Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the ACNA

Below is the third of four sequential articles by Dr. Jessica H. Jones, former Worship Director at Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville. There will be one additional article next weeks that will complete the Right-Side-Up Worship series. The first two articles can be found by clicking here.

Right-Side-Up Worship

Participatory Worship, Purposeful Worship, Praise in Worship, Persevering Worship

By Dr. Jessica H. Jones

Praise in Worship

Why do you, personally, come to worship? In a moment of full disclosure, let's be honest...is it out of obligation? Is it to see your church friends? Is it to be inspired? Too often, worship is equated with church or even community. The church as a physical location is not the only place where we worship (as we Anglicans know personally), and the community is the group of fellow believers with whom we gather, not some religious club or quorum we must reach in order to worship. Worship itself is so much more than where or with whom. Worship is a purposeful response to our covenantal God. It is a result of a relationship: the most important relationship you and I have.

Have you ever heard someone say, "I just didn't get fed today at church," or perhaps, "I didn't get anything out of that (fill in the blank: sermon, song, etc.)"? Statements like that allow us to be the consumer, the audience, the taker. Worship is meant to be something we bring, something we perform, something that allows us to participate in a purposeful response to our God.

Imagine your best friend, "Tim," is having a birthday. You want to celebrate with Tim. You want to honor him, and show him how much you love him and how much his presence has meant to you in your life. So you call your close mutual friends and set a predetermined date and time and you all gather to celebrate Tim together. You tell stories of how Tim has blessed your lives, you laugh and cry over your journeys together, you each are given the opportunity to express your love and appreciation for Tim, and you learn even more about him. You then sing to him and offer him gifts, gifts you had to sacrifice something for yourself in order to purchase. You leave reflecting on how Tim has changed your life.

At any point during this party, you don't hear a guest saying how disappointed they were because they didn't have their favorite food, or because they didn't get a goody bag (ok, this might happen if they are under age 12). The guests don't sit in a corner discussing stories about Tim without actually speaking to Tim. Adults recognize that the celebration was about Tim, for Tim, in Tim's honor, and it was all a result of a relationship with Tim.

The same should be true of worship. We love God so much that we set a predetermined time to gather together to share stories, to learn, to laugh and cry over our journeys together, and we are given the opportunity to express our love and appreciation for God through music, prayers, liturgy, learning and sharing. We sing to him to honor him and we bring presents (time, talent or treasure) that required personal sacrifice for him.

Saying we "weren't fed" is the equivalent of going to a birthday party and expecting to be served first and only our favorite foods, or to be given a present for coming to someone else's birthday. Perhaps it just isn't about us. Or perhaps it shouldn't be.

Worship like this, "right-side-up worship,"[1] is built on a relationship birthed in gratefulness. Our services begin by setting that up for us! It is the reason we begin each service with praise, recognizing who God is and revealing what he has done.

The earliest accounts of Israelite worship include a detailed explanation of the tabernacle and the surrounding camp. God placed the tribe of Judah at the east entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The name Judah is described in Genesis 29 and 49 as meaning praise, coming from the root word, יָדָה (yadah).

[2] The Lord told Moses and Aaron that Judah was to set out "first."[1] Two additional times Judah is sent first, which seems to solidify the place of prominence the "tribe of praise" receives.[2]

In addition, the placement at the East gate holds significance. The Garden of Eden was in the East, there are multiple Scriptures describing the East wind as having supernatural powers, Isaiah says to give glory to God in the East and Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord stopping above the East mountain as well as coming from the East.[3]

It seems that the East could be representative of the Lord's presence, and Judah, being placed at the eastern entrance, would be the closest tribe to the Lord's presence in the tabernacle. It might be seen as if God, who cares deeply about worship, is reinforcing the fact that praise goes first, praise leads us out in relationship with him, praise is the closest we can get to God himself. The Israelites could not have physically entered the Tent of Meeting without going through praise.[4]

This is not meant to paint a picture of a demanding God who needs to be worshiped. On the contrary, it is revealing how the displacement of our love of self by love of our Abba results in the most beautiful, grateful intimacy we can imagine. In Anglican liturgy, therefore, it is important to begin the service by praising God and recounting how he has revealed himself to his people.

If coming in on Sunday morning, rushed and harried, you find it difficult to jump right in to praise, try keeping a journal of thanksgiving and using it to recall the ways God has been faithful to you personally. It helps put worship right side up and enables us to celebrate at a party given in God's honor among treasured friends who share in the most important relationship ever known.

[1]Harold Best, Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 122.

[2]Gen 29:35, 49:8-12.

[3]Num 2:1-3, 9.

[4]Judges 1:1-2, Judges 20:18.

[5]Gen 2:8, Gen 41, Exod 10, Exod 14, Isa 24:15, Ezek 11:23, Ezek 43:2-4.

[6]This observation is not meant to imply that all scriptural occurrences of East imply God's presence, nor is it meant to imply that Judah was placed first solely because it meant praise. It is simply an observation of the connection with regard to worship.

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Jessica Jones is an Adjunct Professor of Worship as well as a former worship director and music educator. She received her Doctorate in Worship Studies from the Institute for Worship Studies in Orange Park, FL. Dr. Jones resides in Jacksonville, FL with her family and can be reached at: drjessicahjones@gmail.com. "Right-Side-Up Worship" articles can be found online for future reference at: http://www.gulfatlanticdiocese.org/communique.