Skip to main content

Why We Worship -Emma Kate Patterson

     At what point does worship become more for entertainment than for the glory of God? I think this is a question we must ask as Christians in the church. I believe in todays society army people lose the meaning of worship. Often times people get caught up in the melodies and catchy tunes of worship and forget that worship was designed to worship and praise and glorify God. It is important to remember what the words are and connect to the words more than to the tune. Augustine states, ".......it is not the singing that moves me but the meaning of the words when they are sung in a clear voice to the most appropriate tune,......." It is important that we remember what we are singing about and who we are singing for.

    I believe it is important for us to find a balance in worshiping. It is ok for the tune to be catchy but we must be able to strip the song down to its words and be moved by the words. It is important that we be moved more by the words we are singing than by the tune we are singing them to. It is the words we sing that are important. We must remember the meaning and why we worship. I think worship is essential because worship is the way that many people are moved. Although it is essential we must find a balance where we can both enjoy the worship but not get so lost in the tune that we forget the reason we worship, to praise God.


I commented on Haylee Lynd's and Lily Caswell's.

Comments

  1. Sheesh, how many times have I listened to a song in worship merely for the musicality of it? I'd be afraid to see the number. As a musician I must admit, I catch myself focusing on hitting that one high note perfectly in a song, not even hearing what I'm singing. It's easy to get caught up in the music, but you're right, it's important that we remember what it is we're singing and who it is we're singing to. If we don't center ourselves on God as we worship than our hearts can easily drift from the meaning of the song.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...