|
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury wrote, "Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness, nourishment of mind by his truth, purifying of imagination by his beauty, opening of the heart by his love, and submission of will to his purpose. All this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of all expressions of which we are capable."
1 Peter 2:9 says, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Revelation 4:11 tells us, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." We were created for this very purpose - to worship.
Worship is one of the primary activities of heaven but not worship as we know it here (perhaps you're thinking of one very long church service!) Our worship in heaven is going to be far more captivating than anything we've ever experienced. Revelation describes it like this?
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
To receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
And honour and glory and praise!"
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Revelation 5:11-12; 21:10-11, 22-23
C.S. Lewis says, The Westminster Catechism says that man's chief end is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever". But these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.
In our weekly services we seek to glorify and exalt the name of Jesus Christ, lead people to recognize his worth and celebrate His sacrifice, and prepare hearts to hear from God through the preaching of the his Word. We seek to accomplish this with an emphasis on excellence, creativity and authenticity, for we know God is worthy of our very best.
Our worship is a blend of contemporary and traditional. We seek to worship God in spirit and in truth. Therefore we are careful to examine our worship elements (songs, drama, media presentations) in light of Scriptural truth, while also seeking to engage the heart and spirit.
Worship is about connecting and communicating with God, and attributing worth to him. Our goal is to become worshipers ? not just on Sundays, but every day of the week. Through quiet times, reading God?s Word, family worship times and personal creative expressions that give God glory for who he is, we seek to become true worshipers. Sunday mornings are a collective outpouring of what we practice during the week.
Jerry Bridges writes, "The vitality and genuineness of corporate worship is to a large degree dependent upon the vitality of our individual private worship. If we aren't spending time daily worshiping God, we're not apt to contribute to the corporate experience of worship. If we aren't worshiping God during the week, how can we expect to genuinely participate in it on Sunday morning? We may indeed go through the motions and think we have worshiped, but how can we honour and adore One on Sunday whom we have not taken time to praise and give thanks to during the week??
If worship is giving all of ourselves to God, then everything we do is potentially an act of worship. So how we live our lives is how we praise God. Louie Giglio writes, ?The point is this: Everything on earth (except sin) can be done as an act of worship to God. Everything we do is worship when we do it for Him, displaying His face as we go. The question is not what you do, but who you do it for. Your calling is to turn your place in life into a place of true worship. To do whatever you do in a way that will reflect God's heart to those around you. It's to worship "as you live your life."
If you have a passion to serve in an area of our Worship Ministries, we would love to speak with you. Simply contact the team leader for more information.
Marla Harrison
If you play an instrument (keyboards, guitar, drums, etc.) and are interested in playing in our band, please contact Marla. Our band leads our services each Sunday morning, as well as Sunday evenings during Life Long Learning sessions. The band schedule is distributed monthly. Rehearsals are Sunday mornings before the service.
Laura Dearing
We have 4 vocal teams that rotate throughout the month. If you are interested in serving on one of the teams, please contact Laura. Our vocal teams rehearse on Thursday evenings.
James Klassen
Our techs are the behind-the-scenes team who make the rest of us look and sound good! This includes our audio team and projection and lighting team. Please contact James to learn more about opportunities for service in these areas.
Marla Harrison
This team prepares for special outreach events, mainly at Christmas and Easter. Rehearsals are normally on Tuesday nights when a production is under way.
|
|
