Worship is to come from our lives, not just in song. We know Rom 12:1-2 tells us this. Or it reminds us that the presenting of our bodies as living sacrifices is our logikēn latreian (‘reasonable service’). This word latreian is regularly translated as ‘worship’ because it’s related to the role of the priests in the temple. They served and worshipped God in all they did.

But a new temple has now been formed in Jesus Christ, one being made of living stones, and we are called to offer our reasonable service-worship through the sacrifice of ourselves.

Of course, I believe the fuller concept gets lost a bit in the individualized proclamation of this passage. Instead, what we have here is a proclamation to the community of God’s people in Rome that they might together offer their lives as a sacrifice, which was their reasonable service-worship together.

And we must not forget that one of the great ways to keep the community on the path of being living sacrifices together is through the gathered worship, in all its various formats. It’s not only in this form – but if we remember the collective focus of scripture, then we’ll want to gather together to express our worship-service to God.

And so, this past weekend, our church community gathered together to sing and dance, kneel and pray, offer artistic expressions and read scripture, share communion and word, and much more. Here is a short video summary of that time. Continue reading →