Worship shapes our spirituality
"...our spirituality is usually shaped more by the experience of communal worship than it is by preaching and teaching....the way we think about God and relate to God is influenced enormously by our experience of God in communal worship..Songs are especially formative. We are far more likely to find ourselves humming something we sang in church when we go home than we are to find ourselves meditating on a phrase in the sermon..(not one of yours, of course)..Christian philosopher and scientist Michael Polanyi spoke of knowledge that we simply absorb by a kind of 'osmosis' without even realizing that we have done so. This is what he refers to as 'tacit knowledge' Most Christians simply imbibe a theology through the way that they worship.
.theology springs from right worship but theology also, in turn, guides and ensures right worship.There is a circular relationship between the two as healthy worship and theology support each other....how theology can guide the kind of worship that in turn shapes people spirituality.
How very true, for my wife and I, at least. Our "church of choice" is Valley Christian Center in Fresno. It is a 2000 member congregation with, perhaps, the best comtemporary worship service in the area. What Polanyi speaks of in the above quote is, perhaps, the same as that referenced by Paul in Eph. 5:18-20. There, spirit filling is an experience received on any occasion the community of saints gather togather in the sharing of song and spiritual hymns. It plays a very important part in the discipline of spiritual growth. Too much attention to the negatives expressed by some saints (including ourselves) often counters the joy and peace derived from these times of worhsip.
Thanks for the words
JD
