Sam Hamstra

Leon, thanks for the reminder that the Psalms are the best of the formed prayers.  Your comments harmonize with today's reading in the One Year Bible - Psalm 36.  Verses 5-7 offer a great prayer of praise. 

Grace and peace to you,

Sam

Surely.  Thanks for the opportunity clarify.  If all of life is worship, then everything we do is worship.  Hence, worship becomes indistinguishable from every other action; worship gets lost in our actions.  It is no longer an identifiable action. Does that help?    

John,  your suppositions seem right on to me.  As for your last two questions - the answers to those are above my pay grade! :)

Good to "hear" from you, Joyce.  You caught me. I prefer a narrow definition of worship. The primary reason is that I have not find adequate answers to the questions stated in my blog. As a result, I am not sure that scripture supports the more commonplace and broad view of worship. 

Your questions regarding lament and confession lead us down a different road.  Suffice to say at this time, I think it may be advantageous to take a broad view of the Sunday service or liturgy by suggesting that it includes more than worship. Perhaps it is helpful to affirm that the Sunday service includes many types of prayers, including, but not limited to praise, lament, confession.  As you will readily discern, such an approach was normative in our circles before the 1970s. I wonder if it may be helpful to revisit it?

So - a narrow view of worship and a broad view of the Sunday service!  Thanks for helping me clarify that! 

Peace!!!

I like your last question. I wonder if the story I cite of Mary and Martha suggests a difference between service and worship with both understood as sacred.   

Leon,   

Thanks for the report on Bethel and for the question. I would need to research the schools at a deeper level to get a handle on both their doctrinal statements and their worldviews. My hunch is that the church based ones lean towards the Pentecostal-Charismatic wing of American Evangelicalism. The 10,000 Fathers Worship School,however, resonates with both my Reformed soteriology and my worldview. One example is its founder's song "Sovereign Over Us" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPkMbhydU9   

But if you know of other schools, please let me know.  

Peace!

Thanks for the positive feedback, gentlemen.    Allen Ross book is a gem.  It is a good resource for a sermon or teaching series on worship as he looks at the worship of God's people at various times in their biblical history.

Lambert, thank you for the details regarding your practice of sharing space with another Christian congregation.  I hope and pray the relationship continues to be blessed.  

Even sharing the copier?  Wow! 

My question relates to our understanding of kingdom, stewardship and space.  I simply wonder if Christ affirms of one congregation renting space to another. My concern is that instead of wrestling with that issue we begin with the assumption that the landlord-tenant relationship is the way to go unless we can be shown otherwise.  I would love it if we began with the assumption that we share space as partners in ministry. Then see what comes out of such a conversation.

As far as multiple congregations in the same area, I am sure you would agree that it is not always possible for every for every Christian in one geographic area to worship in one space at one time.  We would have too many people speaking too many different languages.  We will have to wait for heaven to enjoy that privilege.

Still, I grant that in some settings the possibility for organizational unity exists but is not pursued - and that practice should be challenged. 

August, thanks for your comment.

I agree with you that "a Christian Reformed Church Building is just that - a building which needs resources for the upkeep. Since the local congregation is in charge of the building they can set rules - who to share the building with and how much to charge." I agree that congregations are under no obligation to do otherwise except, I would add, the obligation by which all Christian congregations live: to love God and neighbor as they have been loved. I agree that there are no arbitrary rules by which a church must act except, I would add, the commandment to love God and neighbor as guided by the Word and Spirit.

I regret that you received the impression that I was suggesting a mandate to guide all congregations renting space to other congregations. The relationship between two congregations which prompted my first post was not meant to provide an example of a relationship guided by rules. Rather, just the opposite. It was provided as an alternative to the typical rule-guided relationships between congregations which own property and those to whom they rent their property.