This is only an excerpt -more at the link.Perhaps you’ve wondered why Christian worship is so heavy on words? Perhaps you or your church has been criticized for being too propositional, too auditory, too…wordy. Well, here are twenty-five reasons why verbal proclamation–through the reading, preaching, singing, and praying of the Bible and biblical truth–should have the preeminent place in corporate worship:
1. Faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:14-15). We cannot call on Jesus unless we believe in him and we cannot believe in him unless we hear of him from the lips of a herald. Faith begins with words.
2. God has chosen word-gifts and word-offices to build up the church (Eph. 4:11-12).
3. God creates through his word (cf. Gen. 1; Col. 1:16). God’s work of creation is always a speech act.
4. God regenerates through his word. We are born again through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:23). And “word” here is not merely Jesus Christ, but the preaching Peter’s audience had received (v. 25)....
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Why So Wordy?
Ever wonder why Christian worship services are so "verbal"- i.e. wordy? Kevin DeYoung offers an answer at Why So Many Words in Worship?
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This whole thing smacks of a lame justification. I was raised a Christian & I call BULL on this.
ReplyDeleteIf this Omnipotent God is all we believe He is, eye on every sparrow & all that, I'm pretty sure he, (or she?), doesn't need fifty billion words to get a simple message like, "Please help Grandpa survive cancer."
My mom & every other bible thumper I've been exposed to in the Southern U.S., (like most BUSTED televangelist frauds), seem to think that the more words you cram into a prayer the more "powerful" it will be. Maybe a bunch of hicks down here are impressed with the abuse of vocabulary & needless rhetoric but I doubt the Almighty is.
Keep it simple people. God's time is important. If you're asking for help quit trying to impress the congregation & just get straight to the point with the Big Guy.
Seriously, it's GOD we're talking about. Do you really think He's all that impressed at how long you can keep running your mouth with a simple request?