Editor's note: Dr. Boertje has graciously provided this manuscript, from which he spoke during our conference. It is the first of two addresses (see index for the second address). There may be differences in this text as compared to the actual delivery (audio file download above).
A PERSONAL JOURNEY TOWARD WORSHIP
As a child I regularly attended church services and evangelistic rallies. My father was a Baptist pastor and an evangelist. During my high school years I was organist and pianist for the church and for his revivals. My view of worship came first from the pew and then from the bench. Worship as I saw it during those years consisted of “preliminaries” with songs by the congregation, special music for the congregation and preaching to the congregation. The sermon was educational for the church and evangelistic at the revivals. In addition to attending church services we were encouraged to have a quiet time during which we would read a verse or passage of scripture and an accompanying devotional thought. This devotional time was meant for personal Bible study and prayer. During those growing up years there was very little mention of the word worship. I am not sure that I even understood what worship really was. That seemed to be something done on Sunday mornings by the more formal churches in town.
I completed two bachelors degrees (in sacred music and music education) and a masters degree in church music. Seminary introduced me to the concept that music was not worship in itself but a worship expression. We studied the fuller meaning of corporate worship in the life of the church. I began to develop an interest in “creative worship” planning for corporate worship. My first church was near the seminary and it had a congregation that was responsive to worship. We were soon planning more structured worship and worship based on the Christian year (the most creative services were those built on the Christian calendar). I even was asked to lead creative worship workshops throughout that state and adjoining states.
I found great fulfillment in the planning and leading of public worship. I witnessed the effects of worship on the church body. But I felt that something was missing. I was not experiencing in my own life the kind of worship I was planning for others to experience together. I realized that if I were to be an effective leader of worship it was not enough to study worship and the planning of worship. I must become a worshiper in my own life and ministry. I became hungry for great understandings and exercises of personal worship that would empower my life and influence my worship. I began to grab every book on worship that I could find and began to study all of the elements that made for powerful worship and vibrant worshipers.
I enrolled in Northern Baptist Seminary in Chicago and pursued doctoral studies in worship. The books, lectures, and papers seemed to be aimed directly at my need to understand the wonders of worship. My goal was to place as many of these discoveries as possible into a curriculum that I could share with my people. The doctoral committee agreed and I included several concepts of worship into a ten-lesson curriculum that is intended to develop a personal worship life style for those who experience the study. The dissertation provided support or footing for the curriculum.
I did finish the doctorate in worship studies but my task and my quest was not complete. The curriculum needed to be taught and material for a leader guide needed to be gathered. The thoughts I share with you in these two sessions come from the curriculum and the material in the leaders guide.
THE CALL FOR PERSONAL WORSHIP
Corporate/congregational worship is and should be important, but worship must have its personal and private exercise. I believe that the effectiveness of public worship depends on the private worship of its members. The quality of worship coming from the larger body depends on the openness and responsiveness to God of each individual worshiper in that body. Individual worshipers should offer their lives to God before offering themselves to corporate worship. The total worship life of a congregation is no greater than the sum of its worshiping parts.
Clinton Cherry in his book, Spiritual Life Through Worship, says, “No matter how important the public expression of it, worship must have its private exercise. In fact, public worship implies and depends on private worship. In any case, it is true that there is no public worship without private worship and the people assemble in vain unless the worshipers are individually prepared for the service by private devotion and prayer.”
Individual lives should be lived as lives of worship. Hebrews 13:15 encourages us in this with these words, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.” "Continually" means that in every place and at any time we should offer our worship and be seeking ways to glorify our Lord. "Continually" means releasing our worship in our homes, our work, our leisure, our conversations, our friendships, our entertainment, our thoughts, our struggles, our delights and in our corporate worship experiences.
Authentic Christian worship should be found first in faithful day-to-day lives of praise and work. Deeds of thoughtfulness, kindness and love done to manifest the glory of God are nascent expressions of worship. They are visible displays of a personal worship of God.
Many books, programs, conferences and experts on worship have addressed the area of corporate worship. The traditions, trends and troubles of worship in the local church have been thoroughly examined. The study of worship continues to be exhaustive and exhausting.
But now our people seem to be asking for something more or something different. To me it seems as if they have lost--or are losing--their interest in an examination or experimentation of worship. They want to experience worship for themselves. They want to submerge themselves in the activity of worship. They want to do more than just come to worship—they want to become worshipers. They are sensing that worship is not just something you do (although the work of worship has it place) but rather worship is something you are. They want to be worshipers.
Their longing was voiced centuries ago by one of the church fathers when he wrote, “I no longer want to hear doctrines about you, nor to have my emotions stirred by the people speaking of you. I yearn for your presence” (Saint John of the Cross, 1542-1591).
PREPARING TO TAKE THE LEAD (IN THE DANCE OF WORSHIP)
Someone once said that, “Worship is not a part of the Christian life; it is the Christian life.” As ministers of worship we might paraphrase this maxim to say “Worship planning, preparation and leading is not a part of the job; being a worshiper as I plan, prepare and lead worship is the job.” We should be convinced and convicted to acknowledge and address the need for personal worship in our Christian life and in our leadership. Personal worship is an attitude of the heart that expresses itself in daily living and in leadership. Worship is not something we reserve for certain responsibilities, times, places or events in our ministry, worship is an overflow of a worshipping life.
Pastors Michael Lawrence and Mark Dever in their new book, Perspectives on Christian Worship: Five Views, state, that “according to the Bible, worship is not fundamentally what we do on Sunday mornings when we gather with other Christians. It certainly includes that, but it is much more. Worship is our service to God. It is acting and thinking and speaking as if He really is who He says He is, and we are really who He says we are. Worship is the creature (you and me) serving the Creator (God).”
Our commitment to Christ, however genuine and whole-hearted it may be today, must be renewed tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that until as Louis Cassels has said, “the path comes at last to the river.”
Oswald Chambers has written in My Utmost for His Highest, “the measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private communion we have with him” (January 6).
The hymn writer admonishes us:
”Take time to be holy. The world rushes on.
Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see.”
(Take Time to Be Holy, William D. Longstaff (1882))
Another hymn sings, “May the word of God dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour, so that all may see I triumph only through his power.” Author Luci Shaw adds to this image of God’s word dwelling richly in our hearts and prays: “Make our hearts a field to raise your praise.”
Our desire should be to get to the place Frank Laubach found himself when he whispered, “ Father, what do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?"
During 2009 my Scripture study during my worship time is in the Old Testament. When I came to the judges I became intrigued by the prophetess, Deborah, in Judges 4 and 5. Deborah’s role was to preserve and protect God’s people. As a prophetess she knew God’s voice. As a leader she knew God’s way. As ministers we must come to know God’s voice. As leaders we must understand his ways. Living a life of personal worship allows us to hear his voice and follow his ways.
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
The verb translated “acknowledge” is a word that speaks of actively knowing and experiencing the presence of God: in all your ways exercise or practice the presence of God! Most of us can recall times when God’s presence overwhelmed us at a particular time or place. It may have been during the singing or playing of a hymn or anthem in corporate worship, while on a retreat, driving the car or while walking in a crowd.
Living in the presence of God, however, calls for spiritual exercise and practice. There are principles, disciplines, and steps that must be learned and implemented. In the foreword to the devotional classic by Carmelite monk, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1611-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, we are warned that practicing the presence of God is hard at first, so we need to keep at it until it becomes spontaneous and second nature. Brother Lawrence says that we need to strive for a “holy freedom” with no “constraints” upon ourselves.
One of our first challenges and disciplines in developing a personal worship style of life is to be patient in developing skills in Bible study, prayer and spiritual development. We cannot grasp everything immediately and we need to slow our pace for study and reflection. Michael Casey has written, “in an era of hyper-stimulation it can be difficult for people to realize that enlightenment comes not by increasing the level of excitement but my moving more deeply into calm.” The experience of developing a personal worship lifestyle calls for patience. Developing spirituality is found in silence, quiet and meditation.
There is a difference between “finding time” and “making time” when it comes to establishing a practice of regular private worship. For most of us there is precious little extra time to go around. So we have to accept responsibility for the use of our time and not regard ourselves as puppets or victims of activities or circumstances. This helps to establish a distinction between tasks that are urgent (to be addressed immediately) and those that are important (given the necessary time). The discipline of time in the tasks of prayer, scripture study and spiritual direction is essential in the development of personal worship and spirituality.
DISCIPLINED STEPS IN EXPERIENCING THE DANCE…
THE FOOTING FOR PRIVATE WORSHIP
1, A Regular Time
2 An Appropriate Place
3. A Helpful Routine
4 Reading/Study
- Scripture
- Devotional writers
- Hymns and Songs
5. Prayer
6. Memorization
- Scripture
- Hymns/Songs
- Devotional Thoughts
7. Materials
- Study Bibles
- Devotional Books
- Hymnals
- Song Lyrics
8. Spiritual Exercises
- Lectio Divina
- Centering Prayer
9. Reflection
10. Silence
11. Listening
12. Response
Several possibilities exist to more fully develop our experiences and disciplines in worship. Worship is an ongoing response that is always being revealed. The process of worship is continuous. The journey is never complete. Worship is dynamic. We are always being called to live in the presence of God.
© 2009
Wendell Boertje
Dr. Wendell Boertje is the Minister of Music for Central Baptist Church of Bearden in Knoxville, Tennessee.
