Worship Weblog
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
REC 8
Yesterday morning in a workshop, Emily Brink explored with the delegates the topic of Worship and Culture. One of the delegates commented, “Our worship cross-culturally is not authentic if we do not engage in relationships with
other cultures. For instance, a member of an ethnic minority might find it offensive to hear an ethnic majority church singing a song from their culture if that church is making no efforts to establish relationships with the minority group.” This comment reminds me of Amos 5 where God himself finds worship offensive in a community that neglects justice: “Take away from me the noise of your songs. To the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” This is a constant reminder that our lives need to be consistent with our worship. Perhaps we could think of our global songs of worship as a prophetic voice calling our churches to the challenging but truly enriching ministry of reconciliation!
-Paul Ryan