What Happens When We Worship

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WORSHIP ABOUT?

...ultimately I want to recover worship from the doldrums. Let me rephrase that: I want to recover the perception of worship as being the doldrums. Worship is never dull, but we are sometimes. Churchgoing is monotonous and mundane only because our eyes are blinded to the supernatural wonder that is taking place all around us. The reality is that worship is an exhilarating experience. So we don't need smoke machines, more lights, dramatic presentations, louder music, mystical theology, or entertaining speakers to make worship exciting. We simply need to understand what's going on in the first place.

This book is written from a simple but important premise: something is happening when we worship. Something happens to us, Something happens between us and the people we worship with, and, most importantly, something happens between us and God.

acted upon

God blesses His people by confirming that His name is on them for good in Christ, and thereby strengthens them to serve Him in the week ahead.

a fitting way to praise Him for His work, pray to Him with our deepest needs, and proclaim to one another the sanctifigyin truths of the gospel.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WORSHIP

Admittedly, we are just going to be scratching the surface here. There could easily be ten more chapters in this book, and each chapter could easily be ten times longer. But I'm not seeking to present a fully exhaustive treatment on the subject of worship. Rather, this is meant to be an important introduction to, or perhaps a gentle reminder of, the topic. My aim is to whet your appetite when it comes to worship. For indeed it is in corporate worship that we are able to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8).