Unceasing Worship

One of Discerning Reader's Best Books We are not created to worship. Nor are we created for worship. We are created worshiping. Too often Christians have only thought of worship in terms of particular musical styles or liturgical formats. But a proper view of worship is far larger than what takes place in churches on Sunday mornings. Worship is not limited to specific times, places or activities. God is by his very nature continuously outpouring himself. Because we are created in his image, we too are continually pouring ourselves in various directions, whether toward God or toward false gods. All of us, Christian or not, are always worshiping, whether or not that worship is directed toward God. We are unceasing worshipers. The fruition of a lifetime of study, reflection and experience, this volume sets forth Harold M. Best's understanding of worship and the arts. Widely respected as one of the foremost thinkers and practitioners in his field, Best explores the full scope of worship as continuous outpouring in all settings and contexts. With careful exposition and eloquent analysis, Best casts a holistic vision for worship that transcends narrow discussions of musical style or congregational preference. On this broader canvas, Best addresses popular misunderstandings about the use of music and offers correctives toward a more biblically consistent practice of artistic action. Incisive, biblical, profound and comprehensive, Best's landmark volume is one by which all other statements on worship and the arts will be measured.

At its best, all Christian worship is led by the Holy Spirit. But is there a distinctive theology of Pentecostal worship? The Pentecostal church or the renewal movement is among the fastest-growing parts of the body of Christ around the world, which makes understanding its theology and practice critical for the future of the church. In this volume in IVP Academic's Dynamics of Christian Worship (DCW) series, theologian Steven Félix-Jäger offers a theology of renewal worship, including its biblical foundations, how its global nature is expressed in particular localities, and how charismatic worship distinctively shapes the community of faith. With his guidance, the whole church might understand better what it means to pray, "Come, Holy Spirit!" The Dynamics of Christian Worship series draws from a wide range of worshiping contexts and denominational backgrounds to unpack the many dynamics of Christian worship—including prayer, reading the Bible, preaching, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, music, visual art, architecture, and more—to deepen both the theology and practice of Christian worship for the life of the church.

Guidance for Leaders Seeking a Richer Way to Employ Worship Music Worship expert Constance Cherry offers comprehensive guidance to Christian leaders seeking a deeper, richer way to employ worship music in engaging ways for twenty-first-century worshipers. Following Cherry's successful book The Worship Architect, this work helps Christian leaders think theologically and act pastorally about worship music in their churches. It addresses larger issues beyond the surface struggles of musical styles and provides tools to critically evaluate worship songs. The book is applicable to all Christian traditions and worship styles and is well suited to both the classroom and the local church. Each chapter concludes with suggested practical exercises, recommended reading, and basic vocabulary terms.

There has to be more to leading worship than what I've been doing. That nagging thought drove William Kirkwood to develop this primer on worship for all lead pastors and worship planners who have wondered the same thing. Most pastors come out of seminary with little training in worship yet are ultimately responsible for the worship life of their church. Most worship planners/leaders have musical and leadership skills but little theological background in worship. Kirkwood brings his decades of worship leading experience and education from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies into the pages of this timely book. He explores the biblical, historical, theological, and cultural foundations of worship and brings them together with practical guidance on how to create vibrant worship services that facilitate a divine-human interaction. The primer is written for leaders in contemporary "free" churches, traditional/liturgical churches, and charismatic/Pentecostal churches. Each chapter includes thoughtful exercises and questions to help in your own church context, as well as recommended resources for further study.

This book is a presentation of what worship is and what the true worshipper is. To worship is to prostrate before the Holy Presence of the Almighty, sometimes without saying a word. To worship is to lift the Lord to great heights. Drawing lessons from his personal experience as a worshipper, the author says that no one can worship the Lord God and the god self at the same time. Those with one or more idols in their hearts cannot worship the Lord. The true worshipper worships God in Spirit and in truth. Worship is the activity of people sanctified, consecrated, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Only those who know and love the Lord can worship Him. After reading this book, we can dare to say that a life of obedience to the will of God and a life lived in His presence qualifies a person to worship God. Would you like to know what it means to "worship" and become a true worshiper? Then read this book.

• The first translation of this great but little-known path of spiritual devotion written for the modern Western audience. • An insightful commentary aimed at making the path of love immediately accessible to Westerners. • A life-affirming and relationship-positive path of yoga. • Written in the spirit of the kirtans (ecstatic songs and dances) of Narada, sensitively translated by Prem Prakash. Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion, is considered one of the primary paths for spiritual realization in yogic tradition. Its representative, Narada, is the embodiment of the enlightened sage who travels the universe spreading his sacred teachings. Unlike Jnana Yoga, the Yoga of Wisdom, the bhakti acolyte does not discriminate against material phenomena--for him, all phenomena are aspects of God. Within the context of Ananda, blissful love, the temporal is realized as the reflection of the eternal, and the soul is realized as the expression of God.

Your City Guide to God Beneath the relentless rhythms of city life beats the heart of God, and award-winning author Marcy Heidish takes you into a more intimate relationship with him in the midst of crowds, chaos, and concrete. Her experiences from a curb in Brooklyn, the bay in San Francisco, a rooftop of Chartres Cathedaral in Paris, and the busy halls of Washington, D.C., help you see the city in a new light. She turns common city distractions, annoyances, and challenges into spiritual invitations or “gateways” to a new kind of contemplation where: •screaming sirens become cues to silent intercession, •skyscrapers, like spires, pull your eyes and thoughts heavenward, •and red traffic lights work as “pause” buttons that call for you to stop and pray. “In the city there is grit,” Marcy writes. And grime and garbage. But her practical tools in every chapter for reflection, discussion, and application help you see–whether you’re visiting, working, or dwelling in Philadelphia or Phoenix, New York or Los Angeles, Seattle or Syracuse–that in the city there is also grace.

The Mandate of the Church in the Apocalypse of John fills a gap in the scholarly literature on the Apocalypse of John by offering a comprehensive discussion of what the Church is called upon to be and do. It delineates various tasks and functions of the Church, showing how they relate to one another and also how they are all unified under the mandate to provide faithful witness to Jesus. With its strong emphasis on the ethical concerns of the Apocalypse, this book challenges the view that John's Apocalypse is sub-Christian in its ethics.