Worship

Recently we have made some wonderful additions to ACL staff and my position has changed from mostly admin/worship leading to "Worship & Arts Director". Which a hard pill to swallow because I had already made up my mind not to work for a church... or be "in the ministry"... kind of funny really. 

So now I find myself in the position of trying to figure out deeply theological stuff like "What is Worship?" & "How do we create and implement gospel-centered theology of art?" and I am finding that the answers are changing everything.

These weighty question carry with them a weighty responsibility... responsibility that I have avoided out of selfishness and fear. But God has placed me here to lead and grow in leadership, understanding and gospel-joy. My search for answers as led me to read Unceasing Worship by Harold Best. This book has totally shifted my perspective of what worship is and what worship is not. Best suggests that God is a continually out-pouring being because he poured out himself when he formed creation. he didn't just create and walk away but the bible tells us that He continues to out-pour by holding all things together. Man is made in the very image of God... therefore Best argues that man is a continually out-pouring being. God continually out-pours his lordshipover all creation and man continually out-pours his worship back to God. Before the fall this cycle of lordship/worship worked in perfect harmony or "authentic worship" as Best calls it, after the fall we did not cease to worship but started worshiping other, lesser gods...enter sin. And if we think about it deeply... we find that we will make an idol out of anything to avoid worshiping the one true God.

With Best's help our Music Team Leaders and I came up with this Definition of Worship:
"Everyone is always worshiping something. Worship is a continual out-pouring of all that we are in mind, soul, heart & body towards that which we desire most."

If you notice there is no mention of "authentic worship", or even God, this teaches that all men worship something, it could be work, or being a good parent, finding our identity in the instrument we play or the amount of money in our checking account.... the list can go on and on. We believe that the gospel calls us to confront these idols and pull them out by the root, we do this throughCity Groups & Fight Clubs (Another great resource we use for confronting, fighting and repenting of the sin in our lives is You Can Change by Tim Chester). 

This new view of worship has both expanded my perspective of God and humbled my view of myself... if I am worshiping something every second of every day... I am more in need of divine grace than I am fully able to comprehend, and I am more grateful for it than ever before!

Miranda Dodson // Worship & Arts Director