I’m reading Bob Kauflin’s
new (and utterly terrific) book about
corporate worship, “Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the
Greatness of God.” Kauflin is the author of a popular blog of the same
name (
http://www.worshipmatters.com/), dealing with a broad range of issues related to the corporate worship of the church.
In
the book, Kauflin is unpacking, phrase by phrase, his definition of
what a worship leader does. Perhaps at some point in the future we’ll
go through this material together, but I want to focus your attention
on a particular portion of it today.
One of the worship leader’s
tasks is to “motivat[e] the gathered church to proclaim the gospel.” He
defines proclamation as “declaring what’s true about God.” He suggests
that one reason it’s necessary to proclaim truths about God and the
gospel that we probably know already is that we tend to forget. We get
wrapped up in the worries, fears, desires and busyness of life, and we
need weekly reminders of God’s goodness, specifically of his mercy and
love displayed in the cross of Christ.
He cites 1 Peter 2:9,
where the apostle says that we have been saved “that [we] may proclaim
the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his
marvelous light.” One purpose, and result, of our redemption is that we
now proclaim God’s excellencies. Kauflin says that “we’re meant to
fulfill this command both in our meetings and in our lives.” Then he
writes these insightful words:
People come into our churches
proclaiming all sorts of things with their words and actions. Through
close-fisted giving, some are asserting how much their own personal
wealth matters. Others, by their complaining, are declaring that
personal comfort matters. Teens in the latest fashions may be
proclaiming that being cool matters. Others confirm through their
smiles or frowns that their musical preferences matter. But we want
each of them to leave proclaiming this: The gospel of Jesus Christ matters.
I
was struck and convicted by these words. Can you relate to this? Have
you ever entered a corporate worship meeting proclaiming with your
words and actions something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Kauflin’s given us a few examples here, but what are some other things
we might proclaim? What might people be distracted by as they enter to
encounter the living God with a community of believers? How can we get
our gaze fixed once again upon the crucified Messiah and the
fountainhead of blessing we find there?
Comments (2)
This is good.
I need to get this book.
Hey, you should try to go see Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It's a documentary (sort of) done by Ben Stein (Win Ben Stein's Money, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc.) on the loss of freedom in the scientific community of the US in relation to the debate over Intelligent Design vs Darwinian Evolution.
While it's not an argument for Biblical creationism, it does a pretty good job of pointing out how blatantly biased the scientific establishment in the US has become, and how any time intelligent design is even mentioned, it is labeled "idiotic" immediately, and how they have worked fairly hard at convincing the world that science and religion are by definition mutually exclusive.
I thought Ben Stein did a pretty good job with this. I doubt it will win an Oscar for Best Documentary (The Academy being The Academy), but it's definitely thought-provoking.
Also, one of the people Stein interviews in the movie is Allister McGrath.
I'm not saying the movie itself isn't somewhat biased towards its own side (intelligent design), but I think it states the argument fairly well.