I don't understand a lot of worship songs. I am not talking about the continual debate between hymns and contemporary (or at least what is contemporary now). However, I do wish to question the standard of worship found in many places today. People get up on stage and sing thier songs with useless lyrics and repetative phrases. Is that worship? How do we define what worship is, and can worship be defined in the same way for all people?
Walter Pater got me thinking about our perception to God and our worshipful interaction with Him. Pater talked of the human response to beauty and our ability to understand something and define as beautiful to be the highest standard in life. Many worship songs today define God as beautiful, but they do not elaborate as to why, and even if they did I do not think that someone's particular view of God's beauty would be the same for all. Our love of God is very relational and personal. We are in a sense defined and changed by our relationship with and belief in God. Pater, while a pagan, would say that something that changes us because it is beautiful is the definition of something beautiful.
Let's say God is beautiful, or to say further that what he does in our lives is beautiful. He guides us, opens our souls, and interacts with us daily in a process that continually changes how we live. Worship sometimes speaks of a common experience as salvation and attempts to universalize that experience in its lyrics. Today, many worship leaders attempt to bring the individual to a place where they can reflect and interact with God, which no doubt is a sentiment brought on by America's low context and individualistic culture. While this might be a good way to do corporate worship, I would contend that real worship takes place on our own, at least in our cultural context. On our own we truly experience our understanding of God and how we percieve beauty in his creation, our ability and opportunities to fellowship, and God's use of us as tools for the advancement of his kingdom. What might be beautiful to me is not beautiful to someone else, and the saying could be switched around as well. While we cannot fully define God because we cannot know all of Him, we can understand our own perceptions of beauty and reflect on God through living a worshipful life. I think it is important to take note of the beauty in things, and I also think that it is important to talk with others about such things. Perhaps corporate worship should not take place in the chapel, but rather in the living rooms, restaurants, and coffee shops; wherever we find ourselves reflecting on the beauty of God and his relationship with us either individually or with others.
Walter Pater got me thinking about our perception to God and our worshipful interaction with Him. Pater talked of the human response to beauty and our ability to understand something and define as beautiful to be the highest standard in life. Many worship songs today define God as beautiful, but they do not elaborate as to why, and even if they did I do not think that someone's particular view of God's beauty would be the same for all. Our love of God is very relational and personal. We are in a sense defined and changed by our relationship with and belief in God. Pater, while a pagan, would say that something that changes us because it is beautiful is the definition of something beautiful.
Let's say God is beautiful, or to say further that what he does in our lives is beautiful. He guides us, opens our souls, and interacts with us daily in a process that continually changes how we live. Worship sometimes speaks of a common experience as salvation and attempts to universalize that experience in its lyrics. Today, many worship leaders attempt to bring the individual to a place where they can reflect and interact with God, which no doubt is a sentiment brought on by America's low context and individualistic culture. While this might be a good way to do corporate worship, I would contend that real worship takes place on our own, at least in our cultural context. On our own we truly experience our understanding of God and how we percieve beauty in his creation, our ability and opportunities to fellowship, and God's use of us as tools for the advancement of his kingdom. What might be beautiful to me is not beautiful to someone else, and the saying could be switched around as well. While we cannot fully define God because we cannot know all of Him, we can understand our own perceptions of beauty and reflect on God through living a worshipful life. I think it is important to take note of the beauty in things, and I also think that it is important to talk with others about such things. Perhaps corporate worship should not take place in the chapel, but rather in the living rooms, restaurants, and coffee shops; wherever we find ourselves reflecting on the beauty of God and his relationship with us either individually or with others.
0 Responses to “Worship”
Post a Comment