In a recent conversation, we were for one reason or another talking about how worship is structured in churches these days. So when I heard a song that had the lines, "You are love; You are life" in its bridge in a congregational setting recently, it made me stop and think.
What's the purpose of this thing we call "worship" anyway? To sing songs of adoration to the Leader of our faith? To tell the One we believe to be Creator how thankful we are for our existence? And was it mandated that we only sing songs surrounding the existence of this Creator? And if so, does that make our Creator a self-centered being?
As usual, I don't claim to have answers, but a thought hit me today. Sure, I believe in the existence of a Being that is love and life, but I'm wondering if that's all I sing about regardless of where I am or who I'm with, wouldn't that get kind of annoying to the people around me?
I mean, if a good friend of mine is head over heels in love with their spouse, sure, I would enjoy hearing about their spouse from time to time. Heck, if they didn’t talk about their spouse at all, I would probably be worried. But if all that they talk about is their spouse, then clearly their relationship with their spouse is of such high importance that my relationship with them doesn’t matter.
Or let’s just put it bluntly. If all this friend talks about is their spouse, then that’s just plain annoying. I might even start wondering if they have an unhealthy relationship that leads to them not being able to talk to other people.
That being said, if all this friend talks about were their parent, favourite political leader, sibling or best friend, I would probably be equally concerned, if not annoyed.
Now I acknowledge that this Being that is love and life is a little more supernatural than the average human being, so the relationship would also be a bit more supernatural. But doesn’t this Being also teach that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with your heart, soul and mind AND your neighbor as yourself? I may be interpreting this wrongly, but I believe loving your neighbor also means being in enough of a relationship with them that we don’t just talk about our spouse/parent/favourite political leader/sibling/best friend all the time.
And also, if this Being that teaches that one aspect of the greatest commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself,” then I’m not sure I would be able to think of this Creator as the aforementioned self-centered being.
Streaming it down a little further to my personal belief that one revelation of this Being comes in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, also known in some circles as the Christ. I find myself guilty of forgetting his humanity from time to time. I tend to think that the only form of humanity he took on was the ability to suffer so that he can empathise with our suffering. But I’m starting to wonder if his humanity also required him to learn how to love. At least in the Christian circles, we don’t find it difficult to believe that he loved the Creator – if he didn’t, he would not have taken on the human form to redeem creation. But his ability to love people out of his humanity? I think if we didn’t catch that from reading the Gospels, we’ve already missed the whole point.
Which leads me to my next thought… Isn’t this what it means to be “evangelical”?
This will be for another time. But for now, I looked up “evangelical” on the Merriam-Webster dictionary and found this:
Interesting, huh?
Also, a friend of mine posted this some time ago that I thought was interesting food for thought to throw into this mix.
Thoughts?
What's the purpose of this thing we call "worship" anyway? To sing songs of adoration to the Leader of our faith? To tell the One we believe to be Creator how thankful we are for our existence? And was it mandated that we only sing songs surrounding the existence of this Creator? And if so, does that make our Creator a self-centered being?
As usual, I don't claim to have answers, but a thought hit me today. Sure, I believe in the existence of a Being that is love and life, but I'm wondering if that's all I sing about regardless of where I am or who I'm with, wouldn't that get kind of annoying to the people around me?
I mean, if a good friend of mine is head over heels in love with their spouse, sure, I would enjoy hearing about their spouse from time to time. Heck, if they didn’t talk about their spouse at all, I would probably be worried. But if all that they talk about is their spouse, then clearly their relationship with their spouse is of such high importance that my relationship with them doesn’t matter.
Or let’s just put it bluntly. If all this friend talks about is their spouse, then that’s just plain annoying. I might even start wondering if they have an unhealthy relationship that leads to them not being able to talk to other people.
That being said, if all this friend talks about were their parent, favourite political leader, sibling or best friend, I would probably be equally concerned, if not annoyed.
Now I acknowledge that this Being that is love and life is a little more supernatural than the average human being, so the relationship would also be a bit more supernatural. But doesn’t this Being also teach that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with your heart, soul and mind AND your neighbor as yourself? I may be interpreting this wrongly, but I believe loving your neighbor also means being in enough of a relationship with them that we don’t just talk about our spouse/parent/favourite political leader/sibling/best friend all the time.
And also, if this Being that teaches that one aspect of the greatest commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself,” then I’m not sure I would be able to think of this Creator as the aforementioned self-centered being.
Streaming it down a little further to my personal belief that one revelation of this Being comes in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, also known in some circles as the Christ. I find myself guilty of forgetting his humanity from time to time. I tend to think that the only form of humanity he took on was the ability to suffer so that he can empathise with our suffering. But I’m starting to wonder if his humanity also required him to learn how to love. At least in the Christian circles, we don’t find it difficult to believe that he loved the Creator – if he didn’t, he would not have taken on the human form to redeem creation. But his ability to love people out of his humanity? I think if we didn’t catch that from reading the Gospels, we’ve already missed the whole point.
Which leads me to my next thought… Isn’t this what it means to be “evangelical”?
This will be for another time. But for now, I looked up “evangelical” on the Merriam-Webster dictionary and found this:
: of, relating to, or being in agreement with the Christian gospel especially as it is presented in the four Gospels
2
3
: emphasizing salvation by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ through personal conversion, the authority of Scripture, and the importance of preaching as contrasted with ritual
4
a capitalized : of or relating to the Evangelical Church in Germanyb often capitalized : of, adhering to, or marked by fundamentalism : fundamentalistc often capitalized : low church
5
: marked by militant or crusading zeal : evangelistic evangelical ardor of the movement's leaders — Amos Vogel
Also, a friend of mine posted this some time ago that I thought was interesting food for thought to throw into this mix.
Thoughts?
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