Pillars of the Church III: Worshiping

I asked our Music Director, Janie Robertson, to reflect on the third pillar of the church -- worship.  Here's what she had to say...

Worship – a pillar of life together

You know how sometimes words from a song can get stuck in your head and it’s just so hard to get rid of them?  The “Worship” banner in the sanctuary at St. Andrew’s is like that for me – a constant reminder that worship is how we live both as individuals and together as Christ’s body, his family, his church in Six Points.

As Music Director at St. Andrew’s, you might think that since I put much time and thought into our worship music that I would equate music with worship.  Not so.  While it’s true that music has a powerful way of drawing us toward God, it’s not true that worship is the same as singing.  Singing is singing!  (That’s a Captain Obvious statement.) 

Okay, then, when does God receive our singing as an act of worship?  Hughes Oliphant Old, an American Professor of Reformed Theology and Worship, has eloquently stated, “When we worship, having our minds enlightened by the Spirit, our lives cleansed by the Spirit, our wills moved by the Spirit, and our hearts warmed by the Spirit, then our worship is transformed from being merely a human work into being a divine work.”

Our mission as a church family is to help all people experience a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.  When the Holy Spirit gets hold of us in our worship, that is exactly what can happen!   Have you ever experienced that kind of worship – the divine work of God in life-changing worship?  Is that your dream for St. Andrew’s?  I’d love to have that conversation with you sometime!

 

 

Janie Robertson is a life-long worshiper who also happens to be the Music Director at St Andrew's Islington Presbyterian Church.