music – Dancing In The Kingdom

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

Mystery of worship

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 4:15-24; 12:1-32; Romans 12:1-21; 1 Corinthians 14:1-40; 1 Timothy 2:1-15; Hebrews 12:1-39]

What are proper ways of worship?

In Hebrew, the word for worship means “to bow down, to prostrate oneself” or to “lay flat on the ground.” In Greek, the words for worship mean to “kiss the hand, to fall on the knees,” or to “prostrate oneself” “to pay homage” or “to render religious honor.” These things can be done in the context of a “worship service” on a Sunday or in any activities throughout the week. Activities in work or play can be done in an attitude of worship.

There are some differences in belief about the role of arts in worship: Is music or artwork or dancing permissible, or what kind of music or artwork or dancing is permissible? Part of the differences are due to whether activities are permissive unless specified otherwise in the Bible or activities are not allowed unless specified in the Bible.^[1] Some of those differences emerged in the way some of the Protestants perceived abuses of the arts in the Roman Catholic denomination. Despite these disagreements, there are some hymns that have been widely accepted across many denominations. In a similar fashion, many congregations/denominations have adopted the contemporary style music, although in some congregations that style of music has created divisions. Music can be important as an alternate means of expressing theology.

Icons are a specialized type of artwork that represent sacred objects or honored saints in the church. The icons were used as a visual method of teaching and were particularly important when literacy rates were low. Icons are meant to take the place of the physical presence of admired saints, and because of this, Roman Catholic and Orthodox congregants will bow to or kiss the icons as if they were bowing to or kissing the actual revered saints. This is not meant to worship the icons but to show respect.^[2]

Prayer can be done formally, informally, individually, or corporately. There are different viewpoints about whether praying to the saints – asking them to pray for us – is acceptable. There are also differences about whether mystical experiences in prayer are proper.

What about Mary?

The mother of Jesus is in the middle of one of the great mysteries: How is it possible for the infinite God to become a human even from the point of conception? Related to that question are other questions: Why was Mary selected? How was it possible for her to conceive Jesus? Were there any special qualities for Mary to have in order to become the mother of Jesus, the Son of God? Did she actually become the Mother of God?^[3]

The Roman Catholics consider that Mary was conceived without original sin.^[4] Both the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox denomination’s view that Mary did not die but fell asleep,^[5] and then was physically assumed into heaven.^[6] The Protestants mainly reject these views and because of their reaction to the corruption of the Roman Catholic denomination have generally not held Mary in as high esteem.

What are liturgies?

Liturgy is derived from the Greek “public work” or “public ministry.” Within the church it has been usually applied to the worship service (for most congregations) on Sundays. For some congregations it specifies the service where Communion^[7] is performed. In some instances, the term has been used to specify worship services that have a formal structure. Sometimes, in order to delineate services that are more formal from services that are less formal, the terms “high church” and “low church” are used. In the “high church” setting the liturgy will be specified particularly as the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. Used more loosely, the term can be used to specify any type of public service, whether it is in gathered worship or scattered worship,^[8] whether it’s in front of other people or simply front of God (who is always there). In some evangelical denominations, liturgy is seen as something we do for God, but in other cases, liturgy is seen as a setting where God meets us, and we respond.

What about the Sabbath?

From the Creation account, we see that the point of creation was to create a temple, a place for God to be with His image-bearing creatures. The “seventh day” was meant to indicate that the temple was now complete, and that God’s image-bearing creatures could fulfill the role of being God’s representatives on earth, to take care of the earth as his priests.

Unfortunately, our human rebellion separated us from God, and our role as his stewards of his creation became corrupted. The Sabbath liturgy was introduced to Israel as a weekly reminder to them of their priority to have a relationship with God; that they, as God’s chosen nation, could rest from their weekly labor because God would provide for them. This weekly setting aside of labor was a gift from God, still enjoyed by Jews to this day.

The early church consisted of mostly Jews who still celebrated the seventh-day Sabbath, but quickly also adopted the first day, the Lord’s Day, as a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. The Bible never required Gentiles to celebrate the Sabbath. Even if we regard the laws that applied to Noah to be also applicable to Gentiles, none of those laws prescribe Sabbath observances. As the church developed, different congregations developed different practices regarding the Sabbath. While the trend was towards Sunday gatherings to worship, some groups, who could be called Sabbatarians, applied Sabbath restrictions to Sunday. Others allowed for more freedom with a focus on the celebration of the joy of Christ’s resurrection, with the thought that all people who have the Spirit of God are Christ’s temple and we do his work each day of the week.

^[1] Got Questions. “Regulative vs. normative principle of worship – which viewpoint is correct?” Got Questions www.gotquestions.org/regulative-normative-worship.html

^[2] OrthodoxWiki “Veneration” OrthodoxWiki orthodoxwiki.org/Veneration

^[3] OrthodoxWiki “Theotokos” OrthodoxWiki orthodoxwiki.org/theotokos

^[4] Catholic Encyclopedia “Immaculate Conception” New Advent www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm

^[5] OrthodoxWiki “Dormition” OrthodoxWiki orthodoxwiki.org/Dormition

^[6] Sri, Edward. “The Assumption of Mary” Franciscan Spirit Blog www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/the-assumption-of-mary

^[7] Also known as the Eucharist or Thanksgiving

^[8] Warren, Tish Harrison. Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life. InterVarsity Press 2016. eBook Chapter 7

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 9 – The Prophets and writings

Songs and reflections of the heart

[Bible references: Psalm 1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 32;l Song of Songs]

As creatures made in the image of the Creator, it is self-evident that we cannot avoid creating. We are also creatures that are born to worship, as evidenced by our popular culture. When we put those together, we get a work like the Psalms,^[1] a book of poetry which was set to music. The psalms are a collection of praise songs written by various people, songs that reflect the thoughts of those people experiencing life with all its emotions in a broken world.

In addition to musical notations, several psalms have notations indicating the events which inspired the writing of those psalms or the kind of occasion that the psalms are used for. As poetry, the psalms use various poetic devices such as parallelism, acrostics, and figures of speech.^[2]

The Psalms express various themes such as the character of God, the experience of people, the worship of God, lament, petitions for help, confession of sin, praise and thanksgiving, expressions of wisdom.[3] The emotions expressed in the Psalms are sometimes very raw with feelings of abandonment, questions of God’s provision, hatred, and vengeance. The inclusion of the full range of human expression is an acknowledgement of the reality of the human experience and an affirmation of being honest with God about our feelings while placing all of that in the context of a just and merciful God who is worthy of praise.

The Psalms are not the only place where poetry can be found in the Old Testament. There is poetry that can also be found in various portions of other books of the Bible. There is even one book of the Bible that is entirely a poem/song, The Song of Solomon (aka Song of Songs) which is a positive and passionate expression of marital love.

In addition to the expressions of wisdom that are found in the Psalms, there are other places where expressions of wisdom are found. The pair of books, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, show the benefits of and limits of wisdom. Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes and was the primary author of Proverbs. In 1 Kings 3-4, Solomon requests and is granted much wisdom to rule the nation of Israel. That wisdom is reflected in Proverbs as a collection of rules to live a good life. On the other hand, Ecclesiastes reflects the limits of wisdom in finding the meaning of life.

[1] The Hebrew name of the book is Tehillim, which means praise songs.

[2] Cole, Steven J. “Psalms An Overview: God’s Inspired Hymnbook;” Nally, Joseph R. “Overview of the Book of Psalms” Bible.org bible.org/seriespage/psalms-overview-god%E2%80%99s-inspired-hymnbook

[3] Postoff, Matt. “Categorizing the Psalms” Fellowship Bible Church of Ann Arbor 21 Nov 2014 fbcaa.org/MAPBlog/PsalmsCategories.pdf

Reflect

In this day, we create songs and books of wisdom. We may not be writing scripture itself, but we are expressing ourselves in worship in the way that God has designed us. How do you express yourself to God?

Observe

Read Song of Songs. This passage is not discussed much in the church while our culture defines sexuality on its own terms. How can the church use this book?