| Author |
Message |
Leigh
Registered user
Username: Leigh
Post Number: 112
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 8:15 am: |     |
We have a contemporary worship service that sometimes incorporates traditional hymns. This Sunday we sang "To God be the Glory." I don't think I had sung that song since being in an SDA church. It was so amazing. I was raising my arms and crying tears of joy and thankfulness. At different times during the song, especially during the second verse, spontaneous applause and shouts of joy would come from the congregation. I find that when I sing or hear hymns that I've sung many times before, (you know just following the bulletin, and procedure) singing them now, in the newness of faith, with a knowledge of God's truth is a whole new worship experience!
TO GOD BE THE GLORY by Fanny Crosby
1)To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.
2)O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Refrain
3)Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.
I like what our pastor says about expressing yourself in worship. He frequently reminds us that if we can jump and dance and shout when our favorite sports team is winning, how much more should we be free to let our joy and thankfulness overflow in worship and not to worry about what others think. |
Belvalew
Registered user
Username: Belvalew
Post Number: 485
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 10:50 am: | |
I'm not certain of the text, I will look it up, but are we not admonished to "lift up holy hands in prayer" in the NT. I am talking to myself now, but it is time we got over being embarrassed about loving Jesus and be willing to make fools of ourselves for Him. I've really been inspired by all of your stories, and I'm going to do my best to take my eyes off myself, stop worrying about looking foolish, and just let my joy flow.
Thank you, all of you, for reminding the rest of us that the greatest game in town is salvation, and celebrating that we have it as a gift of grace. The greatest things in my life have come to me as gifts, not as something I have earned. Amen to the fact that if we can jump and shout for our favorite team we can certainly raise the roof now and then for our Jesus. |
Tisha
Registered user
Username: Tisha
Post Number: 73
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 11:00 am: | |
I now know what it means to REALLY worship through singing! At our Church we sing both "praise" songs and traditional hymns. They are all so powerful and worshipful. I can really feel that worship during the "praise" song singing - I expected to feel that way with praise songs. But what always amazes me is how powerful the traditional hymns are! There is such a depth of meaning in them.
Our little Church family makes such a joyful noise, it fills the Church to the rafters! I just resonate with the music and the words. They have so much meaning now! When I think back to the large SDA Churches I have attended, I cannot remember any song service that really filled the Church like we do. And it is because now everyone is singing from their hearts rather than just reading the words from the song book and singing by habit. Every time we sing, either praise songs or hymns, we just put all our hearts and souls into the singing. We are truely worshipping God. I have been moved to tears many times, and I don't often do that otherwise. I now understand the words, they have special meaning for me. And we always sing ALL the verses, so I get the whole "story" instead of "first and last" which tends to leave out much of the meaning of the hymn. When we sing all the words, I can really understand just what the song is saying and it becomes "my own" as I sing it.
How could I have guessed that a change in beliefs (from works-oriented SDA to a Grace-oriented belief system) could make such a difference in singing! It's so true what each of you have said about the changes is us when we worship from a place of Grace instead of works! Our worship takes on a whole new depth of understanding.
Every day I just burst with awe and thanksgiving at what Jesus means to me now! Praise God!
-tisha
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Bob
Registered user
Username: Bob
Post Number: 290
Registered: 7-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 11:20 am: | |
With our change of beliefs to the actual teachings of Scripture, the Holy Spirit came also! That is why our worship experience now is so different than it used to be.
Bob |
Tisha
Registered user
Username: Tisha
Post Number: 75
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 11:54 am: | |
That's true Bob! When we have the Holy Spirit with us, we just are filled up with Gratitude and Joy. Everything is better. It is such an awesome thing!
-tisha |
Susan_2
Registered user
Username: Susan_2
Post Number: 1830
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 12:14 pm: | |
Dear Foreverscout, I hold my membership at an Evengical Lutheran church. Where I attend there are two Sunday services. The early service is the more lively praise service whereas the second service is more reserved with the traditional chior, etc. I especially am drawn to the churches ecumenical tendencies and its community involvement, both of which are totally nonesistant in the local SDA church.In fact, I've had several folks who attend the local SDA church tell me they wished the Adventist church was mor involved in local issues and projects. I especially am greatly blessed by a litergical worship format. Also, Foreverscout, go to www.oldlutheran.com It's a wonderful site. The jokes are especially funny. |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 2063
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 12:45 pm: | |
Yes, Bob--you're right. It's the coming of the Holy Spirit that changes worship!
Colleen |
Lydell
Registered user
Username: Lydell
Post Number: 687
Registered: 7-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 12:52 pm: | |
Foreverscout, nows the time to talk about this with your daughter. Tell her what you experienced. Talk to her about the scriptural aspects of it. And talk to her about each person needing to be free to express worship in a way that fits with their personality.
God gave us our personalities. He doesn't expect that those personalities will only be expressed in how we speak to each other. Doesn't it make sense that different people would express themselves to God in different ways?
While you definitely don't want to just be raising hands merely because others are, there is still that thing of your having to be willing to do so. And more often than not, the first few times you have to make yourself raise your hands. It's no different with other things that we do with the Lord. It takes an act of our will, along with the heart desire. |
Jeremy
Registered user
Username: Jeremy
Post Number: 703
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 12:58 pm: | |
Yes Belva, I had thought about posting that verse. It's found in 1 Timothy 2:8:
"Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension." (NASB.)
Some other verses which talk about lifting up hands are:
"So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name." (Psalm 64:3 NASB.)
"Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the LORD." (Psalm 134:2 NASB.)
"May my prayer be counted as incense before You;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering." (Psalm 141:2 NASB.)
In the Bible, it seems to be used usually in the context of blessing or praying.
Jeremy |
Windmotion
Registered user
Username: Windmotion
Post Number: 144
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 2:02 pm: | |
I had an amazing thought in church a few weeks back. In the Bible (Yikes somewhere) it compares prayer to incense rising. Anyway, I pictured this massive wave of incense rising across the globe as people in every time zone started worshipping God. (Kind of like "doing the wave" at a sporting event) Being in Washington state, I am at the tail end of it, but it's awesome to think of yourself participating in corporate worship on a global scale. It really made me look forward to Heaven :-)
Joyfully,
Hannah |
Flyinglady
Registered user
Username: Flyinglady
Post Number: 1578
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 6:53 pm: | |
Hannah,
That incense rising is what I think of on Saturday afternoon when we stop to pray for the SDAs at 1 PM Pacific Time, 4 PM East Coast Time and whatever the time is in each time zone. All of us formers are raising our voices to God as one voice. It is a favorite time of the week for me.
Diana |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 2067
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 10:07 pm: | |
What a great image--incense rising across the time zones when we pray and worship!
Since studying the book of Acts last year in women's Bible study, I've had such an awareness of being part of the corporate church. It is a single, living organism made up of each of US, and we are an unbroken unit from Pentecost until now. Some of us are in the presence of the Lord, some are in His presence while still in mortal tents, but we are all the church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Isn't it amazing?
Colleen |
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