What is it about me that is so fixed on *things*?
When I was in high school, there was a time when my whole spiritual life was bound up in worship music. Part of this was because I was part of a group of friends that had formed a mini-culture around worship music as the highest expression of worship or ministry. Forget the low calling of the pastor, we wanted to be true spiritual leaders – worship leaders! But this was only amplified by the fact that I had just discovered a tremendous backlog of high-quality worship recordings, and there was a huge Christian book and music store just down the street. I was so addicted to the stuff that I don’t think I would have really believed you to hear that it was possible to worship God outside some kind of musical expression.
Since worship was solely an expression of adoration in my mind, it seemed to follow that the best form of expression of my love for God would be the most intimate, “powerful” encounter. Ideally, this was simply my own personal expression of “the gratitude and brokenness that comes from intimately knowing almighty God,” but better music obviously makes that kind of heartfelt expression easier, so my approach to worship gradually began to hinge on the quality of the music I was listening to.
In one sense, that was bad, because our worship should never have to depend on externals. In another sense, though, it was kind of fortunate because I had access to so much really good worship music. Insofar as worship *is* adoration, I was worshiping quite a lot, albeit with a sort of crutch. Continue reading “Things”
neumatikos 