Monday, September 24, 2007

A New Feature

We are beginning a new feature here at Worship Press: a blog where we can interact with you about what is happening in the world of Christian worship; a forum for ideas and conversations. To open our conversations, I thought it would be great to look at what some great Christian thinkers, old and new, have said about worship.

God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship. - A.W. Tozer

The principle thing is to stand with the mind in the heart, and to go on standing before him unceasingly day and night until the end of life. - Alexander Schmemann

In the end the heart longs not for any of God’s good gifts but for God himself. To see him and know him and be in his presence is the soul’s finest feast. Beyond this there is no quest. Words fail. We call it pleasure, joy, delight. But these are weak pointers to the unspeakable experience. - John Piper

Without worship, we go about miserable. - A. W. Tozer

We only learn to behave ourselves in the presence of God. . . . It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men. - C. S. Lewis

As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life. - Richard Foster

Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped. - Jack Hayford

Worship is first and foremost for His benefit, not ours, though it is marvelous to discover that in giving Him pleasure, we ourselves enter into what can become our richest and most wholesome experience in life. - Graham Kendrick

Our entire being is fashioned as an instrument of praise. Just as a master violin maker designs an instrument to produce maximum aesthetic results, so God tailor-made our bodies, souls and spirits to work together in consonance to produce pleasing expressions of praise and worship. When we use body language to express praise, that which is internal becomes visible. - Don McMinn

Surely that which occupies the total time and energies of heaven must be a fitting pattern for earth. - Paul E. Billheimer

When we worship together as a community of living Christians, we do not worship alone, we worship “with all the company of heaven.” - Marianne H. Micks

So now it is time for discussion. Which of these quotes grabs you? Is there one that describes the community you worship with? Is there one that your worship community desperately needs to hear?