For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt
The early christians historically prayed three times a day and praised seven times a day…
Wow! You would never have a situation where you had to warm up to worship or warm up to prayer, you would be right there, already in the zone!
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”(1 Thess. 5:17)
If we give thanks in all circumstances, then how can we not want to praise God with all our heart soul and mind?
"The fervor with which God’s people have devoted themselves to prayer, historically, can be overwhelming to us in the postmodern age." 1
What a challenge in today’s society where every spare space of time we fill with entertainment, work and communications physically and electronically with others!
We can learn a lot from those christians who have gone before us. In today’s contemporary worship the most memorable times when I have seen corporate prayer & worship excel (uniting, encouraging christians & glorifying God), would have to be: baptisms (often with a worship song chosen by each person between baptisms accompanied with scripture), sending people off for mission, praying for upcoming outreach events (the salvation of others) and praying for God to intervene to help people that have suffered from some disaster (e.g. The recent Melbourne fires that affected so many people in our State). Corporately praising God with loud voice all at the same time is also a powerful contemporary worship expression.
Small Group worship (in church, homes or lunchtimes at work) often allows greater flexibility and freedom in worship expression. Worship sessions can be intermingled with prayer, prophecy, ministry, healing, speaking in tongues & calling on the power of the Holy Spirit.
In early christian history, christians new and understood the commitment to prayer and made time in their schedule to commune with the father.
1 Wilt, Dan. ESSENTIALS IN WORSHIP HISTORY: The Language Of Prayer: Essentials Red, St Stephen’s University, 2009 11-17
Tags: Christianity, course, Dan Wilt, emerging, essentials, institute, leader, online, ssu, study, theology, training, university, Worship
Hey Simon,
We see faiths like the Islamic faith and their regemented prayer times, and ordered lives and we think, wow if only we Christians took our faith as seriously as that, where could we end up in God.
The funny thing is that they probably modelled it on early church traditions and thinkings, that we have somehow forgotten and left behind, which is a thought that had never occurred to me before this week.
We complain about the lack of God’s annointing and power in our lives, and wish for the evidences of God’s outpouring such as we see in some of the other parts of the world, but we don’t really push through to make the changes neccessary to see that happen here.
There is a saying : ‘Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ [1]
We need to make a stand against mediocracy in our Christian lives, and we also need to support each other in that stand. I think we have all proved it to ourselves that trying to stand solo and having no accountability, brings the same results as we had last week, last year.
Now, I am not saying that we don’t experience any growth or any change at all, but I am saying that the pace of growth and change could be accelerated utilizing the tools of the past, the strength of each other, and keeping an eye to the future.
[1] Albert Einstein
By: Michael Craythorn on February 28, 2009
at 9:01 pm