Start Here

I have been enjoying a book entitled 'Start Here: Kingdom Essentials for Christians' by Don Williams. I absolutely love this book. I am only three chapters in, but I feel this book is a great read for any Christian, no matter where they are in their walk. The third chapter is called "Here I am to Worship". Just in case, you couldn't figure it out, it is on worship. Being a worship leader myself, this chapter has a special place for me. In the chapter Don goes through what worship is, making connections with how a commoner would enter a king's court and the behavior that would be shown. He parallels this with us, the Christian, as the commoner and God as the king. He goes into the definition of worship and then how in a worship service, we should sing praises, and then enter into worship before making requests to God and then finally waiting for God's answer and singing praises when we get the answer. He makes a point to say that hymns are excellent for use in church services. Most importantly, they teach good theology. The shortfall to hymns is that they are songs sung about God, and not to God. In a worship service where we are truly worshiping God, it is important that we sing songs to God. It is important to remember that the entire congregation is to be singing, even though it may be hard for us to listen to. What we think is not the point, its what God thinks. If we approach God with a good heart, he will find it pleasing. In a Sunday morning service the entire church has an audience of one. It should never be a band of a few people entertaining the congregation. If churches allow this to happen, they are missing a very important aspect of what true worship is.