Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? (pt. 7)
The Spirit's Role in Corporate Worship is the title of the essay by Timothy J. Ralston. Worship seems to be the topic du jour among evangelicals today, judging by the number of titles recently released covering it. A word search on Amazon using "worship" reveals a wide spectrum of books covering the what, when, why, where, etc. of how we should praise our Creator. Ralston points out that this renewed emphasis is a good thing, since "Worship is a central emphasis of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation."
However, the question that Ralston gives at the beginning of the essay is this: what do we mean when we speak about worship? He wants to get past the current catch-phrases and vocabulary used to describe worship and make sure it has a Biblical basis:
He proceeds to examine the Spirit's role in relation to corporate worship from seven perspectives:
1. Covenant
Worship is only acceptable within the parameters of covenant relationship with God testified by the Spirit.
2. Community
Worship needs to be rooted in the community of faith, which the Spirit helps to identify.
3. Sanctuary
The location of the Spirit influences worship: from the tabernacle of the Old Testament to the indwelling temple of our bodies in the New.
4. Unity
The Holy Spirit works to bring unity, which Ralston identifies as "believers' common twofold allegiance: the Lordship of Christ over community and relational harmony within community." He also makes a good observation that unity "does not demand conformity or uniformity in thought or practice (as helpful as these might seem)."
5. Integrity
The Holy Spirit "provokes and judges those things which violate the demands of the covenant, pollute the holiness of the sanctuary, disturb its communal identity, mar its functional unity, or disqualify its witness and offerings."
6. Ministry
Ralston lists three areas in which the Holy Spirit functions in corporate worship. He instructs us through the reading of the word, reminds us through communion and baptism, and enables us via individual spiritual gifts.
7. Liberty
The Spirit works to minimize the tension between freedom and forms: "Form assumes and fosters liberty and creativity of expression. Conversely freedom can beget new forms that speak in fresh ways."
The essay does a good job of grounding communal worship in a historical Biblical context, and it is good to step back sometimes and take a wide-level view like he does here. Afterwards, he briefly examines popular terminology like "leading of the Spirit", "decency and order", "liberty of the Spirit", "quenching", etc. This section seemed to be a little less helpful to me than the previous points, although he does have a good reminder that we need to be careful about the language we use, since the "language of convenience for one generation usually becomes the theology for the next and conviction for those following."
However, the question that Ralston gives at the beginning of the essay is this: what do we mean when we speak about worship? He wants to get past the current catch-phrases and vocabulary used to describe worship and make sure it has a Biblical basis:
Great danger lurks here. Popular descriptions are theological sandbars. They can shift our focus from God’s inspired objective statements about his role in our worship to prejudices formed by the feelings aroused through a particular style of music or service. The Holy Spirit’s role in corporate worship becomes a function of our response rather than an objective theological reality. We miss the more basic and important roles that the Holy Spirit assumes whenever God’s people gather to worship. The Old Testament provides many examples of God’s condemnation and rejection of worship that forgot or ignored his expectations. Even if we offer worship with the sincerest of motives, we overlook what God says at our peril.
He proceeds to examine the Spirit's role in relation to corporate worship from seven perspectives:
1. Covenant
Worship is only acceptable within the parameters of covenant relationship with God testified by the Spirit.
2. Community
Worship needs to be rooted in the community of faith, which the Spirit helps to identify.
3. Sanctuary
The location of the Spirit influences worship: from the tabernacle of the Old Testament to the indwelling temple of our bodies in the New.
4. Unity
The Holy Spirit works to bring unity, which Ralston identifies as "believers' common twofold allegiance: the Lordship of Christ over community and relational harmony within community." He also makes a good observation that unity "does not demand conformity or uniformity in thought or practice (as helpful as these might seem)."
5. Integrity
The Holy Spirit "provokes and judges those things which violate the demands of the covenant, pollute the holiness of the sanctuary, disturb its communal identity, mar its functional unity, or disqualify its witness and offerings."
6. Ministry
Ralston lists three areas in which the Holy Spirit functions in corporate worship. He instructs us through the reading of the word, reminds us through communion and baptism, and enables us via individual spiritual gifts.
7. Liberty
The Spirit works to minimize the tension between freedom and forms: "Form assumes and fosters liberty and creativity of expression. Conversely freedom can beget new forms that speak in fresh ways."
The essay does a good job of grounding communal worship in a historical Biblical context, and it is good to step back sometimes and take a wide-level view like he does here. Afterwards, he briefly examines popular terminology like "leading of the Spirit", "decency and order", "liberty of the Spirit", "quenching", etc. This section seemed to be a little less helpful to me than the previous points, although he does have a good reminder that we need to be careful about the language we use, since the "language of convenience for one generation usually becomes the theology for the next and conviction for those following."
posted by Alan at 6:13 PM
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