Worship shapes our spirituality
"...our spirituality is usually shaped more by
the experience of communal worship than it is by preaching and teaching....the
way we think about God and relate to God is influenced enormously by our
experience of God in communal worship..Songs are especially formative. We are
far more likely to find ourselves humming something we sang in church when we
go home than we are to find ourselves meditating on a phrase in the
sermon..(not one of yours, of course)..
jt: I would disagree with the above
statement Lance - Is it yours? Actually spirituality shapes worship
rather than vice-versa because true
worship depends upon a correct
heart attitude and we do not enter God's presence just any old way - We must
properly prepare ourselves to worship.. And God does not accept all of it. He spoke through the prophet
Amos and told the Israel of that day that their feasts and worship times
literally made him want to vomit ... He also spoke through the prophet Isaiah
about a crowd who were pretty pleased with themselves and these descended into sheol
rejoicing.
Christian philosopher and scientist Michael
Polanyi spoke of knowledge that we simply absorb by a kind of 'osmosis'
without even realizing that we have done so. This is what he refers to as
'tacit knowledge' Most Christians simply imbibe a theology through the
way that they worship.
jt: This is not the way
anyone is to learn let alone Christians. This is how the animals perform (by
instinct). Humans must be taught, we have been given a mind so that we
can think and God will reveal Himself to whomsoever He will. The only ones who
imbibe should be drunks.
.theology springs from right worship but theology
also, in turn, guides and ensures right worship.There is a circular
relationship between the two as healthy worship and theology support each
other....how theology can guide the kind of worship that in turn shapes people
spirituality.
jt: Just like your little
trinitarian dance, round and round and round we go...
