Continuing on the vague theme of Christianity, music & the local church.
My brother John & his fiancËe, Celia, got me an excellent book for x-mas; a book called True Worship by Vaughan Roberts. It's all about worship, suprisingly enough, and it's helped me clear up a lot of things.
In the book he picks up on something that has always really bugged me, when the people leading the music in church say that we are now going to enter the presence of God through the music. This has always bugged me, although I never had a reason for it. Vaughan Roberts also hates it, but in a much less irrational way. You see through Jesus Christ, if we are Christians, we are already in the presence of God. Because Christ is simultaneously perfectly man and perfectly God He could bridge the gap between man and God. "Therefore he (Jesus) is able, once and forever, to save everyone who comes to God through him. He lives forever to plead with God on their behalf" (see Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 5:1-10, and the rest of Hebrews really) . To say worship leaders brings us into God's presence eithers denies that Christ is anyone special, as anyone can bring us into God's presence, or it denies that God is special, as anyone can bring people into His presence; either one is grossly wrong.
I'm sure that worship leaders mean well when they say things like that, and I'm sure they don't realise they're claiming for their music a function that only Christ can perform, but that is no excuse. Like in any other role people need to know what they are doing; if they don't then they'll never do it properly. Worship leaders need to know what they are doing. If that means they can't lead worship till they are given some training, then so be it.
(8) Sigur Ros: Untitled 1
(t) Ellie
(ie) Gridlock!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You said you had a problem with some of the Christian artists over there. Have you ever heard of Third Day. They are an awesome band with some great worship music.
Vaughan Roberts is great. I have one of his books and he's in charge of my church in Oxford :) I agree with your blog, but then you agree with Vaughan and he's just so theologically sound I don't think I've ever disgreed with him.
btw I've heard good things about your father's books recently.
Third Day eh? I'll check them out.
And the definition of "worship" is not just praising God through singing. It is more than that. So the term "worship leader" is silly.
Ben's been hearing good things about Mark's Dad's books? Coo. You ought to get an autographed copy while you can.
I have it on good authority that when the old man sells the film rights Mark gets a new 4Ghz titanium shelled notebook. But by then Tescos will be doing them for 50p.
Happy New Year to all my readers
As I have to remind people at my youth group. I am *not* the worship leader; theologically, the only worship leader is the Holy Spirit, and I'm certainly not him.
But the similiarities are un-canny.
Please Note, the last line was deliberatly complete rubbish. It was a joke. Please don't stone me.
lol.
I suddenly realised I'm listening to the same album you were listening to when you wrote that entry. Bought it at Fopp a couple of days ago...
Argh! I said lol! I thought I'd weaned myself off those ancient acronymed days... What a great start to the New Year...
This is a website by Mark Walley. If you want to find out more or get in touch, that'd be nice.
Getting around this website can be a tad confusing. If you're looking to explore the better stuff of what I've written then this navigation should help you. If you're after a specific post then searching or looking through the archives chronologically may help.
This site tries its best to be accessible for everyone. Atom, and RSS feeds are available. All content licensed through a creative commons licence. I may have stolen ideas off you when you weren't looking, but it was almost certainly an accident. As with all claims of originality and ownership Psalm 24 v1 applies.
Jeremy
I totally agree with you Mark. There is one thing that really bugs me about a lot of worship leaders. It is when they basically put on a concert. They are not performing, they are there to help the people worship God. If they try to put on a concert, they are drawing attention away from God and to themselves. I have nothing wrong with Christian bands that perform, as long as they are not doing it while they are leading a worship service. I agree, though, that worship leaders should go through a training program or something.