So, I’m back! Got the final week of exploring worship to write about, so I’ll start there.
I had a really interesting conversation with a friend about what counts as a song of worship. There are a lot of Christian songs out there, but do they all count as worship songs? My friend made the distinction that some songs are songs of praise about God, some are songs of thankfulness about what God has done for us, but actual songs of worship are songs where the lyrics are directed to God. Worship songs are what we sing from our hearts to God, about who God is. They are songs of adoration.
It’s an interesting way of looking at things when picking songs for worship. It’s possible to get so tied up with knowing which songs are appropriate and which are self-indulgent rather than worshipful. My journey has taught me that in a sense, it doesn’t matter if the attitude of the heart is in the right place. Otherwise we risk it become a religious ritual that doesn’t help.
I’ve found, as always, when I find the time and space to look to God, God always meets me there. There you are, another reason (or maybe the same reason rehashed) why I have hope in God; when I stop in the middle of whatever stresses or problems I am in, turn to God and say “God, I know you are good because that is who you are,” I find a sense of peace I have come to recognise as God’s presence. When I come to a place of not trying to juggle things alone, a weight lifts from my shoulders. And when I don’t find the time to do that, I get overwhelmed and the people around me get a worse version of me. But God never lets me down and always welcomes me back.
Which brings me nicely onto the short break from posting. Some periods in life are busy, and the last month has been exactly that for me. Busy, intense, full-on, trying to keep too many people happy… Keeping hold of the good habits from previous disciplines has been hard without trying a new one! So I’m building back up again – intentional prayer time, making some time in a week to read the bible, planning in some times to fast in order to focus on God, and, of course, some time to worship and how to incorporate that into my day.
The next period is less busy, so I’m hoping to try at least one more discipline – the discipline of solitude.
The Reason for my Hope Blog 