Redefining Worship

 

 

So much talk about worship:

Its glamour and its glitz

With music, dance and smoke

Reminiscent of a blitz.

 

A cacophony of noise

With bold instrumentation

Often outstripping human voices

In their exultation.

 

A lyrical expression

Of words apt and in place

Often bypassing heart and spirit

With emotions laced.

 

A dance of adoration

Perhaps like David of old

But choreographing a select song

With movements bold.

 

A brisk song or slow,

Of a hymn or psalmody

Bursting with acute excitement

Or with staid solemnity.

 

 

Of myriad emotions

From tearful expression

To groanings and mutterings

Akin to contrition.

 

All these and more

Are expressions of worship

Conjured by modern worshippers

Appearing rather slick.

 

A professional rendering

Of wind, percussion and strings

And voices tuned in harmony

To modern worship brings.

 

Rehearsal acutely evident

To present the correct mix

But what effect does it have, I ask,

On the spiritually sick?

 

 

Of a worship leader

Complimented by a team

Showing off for close to an hour

At least, that’s as it seems.

 

Setting the tone, they say,

For the sermon to come

Often, an hour of vain rhetoric:

Substance little or none.

 

Extrabiblical worship

Thus, not based in the Word

But exciting so-called worshippers

To be emotionally absurd.

 

Redefine the redefinition

That is now commonplace

And study Genesis chapter 22

To get a correct trace.

 

I and the lad, Abraham said,

Will go yonder and worship,

Minus keyboard, drums and guitar;

Just a gathering of sticks.

 

 

 

Sacrifice was the intention,

Total sacrifice, in fact,

His son, his only son he loved,

Not Ishmael but Isaac.

 

Worship is a giving over;

It is giving all to Christ,

A personal enactment, therefore,

Of Jesus’ sacrifice.

 

Crucified with Jesus Christ

To daily follow after him,

A resurrection, in actual fact,

No longer dead in sin.

 

In spirit and in truth

Is at the heart of worship;

Go to John chapter 4 verse 24

And never let this slip.

 

Our heart, his throne

And our will his own,

Looking forward to knowing him

As also we are known.

 

Those first five verses

Of Genesis chapter 22

Detail for me what worship is;

I trust they do for you.

 

Stewart Russell © October 20, 2024

 

A Call to Ministry

 

 

So often we say

We are call to do this or that

As opposed to ministry

Which is the fact.

 

One is called to write

Another is called to preach,

One is called to sing

I am called to teach.

 

The emphasis, therefore,

Is on what I do

As opposed to service

Or ministry in view.

 

Again, it is the “I”

Instead of the community,

No wonder it often breeds

Much disunity.

 

Ministry is what’s critical

And not what one does,

It’s not essentially what we do

But what’s done for Jesus.

 

We vaunt ourselves

And we beat on our chest,

“What I do is key!”

O what a mess!

 

It is a call to ministry,

Not what I do

Whether I am in the pulpit

Or siting in the pew.

 

“Amen!” is a ministry

An encouraging one at that

Especially when what is said

Is a biblical fact.

 

 

It’s a call to service

Using God-given resource

Which more often than not,

Determines our course.

 

Whether I sing

Or whether I preach

Is far less important

Than my outreach.

 

And whether I dance

Or whether I teach

Ministry is the key

In church or the street.

 

So, preachers, cool it

And you teachers too,

It is about ministry

And not about you.

 

It is not the show

That the singers put on

But a call to ministry

So, be warned!

 

Whatever it is we do

We must learn to do it well,

It is our call to ministry

To go and tell.

 

 

Tell of the love of God

And His Son He freely gave

To save you and me

From a Christ-less grave.

 

Tell of how he came

To die upon the cross

To restore to humanity

What was originally lost.

 

Do not be a block

In your God-given ministry,

Let it be Jesus

That your audience sees.

 

It’s a call to ministry,

I repeat,

Whether you’re in the church

Or on the street.

 

Stewart Russell © October 20, 2021