on the heart of worship....

hahaha, just as I was in the midst of writing my last blog entry, got into an interesting IM (Instant Messaging) conversation with one my my friends*. She was commenting that that she's now attending a church that has "great worship", and how the music and the songs were just fantastic^. When I read that, I was just terribly flabbergasted and amused.

Cos' it brought back to my mind how one of my American missionary colleagues reacted when the same expression was used in a morning devotional last year. He was so totally not amused by that particular expression of "worship", using it as a unique synonym for the songs we sing. I think for him, worship is more of an attitude and a mindset that one brings into the presence of the Lord, rather than just another name or label for the songs that we sing and the music that we play in church.

I told my friend matter of factly what my colleague thought, and she wrote back saying that's kinda narrow-minded of my colleague.  So I decided not to pursue the matter over IM - communications always gets screwed up when you only read the words in front of you and have to interpret the other person's emotions in an IM conversation.

Just for the record, I agree with what my colleague thinks - that the heart of worship lies in what you bring before God, not only with songs and hymns and music, but in everything that we do, regardless of whether we are musically talented or not. So, have you touch the heart of worship lately?

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Heart Of Worship by Australia Hillsongs

when the music fades
all is stripped away
and i simply come
longing just to bring
something that's of worth
that will bless your heart

i bring you more than a song
for a song in itself
is not what you have required
you search much deeper within
through the way things appear
you're looking into my heart

chorus
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
and it's all about you
It's all about you, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing i've made it
when it's all about you
it's all about you, Jesus

King of endless worth
no one could express
how much you deserve
though i'm weak and poor
all i have is yours
every single breath

chorus

Taken from http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/a/australiahillsongs8787/heartofworship298488.html

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Isaiah 58

True Fasting

 1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
       Raise your voice like a trumpet.
       Declare to my people their rebellion
       and to the house of Jacob their sins.

 2 For day after day they seek me out;
       they seem eager to know my ways,
       as if they were a nation that does what is right
       and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
       They ask me for just decisions
       and seem eager for God to come near them.

 3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
       'and you have not seen it?
       Why have we humbled ourselves,
       and you have not noticed?'
       "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
       and exploit all your workers.

 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
       and in striking each other with wicked fists.
       You cannot fast as you do today
       and expect your voice to be heard on high.

 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
       only a day for a man to humble himself?
       Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
       and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
       Is that what you call a fast,
       a day acceptable to the LORD ?

 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
       to loose the chains of injustice
       and untie the cords of the yoke,
       to set the oppressed free
       and break every yoke?

 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
       and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
       when you see the naked, to clothe him,
       and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
       and your healing will quickly appear;
       then your righteousness ^[a] will go before you,
       and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
       you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
       "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.

 11 The LORD will guide you always;
       he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
       and will strengthen your frame.
       You will be like a well-watered garden,
       like a spring whose waters never fail.

 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
       and will raise up the age-old foundations;
       you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
       Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
       and from doing as you please on my holy day,
       if you call the Sabbath a delight
       and the LORD's holy day honorable,
       and if you honor it by not going your own way
       and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

 14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
       and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
       and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
       The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isa%2058&version=31

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* not really "friend" friend, more like "friend's sister whom I never met, but who tried to get get me a job last time..." yes, welcome to the world of technology, where we can communicate and make friends via pulses of light**...

** data stream in cable vis light pulses. You don't know that?

^ Paraphrasing her. Not exact word-for-word.