When Worship Forms & Frees
Doxology. The word gets thrown around a lot on Sunday's. We hear and sing it, but what is it exactly? In the simplest sense, doxology means to ascribe praise to something or to glorify something.
This tells us that doxology or worship has one subject and object–namely, God. No argument there, right? But if God is the supreme subject and object of worship, if he is the one to whom we ascribe praise and glory (doxology), then why do so many suffer from doxological disillusion? There are many reasons, but I will place them all under the umbrella of doxological reductionism.
What is doxological reductionism, you ask? It's when the liturgy or worship gets reduced to me–my feelings, my desires, my wants, my needs, and my preferences. We are active participants in worship, but it's not about us. Worship should not be preoccupied by my need for primacy and significance. No. Worship is attending to the presence of God by reflecting on what he has achieved for us in Christ. Let me bring this full circle with a quote from C.S. Lewis’ Reflections on the Psalms:
The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses [Romeo praising Juliet and vice versa], readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars… I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?”
I can sum up what Lewis said in one simple phrase: we glorify what gives us the utmost gladness. That’s essentially what he’s saying. And this tells me that worship is about God–it’s about being alive and attentive to God in humble and grateful adoration. You see, when worship is focused on me, it gets reduced to me.
We matter, but when it comes to worship, we are not the main thing. Worship should remind us that God is unabashedly God-centered, and this is the best thing God could be for us because to love us God must give us what is best for us and what is best for us is God. We are Sunday morning people, but we live in a world of Monday through Saturday’s. This means we need a steady diet of spiritual rhythms. Why? Because spiritual rhythms coupled with Sunday mornings makes for a holistic or embodied spirituality. I like to call these spiritual rhythms living liturgies.
Because doxological disillusion and doxological reductionism exist, we need doxological retrieval. In other words, we need to retrieve or recover what doxology looks like in practice–what a doxological life, a worshipful life looks like. And I think a worshipful life looks like a liturgical life.
But what's a liturgy? Unfortunately, liturgy has come to mean “order of service,” but that’s not what it actually means. Liturgy means “work of the people.” Liturgy, then, is what we do together in corporate worship and individually in daily life. What this tells us is that liturgy is a set of corporate and individual patterns of devotion, worship, and fellowship. The purpose of liturgy is to unite Christians to the essential work of the people which is the worship of God.
And what liturgy does is provide us with an ordered participation, both corporately and individually. Because we have reduced liturgy to an order of service, we have forgotten that a living and active liturgy reminds us that we are a sacred people gathered for a sacred moment for a sacred purpose.
We can't let liturgy, worship, or doxology get reduced corporately nor can we let it get reduced individually. The Lord's Day is not simply fuel for the moment, but for the whole week until God gathers and summons us for worship again. What happens Sunday morning should form us–liturgy should form us. It does so by taking us into a gospel dialogue.
What do I mean? Our liturgy should have elements of adoration, confession, assurance, and mission. In every Lord’s Day gathering, there should be a gospel dialogue happening in the liturgy. For example: Call to worship (God speaks to us), adoration/praise (we speak to God), confession (we speak to God), assurance of pardon (God speaks to us), offering (we speak to God), sermon (God speaks to us), Lord’s Supper (God speaks to us), and benediction (God sends us).
And this should spill out into our spiritual rhythms. For example, liturgy is formative in that it changes the way we engage the scriptures. Too often we look to scripture for information instead of formation. Scripture is not something we simply hold, it’s something we’re held by. Yes, it informs us, but more than that, it forms us. Scripture is certainly concerned with us knowing more, but it is also concerned with us becoming more.
Liturgy allows a spiritual rhythm like scripture reading to form us passively as we engage with them actively. But how does liturgy free us? Liturgy frees by taking the focus off of us and directing it to God. Daily we encounter what I call competing liturgies, these are things that clamor for our attention.
What I have seen over the years as I have thought about living a liturgical life, is competing liturgies lead to idolatry. And in case you haven’t noticed yet, idols make terrible saviors. They promise plenty, but never deliver. By taking the focus off of us, liturgy reminds us that God sets the terms and conditions for how he is to be engaged, served, and worshiped.
Liturgy also frees us for mission. Remember, the benediction that is pronounced over us at the end of every service is a commission. It’s a sending out into the world with the gospel in our hearts and on our lips. We take mission as something the church does apart from liturgy, forgetting that mission begins in liturgical worship.
So, we need a renewed resolve to let liturgy, worship, and doxology form and free us.
This tells us that doxology or worship has one subject and object–namely, God. No argument there, right? But if God is the supreme subject and object of worship, if he is the one to whom we ascribe praise and glory (doxology), then why do so many suffer from doxological disillusion? There are many reasons, but I will place them all under the umbrella of doxological reductionism.
What is doxological reductionism, you ask? It's when the liturgy or worship gets reduced to me–my feelings, my desires, my wants, my needs, and my preferences. We are active participants in worship, but it's not about us. Worship should not be preoccupied by my need for primacy and significance. No. Worship is attending to the presence of God by reflecting on what he has achieved for us in Christ. Let me bring this full circle with a quote from C.S. Lewis’ Reflections on the Psalms:
The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses [Romeo praising Juliet and vice versa], readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars… I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?”
I can sum up what Lewis said in one simple phrase: we glorify what gives us the utmost gladness. That’s essentially what he’s saying. And this tells me that worship is about God–it’s about being alive and attentive to God in humble and grateful adoration. You see, when worship is focused on me, it gets reduced to me.
We matter, but when it comes to worship, we are not the main thing. Worship should remind us that God is unabashedly God-centered, and this is the best thing God could be for us because to love us God must give us what is best for us and what is best for us is God. We are Sunday morning people, but we live in a world of Monday through Saturday’s. This means we need a steady diet of spiritual rhythms. Why? Because spiritual rhythms coupled with Sunday mornings makes for a holistic or embodied spirituality. I like to call these spiritual rhythms living liturgies.
Because doxological disillusion and doxological reductionism exist, we need doxological retrieval. In other words, we need to retrieve or recover what doxology looks like in practice–what a doxological life, a worshipful life looks like. And I think a worshipful life looks like a liturgical life.
But what's a liturgy? Unfortunately, liturgy has come to mean “order of service,” but that’s not what it actually means. Liturgy means “work of the people.” Liturgy, then, is what we do together in corporate worship and individually in daily life. What this tells us is that liturgy is a set of corporate and individual patterns of devotion, worship, and fellowship. The purpose of liturgy is to unite Christians to the essential work of the people which is the worship of God.
And what liturgy does is provide us with an ordered participation, both corporately and individually. Because we have reduced liturgy to an order of service, we have forgotten that a living and active liturgy reminds us that we are a sacred people gathered for a sacred moment for a sacred purpose.
We can't let liturgy, worship, or doxology get reduced corporately nor can we let it get reduced individually. The Lord's Day is not simply fuel for the moment, but for the whole week until God gathers and summons us for worship again. What happens Sunday morning should form us–liturgy should form us. It does so by taking us into a gospel dialogue.
What do I mean? Our liturgy should have elements of adoration, confession, assurance, and mission. In every Lord’s Day gathering, there should be a gospel dialogue happening in the liturgy. For example: Call to worship (God speaks to us), adoration/praise (we speak to God), confession (we speak to God), assurance of pardon (God speaks to us), offering (we speak to God), sermon (God speaks to us), Lord’s Supper (God speaks to us), and benediction (God sends us).
And this should spill out into our spiritual rhythms. For example, liturgy is formative in that it changes the way we engage the scriptures. Too often we look to scripture for information instead of formation. Scripture is not something we simply hold, it’s something we’re held by. Yes, it informs us, but more than that, it forms us. Scripture is certainly concerned with us knowing more, but it is also concerned with us becoming more.
Liturgy allows a spiritual rhythm like scripture reading to form us passively as we engage with them actively. But how does liturgy free us? Liturgy frees by taking the focus off of us and directing it to God. Daily we encounter what I call competing liturgies, these are things that clamor for our attention.
What I have seen over the years as I have thought about living a liturgical life, is competing liturgies lead to idolatry. And in case you haven’t noticed yet, idols make terrible saviors. They promise plenty, but never deliver. By taking the focus off of us, liturgy reminds us that God sets the terms and conditions for how he is to be engaged, served, and worshiped.
Liturgy also frees us for mission. Remember, the benediction that is pronounced over us at the end of every service is a commission. It’s a sending out into the world with the gospel in our hearts and on our lips. We take mission as something the church does apart from liturgy, forgetting that mission begins in liturgical worship.
So, we need a renewed resolve to let liturgy, worship, and doxology form and free us.
Rev. Mike Hernandez serves as the senior pastor of Crossroads Presbyterian Church. He is a graduate of Trinity International University (B.A.), Knox Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) at Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando.
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