Everything In Its Place

I remember being made aware of my words when I was a kid. Not just the words that make teachers gasp, but important words, useful words. Words like love, awesome, amazing and beautiful. 

The essence of worship is that when we leave the sacred space of sanctuary or home or wherever we gather for worship as the Church, our language remains the same. If I say "You are amazing God" and then walk out and say "WOW! That car color is amazing" then I've essentially equated God with someone who mixes paint. While that person is talented and, whether they realize it or not, their talent is God-breathed, a car color does not equal the Creator of color and the light and eyes that allow us to see it. 

I remember explaining our service development process to one of my seminary professors. When I told him about our 'Programming' meetings, he stopped me and challenged me to rethink the name of that team. The name sets a precedent, an image of what we were accomplishing. Worship is a prayer, not a program. From seeker to high church, if we call it a church gathering of any kind (Worship, Experience, Service, etc.) it is more than just a series of events tied together to be seen. It is a place of conversation between worshippers and the Father, Son and Spirit. I changed the name to 'Storyboarding'. While I'll admit, its not perfect, it gets a bit more at what we're going for: we're enacting the story of God and our lives entwined through Christ's sacrifice. 

Scripture tells us that God see's us as his children. So I imagine sometimes He sees our exuberance over a taste experience or hears our jubilation over a visual experience and laughs. He gave us the ability to experience His creation in a visceral and exciting way. Our joy is his joy.  But He's also given us incredible minds to discern every word's proper place. Just as we can slander His name through misuse, we can demean our worship by flippantly using words in our day-to-day lives that we use in such awe-filled ways as when we speak of our Father.