My Theology of Worship

This paper was presented in a Theology of Worship class at NTS

Introduction
Worship is an integral part of our relationship with God. From the very onset God created us to worship him and to do it in the best way possible. The Theology of Worship class has opened my eyes to a lot of things which I did not even realize about worship before. It has allowed me to look at worship in new ways and even more creative ways than I have ever done before. It has allowed me to have a wide scope of viewing worship as opposed to what I used to have in the past.
I am blessed enough to have grown up in several parts of Kenya before moving to the United States. During those years, I witnessed several worship styles from several cultural settings. People have all kinds of different tastes to worship and I have always marveled at how creative these styles can be. In the end, I have learned that my way of worship is just one of many which if we put together we can be able to fulfill the heavenly experience which awaits us when we get to see Jesus. Nevertheless, I also realize the importance of being faithful to the word of God and allowing the Spirit of God to flow through me in many ways even as I worship. I also realize that worship belongs to God and was created by God. I am only a vessel through which that worship is channeled back to him. God has blessed me with a lot of gifts. This is amongst many other gifts given to a lot of people around me. When these gifts are put together, they flow like a river and grant us an opportunity to worship God in an unstoppable way. My prayer at the end of every day is that the Lord may accept my worship and allow me to participate faithfully in worshipping him more and more each day.
David Peterson in Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship introduces his book with the following quote: “Worship is the supreme and only indispensable activity of the Christian Church. It alone will endure, like the love for God which it expresses, into heaven, when all other activities of the Church will have passed away. It must therefore, even more strictly than any of the less essential doings of the Church, come under the criticism and control of the revelation on which the Church is founded.” When I was in college we used to tell the University Choir that they are the only evangelists who will get a job in heaven. Worship is eternal and as long as we live and when we get to heaven, we will continue worshipping our savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

THEOLOGY
Content of Worship
Worship is an essential part of the Christian life. Every day I wake up the first thing I marvel at is how awesome my God is. It is an amazing experience to know that I am a participant in worshiping my savior and Lord Jesus Christ. It is an ongoing process and what I have to do is to blend in (as my preference will later suggest) and be part of it in the most harmonious way possible. The earth and everything in it reflects the wonder of who God is. All that we see around us should reflect the majesty of God. Don Saliers in Worship as Theology writes, “The sheer wonderment of life, of moon rise or dawn, or of the luxurious variety of living things, is its own testimony. The face of the beloved, the play of children, persons of moral integrity, human creativity in music, painting, film, literature, and all folk arts from every society and culture - all these offer a glimpse of that which seems deeper than all ugliness and violence. Such are clues, perhaps, to something good and beautiful permeating human beings. Poets sing of this: "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things," as in Gerhard Manley Hopkins' poem "God's Grandeur."” I am reminded of the story when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees during the triumphal entry and told them that if the people kept quiet then even stones will begin to shout out and praise the Lord. I once heard someone say during a church service that they don’t want to wait until stones begin to shout so they might as well shout to the top of their lungs.
The content of worship should reflect on the power of our loving God. It should embrace the embodiment of trinity and reflect on the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It should envelope around the presence of the Holy Spirit in us and as our guide and counselor. In the lecture notes, Dr. Schwanz emphasizes that “Christian worship must be thoroughly saturated in the biblical story of God’s redemptive actions. Through worship, you, the worshipper, are invited to “find yourself in God’s story,” that is, to join people throughout the ages who have proclaimed that Jesus is Savior and Lord. The gospel is heard in true worship.” This makes the content of worship the most important theological aspect of it. The content actually determines where worship goes the moment it begins.
The content of worship must include prayer. Prayer is the most crucial part of the Christian life. It involves us directly communicating with God and presenting our thanksgiving and requests to him. It is very common for prayer to be at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of every worship service. As a matter of fact prayer should be in every part of a worship service. Another important part of the content of worship is Scripture. I have been in many Nazarene worship services where Scripture reading did not even feature before preaching. In such services, usually the people depend entirely on the preacher’s Scripture reading which at times is not even done in a formal way but in bits and pieces. In such a case the people may go back home without participating in the most important part of their lives as Christians.
The content of worship must also contain (if necessary) songs which reflect the desired theme. There are several seasons in the Christian calendar which can be properly honored through appropriate and theme-fitting songs. These seasons and events include, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and as mentioned in the lecture notes the “liturgical year can be understood as being divided into two sections: Christ and the Christian.” These are not only important historically but also in the contemporary Christian life. In examining these seasons, Christians have the privilege to use songs specifically composed to embrace the messages of these seasons and therefore able to help the Christian grow spiritually in worship in truth and in Spirit.
The content of worship must also contain sound theological themes. In the blended section of Exploring the Worship Spectrum Robert Webber writes, “Blended worship is about the triune God. We worship God the Father in the language of mystery, God the Son in the language of story, and God the Spirit in the language of symbol.” Such themes should embrace particular events following the Christian calendar or specific events like baptism, dedication, wedding, and many others. These are also used in special services on numerous occasions in the Christian calendar. There are specific doctrinal themes embraced by particular denominations for example, holiness or the doctrine of Entire Sanctification. Such themes may require use of songs and sermons which are able to embrace them during services.

Structure of Worship
Worship should essentially be structured to reflect its very true source which is the Lord. It should be structured in a way suitable to the worshipers yet presentable to the one to whom the worship is presented. The structure of worship should be harmonic and rhythmic to enable the participants to feel what they are doing yet present it faithfully to the Lord. The structure of worship should be broad just as we have many traditions which reflect differently on how worship is supposed to be done yet all seem to arrive at the same goal which is to uplift the name of the Lord. The structure should include all the things (instruments, use of bodily expressions, costumes, etc) that the congregation are aware of and are able to do without feeling isolated. The structure may embrace different kinds of models. In Exploring the Worship Spectrum, Webber writes in the Blended section that, “The biblical order of worship (our communal rehearsal of our relationship with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) itself brings us into the presence of the transcendent God, draws our lives into the story and unleashes the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives here and now in public worship, and then in the worship of our whole life in all that we do.” Webber continues that “This structure or order of worship is called the fourfold pattern because it does four things: (1) it gathers the people in God’s presence; (2) it tells and proclaims the story in the song, in Scripture, in preaching, in prayer, and in the kiss of peace; (3) it enacts the story in water, bread, wine, oil (the symbols speak and act); and (4) it sends God’s people forth into the world to love and serve the Lord. This fourfold pattern is rooted in Scripture and attested in history.” These models may be traditional, contemporary or in between. The worship structure is essential to the overall outcome of a service.
The structure of worship may involve use of symbolic languages especially in the liturgy, hymns, prayers, collects, and contemporary and traditional songs. Each of these components completes the worship experience. The worship structure, even though not as important as the content, should reflect the particular message conveyed by the content. Historically the structure developed from the Word and the Eucharist into entrance, Word, Eucharist and dismissal. In the lecture notes, Dr. Schwanz notes, “In spatial terms, entrance is moving in, the Word is moving down from God Almighty to the congregation, Eucharist (or thanksgiving) is moving up from the congregation to God, and dismissal is moving out.” The entrance includes gathering, praise, and renewal. The gathering may involve informal greetings, announcements, call to worship, processional greetings, call to worship, invocation or collect and songs. The praise section of the entrance may involve songs, scripture readings, and receiving of the offerings. The entrance allows the worshippers to enter into the presence of God. It is very common to use a call to worship during this time. The goal of the call to worship is to “assemble the saints” and get them ready for the worship that is before them. An invocation addressed to God usually follows the call to worship. The whole process is an affirmation of total dependence on God and the people are able to express this through for example, a prayer of confession.
According to the lecture notes, the Word movement is “cognitive and instructive.” It involves listening and response. During reading of the Word which may also be done creatively by involving the entire or certain sections of the congregation, the body of Christ is able to experience the beautiful process of listening to the voice of God. “The service of the Word is dialogical in nature: the congregation listens as the Word is read and proclaimed, then responds by declaring their obedience and commitment to the Word.”
Some of the actions done during the proclamation of the Word of God include, children’s sermon, prayer illumination, Scripture reading and response, silent meditation, drama, preparation song and sermon. During the worship service, the people are also given an opportunity to respond to the Word of God. Response is an essential part because it allows the worshipper to affirm what the Lord is doing in their lives through worship. This response may involve, songs, discussion of the sermon, invitation to an altar call, receiving the offering, prayers of the people, creed, passing the peace, confession and assurance of pardon. These actions enable the participants during a worship service to experience the blessings of the Lord without any limits.
The last two parts of the structure of worship are thanksgiving and dismissal. In thanksgiving the people are able to express their gratitude to God through the offertory, doxology, silent meditation for self examination, songs, The Lord’s Supper, prayers of thanksgiving, songs of thanksgiving, baptism or child dedication, and anointing with oil for healing. It is particularly important to note the importance of thanksgiving whether through the Eucharist or offering. It simply enables us to acknowledges the goodness of the Lord and be thankful for the things he has done and continues to do in our lives. I think it is probably the least emphasized in most modern churches yet remains one of the most important aspects of the Christian worship. After entrance, the Word, and thanksgiving, the people of God are able to conclude the corporate dialogue with God through dismissal. Dismissal involves, congregational songs, benediction, words of sending, announcements, recessional, and postlude. The dismissal is the shortest of all these movements but it should be done with joy since it brings to conclusion the opportunity to participate in a worship service instituted by the Lord himself. All the praise is given to the Lord.

Style of Worship
I think one of the most fascinating things about worship is the style in which or with which it is done. I happen to come from a very diverse culture and my father had the opportunity to pastor a number of churches in different parts of Kenya. This brought quite a tremendous experience seeing all the worship styles across Kenya. After pastoring mostly in Western Kenya, we moved to Nairobi where things were totally different. Western Kenya was very diverse in worship style. People were a little bit more expressive and felt free during worship. Clapping of hands was the main instrumental alongside drum sets and other African instruments. If you have ever been in an African church then you would notice how people use hand-clapping quite extensively. People also sang relatively loud and sometimes a small room could seem quite small.
In Nairobi, the worship was more contemporary. More instruments were used and a lot of stuff was computerized. Most of the songs if not all were projected onto a screen. The young people did most of the special songs and these were usually laced by dances of different kinds. I remember Central Church of the Nazarene, Nairobi using hymns only during the offering session or on just very few services. But the style was typically contemporary with some services carrying a blended tone to it. I also had a chance to visit a number of churches which were more charismatic and others music driven. As an assignment for another Worship class at ANU, we got to visit a few churches which had liturgical, traditional hymn-based and contemporary music-driven styles of worship.
As I grew older I realized that all these styles were just attempts to worship in the best way possible for those respective congregations. Paul A. Basden concludes Exploring the Worship Spectrum by issuing some very important remarks. He writes, “When it comes to understanding how to worship God, the limiting and leveling factor facing every one of us is this: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).” The Lord has blessed us with all kinds of gifts and when we maximize the use of those gifts then I am very sure we will see diverse results just as we see in worship styles. The style should not allow any room for compromise of the content and historically structure just as mentioned in the notes. It should instead be complimentary of the content and structure since it is mostly expressed in the song service. Of the all the three components of the Theology of Worship, it is style which has changed the most with time, “from classical music and hymnody (choir and organ) with vestments in the first service, to praise songs (worship team and band) with vestments in the second service, to praise songs (worship team and band) with no vestments in the third service.” Style also tends to draw heavily from culture to culture. Webber adds that “the style of worship reflects culture.” As the Gospel message was preached across the world, each culture tended to contextualize the message as it was and used the existing musical trends to also develop music that is relevant to the Gospel message. I can cite quite a few songs which are simply duplicated versions of secular songs yet remain very popular in the Gospel music world especially here in Kenya.
On a personal level, I think style of worship must also be restrictive. Biblical principles must dictate the style of worship not matter what it costs. The worship leader is entrusted with the task of ensuring that the style of worship remains strongly rooted in Scripture. There are tunes which are just way too secular to be used to produce Gospel music. There are also some dancing trends especially among the young people which have been used in Christian stages and their portrayal of sensuality and hedonism does not enhance the message of Jesus Christ. As the world moves much farther and farther away from God, it seems to drag the church closer and closer to it. The church should inform the culture of the world and not vice versa as it looks today.
In the course of this class I have constantly embraced "blended worship" as my main style. Coming from a very culturally diverse background, I have found out that it is essential to include everybody in worship no matter their preference considering that those preferences honor God and are done with faithfulness. As I have mentioned under the content of worship, a good style of worship can be theologically sound yet enjoyable and flexible to suit those who are participating freely. A blended worship style does not isolate and still allows others to enjoy what others are able to do best. While everybody may be included, everybody is also given the opportunity to give their best. The message can still be kept pure despite the blending.
No matter what the worship style is, it should be God-centered and God-authored. We should worship God just as God wants us to worship him. The worship styles only allow us to be free and express ourselves but we should treat it is a sacrificial opportunity so that we give our best since the Lord deserves the best. Basden mentions Paul Zahl who “reminds us that worship should be vertical, biblical, and Godward.” We should always remember where it all begins and where it ends. Styles will always vary but I think that variation should actually make us bond together and enjoy watching others worship the Lord just as we do. I think it is going to be a big choir in heaven, let alone the diversity. King David must be rehearsing for it quite a bunch.

PASTORAL STRATEGY
My current place of worship which I would consider as immediate former for the time being was in a more blended setting. The church itself is in a small town of about 1000 people and everybody somehow had a relationship with or was a former member of the Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Catholic churches in town. There were also young couples who had probably grown up in these churches and were looking for an opportunity to experience something new. There were also veteran members who had been in the Nazarene church for a very long time and had their generational families with them. It was amazing how there can be such polarization in such a small town especially amongst these churches. As a matter of fact some of my visits to these churches during this class were probably the second or the third time.
The worship at the Nazarene church is a blended one which tends to lean towards traditional and contemporary worship styles. There is regular use of hymns though they are usually the modernized versions. A lot of contemporary songs are also usually used during the morning service. The church has a piano and several guitars. There is also a contemporary drum set and a reasonable sound system which have always drawn criticism from older members in the church. The songs are usually projected onto a screen and sung most of the times with members standing.
I would satisfactorily say that my current place of worship is adequate enough in terms of fulfilling its goals. I would particularly be concerned about the approach and also the way in which the member get involved during worship. There is usually little or no enthusiasm at all from the members during worship. It is very common to see members stand and watch the praise and worship team do all the worship without participating at all. This lack of enthusiasm itself can make the members lose focus and actually impede the presence of the Holy Spirit during worship. A more profound encounter with God through corporate worship is more than necessary.
I think one of the ways to encourage the members to step up their involvement would be to open a whole teaching series on worship. This would involve several materials used during this worship class and also member participation through other various avenues including skits and personal presentations. I would also encourage members to see the urgency and importance of worship and participation in it. Through prayer, I would also ask the Lord to open the members’ eyes to enable them to see the beauty involved in worship and ask them to do it wholeheartedly as if it belonged to them. More importantly I would ask the members to embrace worship in their home settings with their respective families. There is no better place to teach corporate worship than in the family setting. If it is done in the home, then it can be easily done in the church.

PASTORAL LEADERSHIP
How I plan and conduct worship is very essential to the fulfillment of its purpose. Throughout this class, I have come to realize that the worship leader is very important to the outcome of a worship service more than I initially thought. I remember several occasions in the past when I chose a number of songs and gave them to the worship leader to figure out how they were all going to be sung during a worship service without even imagining the various differences in key or rhythm and how much problem they could present to the worship leader. I have also been in worship services where the songs were literally miles apart in terms of their theological implications. Others even had songs with seasonal themes without considering the season itself while others had nothing absolutely to do with the theme intended for them. There is also the importance of having a worship service which flows from the beginning to the end. I have attended worship services which somehow got lost in the middle not to come back and find themselves. As a pastoral leader, I think there are several key elements which should determine how I plan and conduct worship.
Firstly, I think the setting especially where the worship is conducted would be key to the worship planning. I would first ensure that I know the type of worshippers who will be involved in the worship process which may include, age group; cultural orientation, education especially language (this would probably make much more sense in a diverse setting especially here in Africa and most major cities), and social factors which may determine their response. I would particularly be sensitive on how I conduct worship in certain settings. I remember when I first went to the United States and how different things seemed in my first few weeks. My accent was completely different, the songs were mostly new to me, the people worshipped differently and I am only thankful to the Lord who gave me the patience to learn and embrace the newer styles. Secondly, I would look at the available resources especially those at my disposal like instruments, song books, sound systems, and may be a choir. I would also consider carefully the occasion in which the worship service is to be conducted. The Theology of Worship class has specifically taught me the importance of the Christian year and I have realized how much I have ignored very important Christian practices in the past. The Christian events are specifically important to how I would design a worship plan. The lecture notes particularly helped me to realize the massive importance of the sacraments during worship services.
In one of the lecture notes, Common Immeasurable Elements in Sacred Spaces, Michael Shaugnessy mentions the importance of faith, unity, support, ritual, mystery, symbolism and truth as very important to the Christian experience of Worship. Each of these elements must be reinforced during any worship planning and I would particularly ensure that where applicable, each is ideally recognized and used as desired. Shaugnessy also adds that, “Truth and integrity are paramount in the design of the sacred spaces.” How I design worship plan must be thoroughly dictated by scriptural truth. Sometimes even my personal preferences are bound to be ignored if they don’t necessarily proclaim the message of Jesus.
Another set of key elements in worship planning include the use of songs, especially hymns, psalms and spiritual songs. When selecting songs, I must consider the themes, harmonic relationships, and emotional pacing. Each of these resources will ensure the worship plan has a flow and fulfills its intended desire. The overall worship plan must have consistency in message and must also flow freely. Use of Scripture readings and prayers must be designed in such a way that they fit into the worship plan and flow easily with the rest of the service.

Conclusion
There is nothing more beautiful than worship. For me, it is a personal thing to a personal God. My desire is to be the best worshiper ever and every day I strive to improve my worship to my God. It even amazes me that the Lord has given me the tremendous opportunity to participate in worshipping him. Paul A. Basden concludes Exploring the Worship Spectrum with the following words: “The truth that grasps me, that will not release me, is this: God is past finding out, more powerful and holy and gracious than we can imagine, beyond our highest thoughts, deeper than our most intense emotions. Yet he calls us to worship him. Such is the challenge before us: We humans – mortal, flawed, fallen creatures that we are – offer our worship to God – the eternal, perfect, all-wise Creator and Lord.” I am amazed.