I have been reading about worship lately and there are those who believe that the only way to worship God is how he has ordained it in scripture. They would say that anything beyond that is human invention and not acceptable to God. They go to great lengths to prove from scripture that the New Testament church kept much of the form of Synagogue worship and leadership structure and that is what is required of us today. This would include an attitude of coming before a holy God to renew our covenant with Him, which is through Jesus Christ now instead of through the sacrifices and priests. It would include prayer, confession, singing psalms only, reading scripture, teaching from scripture, and the sacraments (communion). While it seems that much of this is included in the church I attend, there isn't the emphasis on renewing a covenant with God, or singing only Psalms. I am curious as to your views, Steve, on worship.

When Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman, He had this exchange:

John 4:19-24
19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The physical place of our worship is not an issue, but neither is the format or structure of our worship. The only two "requirements" are that our worship is truthful - meaning from the heart - and Spiritual - meaning that our worship is based on a Spiritual rebirth.

The early church worshipped in the manner which they were accustomed. They grew up in the Jewish tradition so it's no wonder that they maintained some of the same format.

Shame on us for insisting on a structure when none is demanded in Scripture.

I once heard a story by a preacher - he was talking about the correct posture for prayer & he said that people always dissagree wether it is to be done on your knees, prostrate, at home in your secret prayer closet or this or that but then he said that there was a man who worked for a utility company & he had an accident of some sort & was hanging upside down by one foot from a telephone pole & at that time the prayer he said was more genuine than any other prayer in his life that was prayed from more conventional positions. I, myself do some of my best praying while riding my bicycle.

As far as singing psalms; I am an american & in english the words sound different & so probably would not fit to the origonal melody that the psalms were written. God taught me a melody to sing the 137th Psalm after I heard a very powerful mesasage about it. But as for the rest I have no clue how they are to be sung. As I have visited churches of different styles I have heard all kinds of songs & almost none of them were psalms (that I know of). I believe that as long as it is comming from our heart any song that we praise him with will be accepted. Eph 5:19 says "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;" that tells me that there are other acceptable songs besides the psalms. Col 3:16 says almost the same thing.

God gave me the inspiration for a few biblical songs & sometimes I feel bold enough to call them psalms or hymns because of the scripture in hebrews at the end of chapter 11 wich says that "they {the hall of faith heroes} without us should not be made perfect". Once I just made one up & started singing it while riding on the bus it went like this:

Lift up the name of Jesus
Lift him up on high
Lift up the name of Jesus
Lift him up so high
Lift up the name of Jesus
Let him be magnified
Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
He'll be glorified woo! (repeat)

Here is another one He gave me:

You must! You must! Praise Jesus the Christ
You must! You must! Praise the lamb of God
You must! You must! Praise Jesus the Christ
if you want to see the face of God

You must! You must! Believe Christ died for your sins
You must! You must! Be real good to your wife
You must! You must! Believe Christ died for your sins
if you want to have eternal life

You must! You must! Accept the spirit in you
You must! You must! Not fear the grave
You must! You must! Accept the spirit in you
if you want your soul to be saved

You must! You must! Have God on the mind
You must! You must! Not fear the hurts
You must! You must! Have God on the mind
if you want to accumulate works

You must! You must! Keep all of the faith
You must! You must! Believe Christ is the one
You must! You must! Keep all of the faith
if you want to be co-heirs with the son

I have full faith & assurance that these & other gospel related songs that I wrote are glorifying to my heavenly father. So I don't see anything wrong with singing a song that praises our God even if it does not appear in the Bible. One of my all time favorites is "Our God is an awesome God".

Jas 2:18 says "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." I have a feeling that worship has more to do with a lifestyle of submission to God than a particular behavior like praying or singing. We need to get on our knees & ask our father how he wants us to worship him - I imagine that some people worship him by making dresses or christmas presents to be given away to strangers, some people worship him by working at a food kitchen or mission feeding the hungry, some people worship him by giving away free bibles to people who want to know God (that's one of the ways I do in any case). Jesus said "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (Jn 14:15); true worship will have to do with doing the will of God, like Jesus said - "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Mt 12:48-50

As I said before - when I worship God, I worship God, I don't need a holiday or anything else like a church service to do that.

_Genevive said "in the church I attend, there isn't the emphasis on renewing a covenant with God" - well perhaps that is because they feel that everyone there already has a personal covenant - maybe it is not the preacher's style - in some churches you can't leave before you get an altar call, & in others they rarely have them; you may want to ask your pastor why this is the case. What is really important is making sure that your covenant with God is "all good" so to speak ("work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Phil 2:12). I know that my personal, primary mission or gift is not that of an evangleist; but of a teacher, but I have had to act as one on occasion, so it is good to learn the basics of how to lead someone to Christ - just in case you have the opprotunity to do it. What I am saying is that I understand why some pastors may not emphasise cirtain aspects of the ministry of God as we tend to work toward our strengths. That is why there are many members of the Body of Christ "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?" 1 Cor 12:27-30 - that tells me that some pastors wont have my favorite quality or gift, but they are still placed by God in the position that they are in for a reason.

I hope this is of assistance -

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One more thing about worship - in the old testament God only spoke to one person - the high priest & he in turn disseminated the will of God to the people. But when Jesus died the veil to the temple (or barrier between God & man) was ripped from top to bottom - from God's side down to us so now we all can boldly have accesss to the throne of grace to be able to find help in time of need. God gives us the earnest of the spirit in out hearts so those that belong to him will have a direct link to the father. The scripture says that we are to be a living sacrifice - that tells me that every act we do from waking up & saying our morning prayers to going to work to playing with our kids to eating dinner - every single thing we do should be an act of worship.

Another aspect to it is the scripture says "Be ye Holy as I am Holy" - God told me that everywhere I walk is Holy Ground just because of God's presence in my heart is there.

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