Worship as Formation: Lessons from Psalm 1

Summer 2012 sermon series at Cherry Creek Presbyterian ChurchI'm preparing to preach (for the second time in my life) on Psalm 1 this Sunday.  As I re-engage the exegesis, I am struck again by the message of this first hymn in God's inspired hymnal.  When we exegete Scripture, we dissect the language, we peer into the mind of the author, and we immerse ourselves into the worldview and situation of the original hearers.  But with the Psalms, some additional things are at play, one of those being the Psalm's placement within the Psalter itself.

Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm (it sounds very much like a proverb), and, by virtue of its placement, it is the introduction to the entire book of Psalms.  As such, it makes a very interesting point that we often miss when reading it narrowly in English.  The key theme verse is:

His (or her) delight is in the law of the LORD,
And on His law he (or she) meditates day and night.
(Psalm 1:2, NIV) 

Several commentators point out that here we have the whole book of Psalms being introduced as torah, which we translate (probably somewhat inadequately) as "law."  But torah in this context does not really mean so much God's moral law, or even the Pentateuch.  Torah means here, more generally, "instruction."  But even then, we might be tempted to think that this is saying that the Psalms exist to teach us something cognitive, to fill our brains with information about God.  Torah as "instruction" is more robust.  It is more like instruction that leads to growth.  Torah is formation.

Psalm 1, as an introduction to the Psalter, is making an important point about the nature of worship: Worship forms us.  It shapes us.  As we worship, God does soul-surgery, making us different than we were.  Our habits are retrained toward the things God desires.  God changes our "wanter," as I've heard others say.  We want different things than we used to.  We start thinking God's thoughts after Him.  We start living the "liturgical life," with all its up and down rhythms, the other six days of the week.

Certainly Psalm 1 exists to encourage us to meditate on Scripture as a primary means for growth and nourishment.  But there is another message contained here, simply because Psalm 1 is Psalm 1 and not Psalm 36 or 114.  Worship is formational.  Pastors and worship leaders should heed this well as we think about planning and leading worship services week in and week out.  The center of our disciple-making call is wrapped up in the content and shape of our worship.

When the Holy Spirit Breaks Open the Worship Service (Or, the Surprise of Super Bowl Sunday at Cherry Creek)

Just in case you were mistaken, this isn't a worship service. It's a football game.Quite at the last minute yesterday, I felt nothing less than a strong compulsion from the Holy Spirit to urge our congregation to do something in worship quite foreign to us.  Many moons ago, I posted on physical expressiveness in worship with what I’ve found to be a very compelling argument. 

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Is “God Inhabits the Praises of His People” Really Biblical?

I reluctantly lift up the truce-flag of exegetical honesty.  I desperately want it to say it.  Many worship leaders (including myself) have quoted it as saying it.  It would be a great proof-text-style summary verse for a very important aspect of the theology of worship.  But the fact is that the translational evidence leans heavily against us being able to say that “God inhabits the praises of His people” is an accurate rendering of the Hebrew of Psalm 22:3.  Now, it is certainly a possible translation, but it is not the one that makes the best sense of the poetry.  Before we unpack this, let’s look at why it would be so valuable for it to say what it doesn’t say.

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What is a Canticle?

We evangelicals interested in historic worship practices, traditions, and liturgies have a steep learning curve.  Part of that learning curve is a glossary of vocabulary words that pretty much feel like a foreign language (and there’s actually good reason for that…much old school worship lingo is Latin-based, not English-based).  From matins to Magnificat, from vespers to Nunc dimittis, we cautiously dip our toes in the water.  One of those Liturgese words is “canticle,” and I’ve found it particularly hard to understand what it is.  Upon reading Paul Westermeyer’s concise yet thorough definition below, I now understand why. 

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Song Reflection: "All People That on Earth Do Dwell"

In preparation for the release of our album, Without Our Aid, on September 13, 2011, we're beginning a series of posts reflecting on the hymns incorporated into the project. 

Many do not realize that the Protestant Reformation was just as much about worship as it was about doctrine.  In fact, reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin would have seen little division between the former and the latter.  Luther championed three emphases in particular, which all serve the goal of elevating the congregation's participation in worship against the backdrop of the passive, clergy-driven liturgy of the medieval Church:

(1) The priesthood of all believers
(2) Worship in the vernacular
(3) Scripture and doctrine in the hands of the laity

As the Reformation spread, a revolution in songwriting occurred, and Christian musicians began reaping the harvest of writing songs in their native tongue.  It was an exciting time.  In England in the 1500s, the dominant strain of the Reformation was that of Calvin, whose own worship emphases strongly advocated the singing of Psalms.  And in 1562, a fresh edition of newly Anglicized hymns appeared, commonly referred to as "Sternhold and Hopkins," the editors' names.  Many of those metrical psalms (psalms set to poetic meter) have fallen into disuse, but one has endured and can still be found in some hymnals today--"All People That on Earth Do Dwell," by William Kethe.  This hymn is a metrical version of Psalm 100, one of the most popular psalms in the Bible.  Our album, Without Our Aid, gets its title from the second line of the second verse, emphasizing the sovereignty and power of God over against the helplessness and inability of humanity.

Our setting of the psalm is a driving, mid-tempo arrangement, with an added chorus that is nearly completely derived from Psalm 100 (NIV).  Of our songs, it has been one of our congregation's favorites for several years now.  The song's ending repeats the psalm's final words ("for the Lord is good and His love endureth forever...") over and over again.  It is a "surprise refrain" in the sense that it introduces a new melodic and harmonic section of the song, painting the picture that God's eternal, heavenly love and faithfulness are like nothing we've experienced before.  We sing it repeatedly to emphasize this eternality and to offer a moment of meditation on this portion of Scripture.

Here are the words:

All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
Him serve with joy, His praise forth tell,
Come ye before Him and rejoice.

Know that the Lord is God indeed;
Without our aid He did us make;
We are His folk, He doth us feed,
And for His sheep He doth us take.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship Him with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful songs!
Praise the Lord, all the earth!
Enter with thanksgiving;
Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

O enter then His gates with praise,
Approach with joy His courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless His name always,
For it is seemly so to do.

For why? The Lord our God is good,
His mercy is forever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.

For the Lord is good,
And His love endureth forever,
And His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Words: William Kethe, 1561; Zac Hicks, 2009 (add’l lyrics adapted from Psalm 100)
Music: Zac Hicks, 2009
©2011 Unbudding Fig Music (ASCAP)
Winner of the Church of the Servant 2010 New Psalm Contest
In memory of Ben Fackler

Incorporating Chant into Worship (Even Modern Worship): A Primer

These days, it’s hip to do “old stuff” in worship.  The late Robert Webber prophesied that this would happen; there is indeed a resurgence of interest in incorporating elements of historic and ancient Christian worship into our modern-day expression.  This is part of why the rehymn movement is gaining popularity.  While this is encouraging, we do not want to run the risk of doing old things simply because they’re cool.  We want to do them for much more important, lasting reasons.  We incorporate tradition into modern worship precisely that we might express ourselves not only as the modern church but as the historic church.  Part of being the “one holy, catholic church” involves worshiping like we truly are catholic (i.e. universal).  This universality includes not only space—incorporating elements of worship from our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world—but time.  Christians in Ghana truly are my brothers and sisters.  But the same can be said for fourth-century Christians in Mesopotamia.

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Worship’s Unique Ability to Give People Spiritual Wisdom and Insight...Especially with Suffering

Psalm 73 makes a shocking claim that often gets overlooked.  It is a raw psalm that is perhaps more honest than many Christians would dare to be before God.  Its first half is nearly bitter:

I envied the arrogant
     when I saw the prosperity of the wicked
They have no struggles;

…Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
     in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.  (vv 3-4a, 13, NIV)

The psalmist expresses being on the brink of despair.  Haven’t we all been there?  Whether we’ve merely scratched our heads or actually shaken our fists toward the heavenlies, we have all sensed from time to time that the wicked seem to have it just fine and the righteous seem to be loaded with trials.  It is one of the most apparent Divine injustices.  But here comes the surprising pivot-point:

When I tried to understand all this,
     it was oppressive to me
till I entered the sanctuary of God;
     then I understood their final destiny.  (vv 16-17, NIV)

How was this theological and existential struggle alleviated?  Not by a Bible study.  Not by a counseling session with a pastor.  Not by taking a seminary class.  The psalmist communicates that a very special spiritual wisdom and insight was imparted in “the sanctuary of God,” in the context of worship.

Extrapolating outward, is it not easy to see the rich benefit of corporate worship?  Of the many blessed by-products of worship, this is surely one of them--that, in worship, we are often given (many times supernaturally and mysteriously) wisdom from God that aids in gaining perspective on some of life’s deepest struggles and problems.

This is a vivid reality for me.  Five and a half years ago, I was finishing up my seminary degree and leading worship in a small church plant in north Denver.  My wife, Abby, was diagnosed with cancer.  During that period of time, I can recall feeling that worship was very much a discipline foisted on me by God…something I had to do simply because it was my job.  Believe me, I wanted to retreat.  But worship became a most blessed discipline.  Worship perpetually put before my head and heart the greatness of God, the eternal perspective, the Kingdom mentality, and the love of Christ.  Worship provided the frame of wisdom and insight that bordered the portrait of my suffering.  It didn’t take away the sting of suffering, but those of you who have been there know the difference between suffering well and suffering poorly.  I believe I suffered well.  In the words of Sheldon Vanauken, I believe that worship helped me to experience suffering as a “severe mercy.”

I believe that this is one of the reasons the book Habakkuk ends the way it does—with a worship song.  I believe Habakkuk understood that when we come to the end of our wrestlings about the vexing incongruities of life, when we hit that wall, worship is one of the ways God graciously provides for us to break through to the wisdom on the other side.

Perhaps Psalm 73 would have us then rephrase James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should gather with God's people…and worship.”

Why Right Theology is a Heavy Obligation for Worship Leaders

In his opening chapter to The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer exposes the crux of what makes churches crumble:

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him…Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it. So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God…The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him—and of her.¹

These words seem timely now, but the reality is that they are perpetually timely.  As idol-factories, our hearts are prone to wander.  If Tozer is right, then worship leaders and planners have a burden to bear.  That burden is to give their people a lofty view of God.  They must be exposed to God’s greatness and loftiness.  God’s transcendence must never be lacking in a worship service. 

Critics of modern worship have continually pointed out the me-centered nature of so many modern worship songs.  Thankfully, I believe the leaders of the modern worship movement have been heeding these criticisms.  My reviews of recent worship albums such as those of Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and Gateway Worship, attempt to point that out.  But modern worship must continue along its trajectory. 

There is no better place than in the worship service for the Christian Church to fulfill her “heaviest obligation.”  More than in Sunday School, small groups, and special events, God has ordained a unique and special ministry of His Spirit to take place in the context of the gathered people of God.  It is uniquely in the context of worship where it seems that all the parts of the self—the intellect, the affections, the body—are stirred together in praise and experience of God Almighty.  Worship leaders should, consciously and subconsciously, always be asking themselves the following set of questions:

·   What view of God is being presented to the people of God this week? this month? this year?

·   Is one of my primary aims and goals to have people walk away from a worship service inspired by the greatness of God?

·   Are songs which do have more of a me-focus (which, by the way, are okay, given that many of the Psalms were written from such a perspective) set within a proper context of God’s greatness, whether that context be other songs surrounding them or other liturgical elements accompanying them?

How can worship leaders awaken their sensitivity to this very important issue?  A great place to start is by studying the attributes of God, and particularly His incommunicable attributes (those characteristics of God which he does not share with humanity).  If you are a worship leader or congregant and this is new to you, I’d suggest asking your pastor to recommend a good systematic theology text from your church’s tradition that will walk you through a deep, meditative study of who God is.  (And if your pastor can’t recommend anything or says that it’s not valuable, I’d further suggest you find another church J.)  But for now, here is one list of some of the incommunicable attributes of God, perhaps to whet the appetite for further study:

·   Independence (a.k.a. Aseity, Self-Existence)

·   Unchangeableness (a.k.a. Impassibility, Immutability)

·   Eternity

·   Omnipresence

·   Omniscience

·   Omnipresence

·   Unity

·   Self-sufficiency

What happens when worship leaders commit to studying and meditating upon the being and attributes of God?  For one, you develop a radar for and sensitivity to content that doesn’t measure up.  You start to listen to and evaluate worship songs with a different set of ears.  Furthermore, almost by instinct, you begin to crave extolling the greatness of God and you begin to develop a jealousy for God’s greatness when it is absent.  Meditation upon God is very much like an addictive drug.  You end up seeking more and more of God.  The difference is that, because of God’s infinitude, there is no point of diminishing returns, and because of His goodness, there are no ill side-effects…only blessing and “grace upon grace.”  The pursuit of God in all His greatness is the only truly healthy addiction, which nourishes us, strengthens us, and centers us.  And once a worship leader is hooked, they never turn back. 

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.
(Psalm 29:1-2, NIV)

¹ A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1978), 3-4.