The Sunday Sample, Episode 119: "How worship helps develop the heart of Christ in us"

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17–18 NIV11)

“Paul had just been writing about Moses, pointing out how, after he had been up the mountain and seen God face-to-face, he had to cover his face with a veil as it shone so much. Paul tells of how, after that, the radiance that was covered by the vail began to fade away. You can imagine that, for Moses, simply being in God’s presence was enough for him to come away from the meeting with something of God stuck on him. How much more, then, should we expect to be transformed by the time we spend with the Lord?”  Page 51

“When looking in a mirror, we both reflect and contemplate what we see before us: we perform the passive act of looking, as well being involved in the physical act of providing the mirror with an image to reflect. The original carries the idea that as we look at the Lord we will both understand more of him, and take on more of his qualities.” Page 52

1. Check that the songs you select tell us something valuable about Jesus (and God, Father, Spirit). Not every song has to be explicitly about Jesus and the heart of God, but at least some should. Here we might be talking about a song like, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty”. Sung too fast it becomes simply a song with a lot of words. Sung at a reasonably sedate pace it becomes a meditative, faith-deepening song of reflection.
2. Teach the congregation to value the words of the songs - not simply as expressions of truth, but also as ways to reflect on the heart of God.  Remind the congregation that just as life and doctrine need to be blended (1 Timothy 4:16), so stated truth and reflection need to be blended in worship.
3. Sprinkle your congregational singing set with songs that are more conducive to reflection. Not every song needs to have this quality, but perhaps at least one or two in a set should. Now, by reflection I don’t mean that the songs have to be slow, but more that the style is one that aids reflection. For example, some members enjoy the repetitive songs, others quite frankly loathe them! That’s OK, we’ve all got our preferences. However, some of the more repetitive songs with limited lyrics might provide an opportunity for reflecting on an aspect of the character of God. Let’s make sure we’ve got some of them in our services.  Here I’m thinking of, for example, “Let your living water”.