faith 