Transcultural Aspects of Worship
 | Worship Articles
by Ron Man
Pastor of Music and Worship, EXW Contributor
November 30, 2006
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James Torrance has made the searing observation that most evangelical worship is unitarian in practice:
Probably the most common and widespread view is that worship is something which we, religious people, do-mainly in church on Sunday. . . . No doubt we need God's grace to help us do it. . . . But worship is what we do before God. In theological language, this means that the only priesthood is our priesthood, the only offering our offering, the only intercessions our intercessions.
Indeed this view of worship is in practice unitarian, has no doctrine of the mediator or sole priesthood of Christ, is human-centered, has no proper doctrine of the Holy Spirit, is too often non-sacramental, and can engender weariness. We sit in the pew watching the minister "doing his thing," exhorting us "to do our thing," until we go home thinking we have done our duty for another week! This kind of do-it-yourself-with-the-help-of-the-minister worship is what. . . the ancient church would have called Arian or Pelagian. . . It is not trinitarian. . . .
The second view of worship is that it is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son's communion with the Father. It means participating in union with Christ, in what He has done for us once and for all, in his self-offering to the Father, in His life and death on the cross. . . . There is only one true Priest through whom and with whom we draw near to God our Father. There is only one Mediator between God and humanity. There is only one offering which is truly acceptable to God, and it is not ours. It is the offering by which He has sanctified for all time those who come to God by Him (Heb. 2:11; 10:10,14).
There is only one way to come to the Father, namely through Christ in the communion of the Spirit, in the communion of saints, whatever outward form our worship may take. . . . The living Christ is in our midst, leading our worship, our prayers and our praises. (James Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, InterVarsity Press, 1996, p. 20)
In Hebrews 2:12 we find a brilliant summary of the role of Jesus Christ in leading our worship. According to the inspired writer, Christ is speaking to His Father (with the prophetic words of Psalm 22:22). And He says: Father, “I will proclaim Your name to my brethren” That is, the living, glorified Son undertakes as High Priest and Mediator to reveal and teach the truth about God and His greatness to those who are His brethren (cf. Heb. 2:11). And that gives an incredible significance to the ministry of preaching in the church, and to indeed to all the ways which the truth of the Word is declared and taught to the people-because the one doing the teaching is in a very real way representing Christ whose ministry it is to mediate the truth about the Father to His people. The ministry of the Word is Christ’s ministry to His people.
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.