One of my favourite Bible passages is Isaiah 6. As I was reading this I discovered some key elements of a worship service.
ISAIAH 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
We see here that worship involves
1) Connecting with & seeing God (for who He really is)
2) Actively Participating in Worship
3) Confession & Repentance
4) Receiving Forgiveness & Cleansing
5) Responding To God in Service
1 comment:
I want to pick up on one point. We as the Church have frequently said that repentance is an essential element of worship. How can we come to God without first turning away from our sin? I'm afraid, however, that we've quite often failed to provide opportunities to do so during the service (which, of course, is the only place we worship...). I wonder how we'd react if someone were to drop to their knees during worship, sobbing out their repentance? Would we uncomfortably shift our stance and fix our gaze on the screen; or would we kneel with him, weep with him, embrace him and when his tears are spent, look him in the face and give him an adamant assurance of God's full forgiveness? I've been to church when I desperately wanted to grab someone and ask them to walk me home to the Father; but I knew that it was culturally unacceptable, so remained silent. Is it even possible to change this? I welcome your reaction.
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