Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Jesus-led Worship

Once a month my church has a prayer and healing gathering we call "Remedy Worship." Last week had a small crowd (they are usually pretty small and intimate), and it was one of the most refreshing worship experiences I've been a part of in awhile. These gatherings are always very peaceful and flow pretty freely. Been reading a book lately called Pagan Christianity? by George Barna and Frank Viola. Here's a link to it on Amazon. Pretty tough book to read because it challenges so much of what we "know" as Christians and the Church - especially church practices. Anyway, the authors advocate what I would basically call Jesus-led worship where all in attendance at the meeting/gathering participate and minister. This, they say, is the first century model for worship. It's not something new to me, but I have been drawn to more of this in worship at my church. We try to be participatory, but this is even more radical. So at our Remedy gathering, I took a back seat and simply led the community in a time of worship through music (led by a couple), and then we discussed Galatians 6:2 for a few moments - focusing on bearing each other's burdens. Then I asked if anyone had a burden to share. Someone immediately spoke up. After they shared, I asked if anyone had words to share with them .. and someone immediately spoke up and shared what to me seemed like very God-inspired words. Then many of us gathered around the person and someone else prayed over them (I put the sign of the cross on their forehead with oil). This went on for several more people, we sang some more, prayed some more, etc. After about an hour or so it ended. Gotta say - it truly felt like Jesus led the worship. Quite an experience.

1 comment:

joy said...

God is in that place John. I think I would be very sad if Quest moved to another building. I know a structure doesn't determine whether God will be present, but I feel Him every time I walk in the door.