A Hallmark of Worship

I am sure you have all had this experience – you walk down the isle of the card shop looking for that perfect greeting card. It is quite the sight on Valentines day watching a bunch of men looking through card after card as they do their last minute search for the one that says it just right. I remember an experience when I found a perfect card. My Dad had been battling cancer for almost three years – things were not looking good and I had some things I wanted to tell him. Knowing it was going to be awkward I decided to write him so I looked for a card. I went into the bookstore at Tyndale where I work and started to look through the cards there. Within a few minutes I was almost in tears as I read the card in my hand. It said exactly what I wanted to say in a way that I could never express with my own words.A while ago I was reflecting on worship when I was planning a service for our youth meeting. I read the words to a song and they really expressed what I wanted to say. The experience of the greeting card came to my mind. This got me thinking more about how greeting cards and worship songs are similar in some ways.

When we worship we are really communicating with God -we are expressing our love, thanks, blessings, honour etc. to him.

Let’s look at this example from Pslams 63 – a song from way back :)

Psalm 63:1-4 ESV

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

What a great expression of worship by David – now David was a great writer and poet – a lot of his writing was for the choir master. This means that it was written to be put into song for corporate worship. The people of David’s day could sing these words as an expression of worship to God.

I often wish I could write like David or that I could express myself this clearly while worshiping in my own words. The truth is that I am not really a great song writer or poet. I can’t always write the perfect words to express my love to my wife – so I by a card that helps me say what I want to say from my heart. In the same way I choose worship songs that can help me express what I want to say to God from my heart.

Let’s look an an example from a worship song – this is the chorus from You Are my King

“Amazing love, how can it be, that you my king would die for me
Amazing love, I know it’s true, and it’s my joy to honor you
In all I do, I honor you – You are my King”
- Billy James Foote ©1997 Worship Together

These are great words that can help us express ourselves thanking God for His amazing love for us – love so strong that He would die for us and because of that love we will choose to honor Him in the way we live our lives – in the things that we do – and then we proclaim Him as our King.

So next time you are singing a worship song think about it like it is a greeting card – think about what you are expressing to God.

September 5, 2006 · Filed under Christian Life, General

3 Comments »

  1. Ben Gray Said,

    September 6, 2006 @ 1:43 pm

    Exactly. And even more than that, I think this is why different worship styles are so necessary. For whatever reason, some styles, some songs, some instruments more accurately express their feelings for God.

  2. Andy Said,

    September 6, 2006 @ 1:47 pm

    Good point Ben. I actually like to blend different music styles in my worship services. Primarily I plan worship for youth but I still like to use hymns in the service :)

  3. Albert Said,

    September 10, 2006 @ 11:11 pm

    Jacqui recently asked me to write an article for Connection regarding worship. I ended up doing an interview with Colin. But in my research I found this very interesting article on the web that talked about music in worship. It was taken from a book called “The Coming Evangelical Crisis”. It talked about the debate between forms of worship, contemporary vs. traditional, etc. Check it out:

    http://biblicalspirituality.org/class/howsing.pdf

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