For The institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.

One of the main things that hit me in our studies this week was the balance that we need to have of our place in the universe.  On the one hand, man is limited and tiny compared with our infinite God.  And after the fall, of course, we all have sin marring our record.  On the other hand, humankind is the crown of God’s creation, the creature that even at it’s worst still is an image bearer of God.  We can’t help but show the same attributes as humans that God has.  Just as God rules as King, humans hunger for power and that isn’t always a bad thing.  We make tools, we overcome, we are in charge.  We can’t help it.  Just as God is Creative, so are we.  We aren’t nearly as proficient as He is, but even the most evil cult can’t help but write songs and do art.  Just as God isrelational, we are relational.  Even at our worst, when we try to ruin relationships over and over again, it is still about relationships.  We can’t get away from it.  We have a need to be a part of a community, even if it’s as the antagonist.  I suppose on the last one, maybe not everyone tries to Save the way that God does, but if you look at all the stories of pagan Hollywood, they can’t seem to help but tell and retell the redemption story over and over and over again.  It is written into our core.  We can’t help but be image bearers.  We can be distorted, twisted image bearers. Or we can ask for his restoration, his redemption, his resurrection, his recreation to start in us now so we become worthy image bearers, accurately reflecting our Creator’s character.

Lord, grant us mercy to reflect your nature well to a world that so desperately needs to know the real YOU.

Amen

For The institute of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.

4 Essential Attributes of God

God is Creator.  Genesis 1 starts with that very description. God makes things. He is inventive, passionate and a God of action.  All of creation shouts out it’s testimony to God’s creativity.

God is Master.  Again, in this first chapter of Genesis we see that God makes man in his image and tells him to therefore rule over all of creation.  God is in charge, he is the all powerful King of Kings.

God is Love.  Once again, we get hints of this in Genesis 1: Let us make man in OUR image.  And the one thing that is pronounced “not good”, is for man to be alone.  So fixes it immediately and gives us not just a man, but a woman too.  Inside the Godhead is an eternal exchanging of sacrificial love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God is Savior.  The ultimate act of love… to choose to lay down your life for your enemies.  This is what Jesus shows us about the nature of our wonderful heavenly Father.  God rescues!  Yeshua. O mystery of mysteries!

We had a great time at rehearsal this past week, just spending time considering God’s nature as KIng.  We all got down on our knees and on our faces in submission before Him.  It is so healthy for the soul to be able to have a chance to outwardly express this attitude that should always be in our hearts.  If you’ve never tried it, you should.  Get down on your face before him, and notice what effect it has on you.

Keep up the great work!

-jason