Tozer on Christian Leadership - June 25, 2020

Worship: Nonliturgical Worship Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. —Psalm 96:8-9 We of the nonliturgical churches tend to look with some disdain upon those churches that follow a carefully prescribed form of service, and certainly there must be a good deal in such services that has little or no meaning for the average participant—this not because it is carefully prescribed but because the average participant is what he is. But I have observed that our familiar impromptu service, planned by the leader twenty minutes before, often tends to follow a ragged and tired order almost as standardized as the Mass. The liturgical service is at least beautiful; ours is often ugly. Theirs has been carefully worked out through the centuries to capture as much of beauty as possible and to preserve a spirit of reverence among the worshipers. Ours is often an off-the-cuff makeshift with nothing to recommend it. Its so-called liberty is often not liberty at all but sheer slovenliness.... ...mostly there is neither order nor Spirit, just a routine prayer that is, except for minor variations, the same week after week, and a few songs that were never much to start with and have long ago lost all significance by meaningless repetition. In the majority of our meetings there is scarcely a trace of reverent thought, no recognition of the unity of the body, little sense of the divine Presence, no moment of stillness, no solemnity, no wonder, no holy fear. God Tells the Man Who Cares, 4-5. "Lord, thank You for those worship leaders today who really are working to restore a sense of genuine worship in our nonliturgical churches. Just yesterday I was moved in the church I visited by the time of prayer at the altar in the middle of the service. May we capture that more and more. Amen." Bible Gateway Recommendations Buy Now The Pursuit of God Retail: $9.99 Our Price: $6.99 Save: $3.00 Copyright Information Reprinted from Tozer on Christian Leadership by A.W. Tozer, copyright © 2001 by Zur Ltd. Used by permission of WingSpread Publishers, a division of Zur Ltd. Tozer on Christian Leadership is protected by copyright and may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, translated, transmitted or distributed in any way. Tozer on Christian Leadership was compiled by Ron Eggert.   Subscription Information This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog by Bible Gateway, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA. This email is part of a devotional or newsletter that you signed up for on BibleGateway.com. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact us. *Manage all Bible Gateway subscriptions —  *Opt Out of all Bible Gateway communication *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally Want to buy books by A.W.Tozer on Alibris?