Christian worship, by and large, is a great sail ship which we men have been steering in the wrong direction. The ship must be turned around, but there is only One strong and wise enough to lead us. The Father is the Navigator, Christ is the Captain at the helm, the Holy Spirit is the Wind in the sails, and we are presented with a choice. We can either jump-ship or row-ship (worship).
Coincidentally, as I was browsing Google Images for a ship, I happened upon an essay, "The Under Rowers," by physicist-turned-Bible-teacher Lambert Dolphin. In it he remarks on Luke's use of the Greek word huperetes, ministers, to open his Gospel. Here is an excerpt:
Huperetes (from hupo, under, and eretes, a rower) came to mean any subordinate acting under another's direction. But the literal meaning of the word is quite instructive. I could not help but feel that a whole new generation of Christians needs to be fully informed of our calling to be under rowers in the service of our Captain Jesus.
We urge you to join us as together we let go of the wheel and head down below the deck and take up our oars.
3 comments
Comment by Anonymous on July 2, 2007 at 12:09 PM
i'm curious to see the start of the investigation of the right/wrong directions of worship. i'll be reading.
j-steg
Comment by G.L.Dobbins on April 21, 2011 at 9:49 AM
Same here.
While the stated intent is, I agree, the right one, I can't help but ask the corollary in order to help me better discern the reform objective. That is, what is it about where worship is headed (the first line, home page) that makes it wrong. That premise is asserted, but I couldn't find where it's fleshed out.
I'm not disagreeing with your thesis, nor being argumentative, only seeking to better "know thy enemy" (errant worship practices) so that I may be more accurate when I try to help combat them.
To that end, what's "wrong" with the worship that has made it in need of reform?
Comment by Ryan on April 27, 2011 at 1:56 PM
Gary, that's really the purpose of the blog: to identify "wrong" practices and to call the (contemporary) church to reform. Hopefully, we've been doing this for the past five years. BTW, this post was written nearly five years ago. I certainly could have used different words, made the call more inviting, etc. A lot can change in five years. You know.
Thanks for joining us and sharing your thoughts.