“For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephens University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt.”
N.T. Wright speaks of the four echoes of God in the world. The echo that most resonates with me as evidence of God’s reality is relationship. In a moment in time we began, in the mind of God, because He desired to be in relationship with us. From the instant we are born and take our first breath, we are invited into relationship with our parents and also with others. It is within the context of relationship that we glimpse God’s heart of love and of mercy. Because of our fragile state on this earth, we know in part what it is to love and to be loved. We know what it is to belong and also to be rescued from our own frailties.
I am always drawn and moved by songs that are about the character of God and His thoughts toward me and all of humanity. Songs like “Breathe” by Marie Barnett, remind me of my deep need of God and also that He has given me the life I live, the breath I breathe. Brooke Fraser’s “Hymn” also brings me back to the truth that God longs for me to dwell where He dwells and to have Him dwell in me. I can so easily live my life in a self-sufficient manner and worship songs that call to mind the need in me for God cause me to stop and again humbly submit to Him in relationship.
There tends though to be a greater focus on celebrating creation and worshiping God’s majesty, celebrating relationship with God and also that God would “open the eyes of our heart” so that we may see more of Him and know more of Him. The aspect or echo of justice is not so prominent in my own worship time or even in the corporate church worship setting I belong to. Do we shy away from justice and singing about this aspect of God because it is the echo that eludes us more? It can matter to us but is perhaps less tangible because we see less evidence of it in society. This is certainly something I would like to ponder more as the weeks go on as I read more and interact more with the experiences of others during Essentials Blue.
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