SHUT UP!!!!!!!
If I could wish one thing…
One thing only…
It would be that Christians would lose their ability to discern a melody or a song for just one Sunday.
Then…
I think worship would truly happen.
How do YOU worship God without a song?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
I worship God via visual arts. Well, I usually use music with it – but visuals are a great way to worship.
During praise & worship at church I kinda wish there would just be a time of silence. I know it's awkward for some – but after a great song of praise I just want a few seconds – maybe 20 – to just speak to God before jumping into the next song or next part of the service.
Laters,
T
Tithing/giving sacrificially and being generous with time and talents.
By moving myself out of the way whenever possible. WAAAAAaaaaaaayyy easier said than done.
peace|dewde
Wander through the forest, not on a trail just in between the trees. . . .
obey
Driving. Driving on abandoned roads, in the middle of nowhere, sharing His love with my boys. I worship in my breathing, its like a song taking him in and breathing his love out. By letting go.
we were at 722 one night when the “life interrupted” series was going on- the crowd followed lyrics on a screen while they sang silently in their heads… brilliant. some people stood up, some sat, some had the arms up and out, some had their eyes closed (makes it a little difficult to follow along). it was brilliant… even though i was ticked that i was leaving town the next day and louie giglio was a no-show that night
by serving.
Serving the hurting, lost, broken and poor.
Serving with the love God has showered over me and (hopefully) spreading Hope.
whether its a free bottle of water, a hot meal, opening a door, or a simple smile. I think it is one of the coolest ways to worship God
Prayer!!!! I think that is a directly personal way to worship God.
sitting quietly or getting on my face before God……i'm a worship leader but often don't sing in worship when i'm in the congregation because when I'm really, really tuning into God I need to BE QUIET!
music is definitely a big influence in my worship, though I totally see your point. as a musician, I struggle with hearing the minutia in songs…mess ups…out of key notes, etc etc…I experience the “show” more than God sometimes, and although I'm aware of it, I do wish that my brain would turn off every ones in a while…
“how he loves” has been the song that frees my mind from musical critiquing in the last month or so…for some reason, that song fills me up Big Time…
My other worship is through seeing creation. Even if it's not out in the wilderness, just seeing God's glory in full color when driving home sometimes is enough to make me appreciate Him. The challenge is keeping myself from keeping my head down all the time and looking up at what He's doing around me.
Some ways I do it are through prayer and writing- whether it's a poem or just what's in my heart
Through repentence.
It enables me to come to grips with the truth–that the unbelievable HAS HAPPENED. That me, a sinner, has been not only forgiven, but accepted, loved, and made right with my Father.
Sometimes I feel like worship songs can be too much about my needs rather than the actual charachter of God and repentance makes me come face to face with Jesus and His love for me.
This is why it makes me sad so many churches have gotten rid of corporate confession. Some may say the liturgy becomes too rote to have meaning, but really, I think it may be the one time in church we're actually honest.
We have done a corporate poetic reading of entire service using worship songs sans melody. It was powerful. However I would not dissuade the vitality of music as a gift of God towards our worship. To paraphrase J. Edwards in a modernizing sense:
We sing in worship to engage and express our affections. There is no other reason to sing. If we aren’t dealing with our affections in worship, we might as well just read the lines of the songs dryly together in paragraph form without any music. We worship with music to because God has created music with a certain nature where it tends to move our affections deeply.
awesome wish. it's amazing how much of God's voice we can drown out by our refusal to do things different.
This is so hard for me. Music is so much a part of who I am and it only makes sense to praise God with song. I feel closest to God when I sing or when I hear a beautiful or rockin song with a great message. But that is just me. I could see how silence can also be a great way to worship or walking through the woods and marveling in God's creation around me.
In my former student ministry, I set up worship stations. They were card sized tables. We reserved a part of the service for students to worship how they chose. Some tables had paper for people to draw (art), some had paper for people to write a note or a poem to God, some tables simply had a candle for prayer, we played music by a CD for those who wanted to worship by singing, etc…
I wanted to be intentional about teaching students to view worship outside of the context of music, although we did provide that as one of the elements, it was not the singular focus. Someone asked me, what did you do for the students who did not participate? Nothing…Worship has to happen unforced, just as God does not force us to worship him, I was not going to force students to participate in this time of our service…after all its not like people in the church are forced to sing during “worship time” anyway. I think it was successful.
I have just recently learned how worshipful stillness and silence are. Especially when you are looking at the magnificent Creation.
I also love to mediate on art….I learned about it in a retreat a few weekends ago and I love it….
Awesome! Great idea Nick!! Great!
In the Spirit and by the Spirit.
Thanks!
Yeah, I would say by sitting my mind on the Lord and focusing in on Him. Also, by giving back to God of both the gifts and talents that He has given to me through service.
I just work. I go to work every day and I do it happily even when times are bad. I listen to Jesus when I work and I tune out the world around me. I'm so happy when I work.
I really connect with allegory and poetry.
being silent. . .and still
We worship from the moment our eyes open until our eyes shut. Noodle *that* for a moment…
Interesting question – One of our pastors will be preaching on the theme of silence the last Sunday in December and as one of the worship leaders I actually suggested we do the service without music.
Personally, I love to just sit and look at his creations in nature. I completely marvel at the variety and majesty of all that God created. I mean, he could have just created a maple tree and a Daisy – but instead he created all of the varieties.
I lay on the trampoline at night and marvel at the stars.
such a great point
Our worship pastor tend to jump right into the verse to avoid people anticipating the song and going into a “mode” for that song.
Trough a Video…for the service ofcourse!!
I'm a worship leader/singer…at my church we set up worship stations so people can express them selves in what ever way God is leading them at any point during our worship gathering…but…I find that in the corp. worship setting…we will enter in or we wont…I think the key to worship is realizing we need to bring it with us were ever we are and especially when we enter into the presence of God…and when we get that…worship is a natural response to what ever is happening around us…
i worship God through His creation. Most recently while at the ocean. I am totally amazed that he created waves. They are truly a magnificent creation.
i worship God through His creation. Most recently while at the ocean. I am totally amazed that he created waves. They are truly a magnificent creation.