Introduction
I have chosen Worship as my most favoured Christian discipline. Worship comes to me as a natural practice to give thanks and gratitude to Jesus for all he’s done and is doing for all humanity. I praise and pray on a daily basis, either through quiet reflective time in prayer to listening to worship music in the car, work and at home. Worship allows me to give thanks for the incredible gifts Jesus has given me and keeps my mind focused my spiritual journey in Jesus. Jesus is worth all the worship and praise as it says in Romans 12:1-2: “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable, or well pleasing and perfect.” Summarise your original understanding of the discipline before the course started Being a new Christian I quickly learnt symbolic acts of worship involved singing, praising and partaking in communion at Sunday church. Worship to me is about giving thanks to the Trinity. Remembering how much Jesus loves us and what he endured on the cross for us is a vital part of remembrance through worship through partaking in the communion. I didn’t realise that through worship I would receive such clarity and truth through the Holy Spirit and a knowing that God sent his only son
It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.
While there are those who may be uncomfortable with the idea that worship is a goal in making disciples, the goal of Christian education according to Mitchell is to make a disciple who worships Jesus. Mitchell points out that worship is more than just showing up at church on Sunday morning for an hour of corporate worship. He points out that worship according to John 4:19 -24 goes much deeper than just that time of corporate worship that we often think of as
Christian worship centers on meetings or services held on Sunday. These services consist of Biblical readings, communion, and music either with or without instrumental accompaniment, prayer, a teaching from the Bible in the form of a sermon and a collection of tithes. Other forms of worship, such
To participate in worship, a person must have a relationship with God. In other words, how can a person worship someone he/she does not know or experienced. To obtain that link an individual must become a part of the body of Christ by accepting Jesus as their personal Savior and surrender their will for God's will and plans for their life. They must also have had an encounter with God as Saul on the Damascus road and David with his many issues. However, music has a multipurpose, it drives away evil spirits, calms the mind, and drives a person toward the love and warmth of Christ.
Worship is the primary action of the church. Those who are part of it assemble together to sing, pray, remember Christ, listen to the Scriptures, and contribute to the Lord’s causes (Acts 2:42, 47; 1 Cor. 16:1-2). It is one of the church’s primary purposes, and it is crucial for its worship to be in harmony with the Scriptures. In Lutheranism, worship is a spiritual exercise that outwardly expresses itself as an acceptance of God’s gift to humans (Jacobs 551). Lutherans
Worship music what is it really for and is there such of thing as good or bad Worship music. Donald Williams In his Touchstone magazine article, “Durable Hymns,” Williams notes that there have been wars over music almost as long as there’s been a church. Williams says we should study the music of the past to “learn the criteria by which to discern what is worthy in the present.” I agree that we need to look in the past but we need to be careful with that too just like today music written log ago had music that was of poor quality too. One hymn I that stuck with me through my teens is “you are my all in all” by Dennis Jernigan. This song is rooted in biblical truth (You are my strength when I am weak…When I fall down you pick me up), theological
Two thousand years ago, the birth of Jesus, arguably the most influential man the world has ever seen, altered history forever. Christians know him as the Messiah, the son of God who came to save all of mankind, and for others, he may just be a great teacher and person of history. It is the latter that Reza Aslan attempts to shed an unbiased light on by comparing the Jesus that modern Christians believe in to the Jesus that Aslan believes would have fit into first-century Palestine: a violet revolutionary, dedicated to the eradication of the Roman government in Israel and the deposition of the rich priestly class. Aslan paints a portrayal of Jesus using knowledge of the time period, Scripture that has been taken out of context and misinterpreted, and most of all, the author’s imagination and powerful rhetoric to cover up his faulty argumentation. In his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan recreates an interesting but purely speculative image of the historical Jesus through exploring the political and social history of first-century Palestine, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the development of early Christianity.
The purpose of this project is to demonstrate how the Sacramental Life or Incarnational Tradition help me focus on my life as a harmonious unit and to illustrate how my life is impacted by my view of worship. In addition, I will give a theological analysis on how focusing on life as a harmonious unit is essential to the myself, the individuals I administer spiritual counseling to and my ministry constituents.
God has brought us into the community and it is our responsibility to include God into the community He has given to us. Worship involved songs that all were relatively regarding God’s reign and community. The songs and Scriptures read/song had a meaning of how Christians will be saved if we continue to be followers if we love God and keep his commandment, and if we preach the Word we will be saved by grace. The covenant of grace has many significant meanings in the Christian Reformed Church, “the covenant of redemption may be defined as follows: “The agreement between the Father, giving the Son as Head and Redeemer of the elect, and the Son, voluntarily taking the place of those whom the Father had given him” (Hoekema 187). The value of keeping the covenant of grace is to preach the Holy Scripture but to also grow stronger in faith. The covenants made between man and God are meant to keep commandments and to join in fellowship with one another. The message of the importance of the covenant of grace in the reading of Perspectives in the Christian Reformed Church is that “the covenant of grace, further, does full justice to both the individual ad social aspects of Christianity. The covenant of grace requires man’s full-orbed service of God as God’s covenant partner” (Hoekema 200). God alone is all powerful, great, good, Creator, Redeemer, and the
“Worship is… our response, both personal and corporate, to God – for who He is! And what He has done! Expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.” There are many definitions of worship out there. I have found that this one seems to best fit my heart when praying through the topic of worship. Worship is something that begins in the heart, privately, and then flows out during times of public and corporate gathering. Worship however, is something far deeper than music, dance, art, or drama. Worship is more than fine arts. Worship is more than Sunday morning gatherings or Wednesday night small groups. Worship is life. Worship is something you do. “Worship isn’t something you attend like a movie or a concert. Worship is something you enter into with all of your might. Worship is a participation sport in a spectator culture.” “True worship is a whole-life response to God’s greatness and glory. A response that taps our mind, our soul, out heart of passion and all our strength.”
The physical expression of worship is often shown through lifting of hands, kneeling in prayer, crying out to God, and a musical dance. Worship is also shown during seasonal programs or events such as: Christmas’ Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Easter. Worship, then, is enhanced, because people are of the same belief about God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The authors, Paul Engle and Steve Cowan writes, “Worship is inherently theological. It is primarily about God. Specifically, it is about how Christ-followers offer to God their love, gratitude, and praise.” Therefore, people may get distracted or misunderstand worship based on their belief in God. The day of Pentecost is example of people being on one accorded in their belief and worship to God, as
My faith journey has been challenged throughout my life. I have had many ups and downs, and many times when I questioned my faith. Although those times were rough, I found comfort in God and knowing that He is always there for me. One of my favorite quotes is “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13. This quote got me through tough times when my faith was shaking.
Worship comes in different forms depending on how the church wants the service to proceed. For the Amazing Grace Church, the service began with the congregation singing a number of worship songs to the Lord that lasted for about an hour. Christian praise and worship by music, and in fact, music is a great tool for helping them feel closer to God. Music is an emotional language because it effectively affects their emotions and the lyrics can swell their hearts. There is nothing bigger and greater than the grace of God that is delivered to them from condemnation through the sacrifice of his own Son. Thus, Christian chooses to praise and worship Him by singing. While singing, the congregation stands on their feet and they seem to be affected by the songs in some way as they raise their hands as a sign of accepting the Lord into their hearts. The emotion that was thrown from the congregation was very distinctive to us as we could see that the songs are an important tool of expression. According to the pastor of the Amazing Grace Church, singing let the people focus on the worship, helps them respond to God’s grace and also guide them to reflect on God’s glory. In his opinion, singing mean nothing if people do not respond to what they have sang and related it to God and reflect it to make them better believers.
Today children and teenagers are asked the question above a lot in church and typically answer the same way the child did. Although that may be the main answer they give that is only a portion of what worship is. Worship is the act of honoring God. Whether it is through singing in “big church” or doing chores at home, if one is honoring God it is worship. Merriam Webster defines worship as “a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual,” and “extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem.” Putting both definitions of worship together it would be defined as honoring an object—God in this case—and being devoted to
Reflecting upon the readings of Torrance’s Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace and White’s Introduction to Christian Worship will deeply shape how I look at worship in the churches I now order worship for the congregations. I used one of the churches in which I serve to do the Order of Worship assignment. It is a blue collar, small membership church located in a rural, retirement/ vacation area of North Carolina, Lake Gaston. It is also predominately Caucasian. Torrance’s focus is on trinitarian worship, participating in Christ’s communion with God, the Father and Christ’s life, death, and resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit. And White’s focus is to look at how the forms used in worship give worship its meaning. These forms include but are not exclusive of, time, space, music and art. There are implications for both focuses in the order of worship for the congregation used for my order of worship.