This month we are exploring the spiritual practice of worship.
At its simplest, “Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father…It is kindled within us only when the Spirit of God touches our human spirit.”1 An encounter with God demands worship; it is the response. We see this throughout the Bible. Abram offered sacrifices, Jacob set up a memorial stone, Moses removed his shoes, David danced before the Lord with all his might, Daniel continued praying even when his life was at stake, Mary burst into a spontaneous song of praise, Anna gave thanks, and the list could continue. Encountering God moves us to worship.
But so often we limit worship to an event that we attend once a week or something that happens at special events like retreats. Or we think of worship as something we only do in community with other believers. However, worshiping together on Sundays is only one aspect of worship. When we gather on Sundays to worship God together, our experience is directly impacted by our worship throughout the rest of the week. In other words, our scattered worship, how we encounter and worship God on a daily basis, directly impacts our gathered worship, our encounter and worship of God together as a community.
Like prayer, worship is something that should undergird our every day moments because worship is our response to an encounter with God who is with us always. So if our worship on Sundays feels dry or uninspiring, we should take a close look at what we are doing during the rest of the week. We need to ask ourselves, “How am I spending time in communion with God on the other days?” and “How aware am I of God’s presence with me on a moment by moment basis?” or “How am I worshiping God Monday through Saturday?”
Often we think of music when we think of worship and rightfully so. Singing holds a prominent position in worshiping God. But our scattered worship of God is as unique as each individual person. We can write, paint, draw, sing, play an instrument, run, garden, hike, bake, play a sport etc. all with the intention of worshiping God and bringing glory to his name. What unites each expression of worship is that it is about God and not about us. I am cultivating a garden full of beauty to bring glory to the Creator of all plants. Or I am baking something delicious to glorify the One who alone can satisfy our hunger. But living with this kind of intentionality, with hearts perpetually bowed in worship takes discipline and practice. It requires careful cultivation of our time so that we can slow down and take time to dwell in God’s presence. For if we are not encountering God, then we are not going to be moved to worship.
So this month we are beginning here, intentionally setting aside time to encounter God and worship him through a familiar form of worship- music.
The Practice: Scattered Worship through Music
This month we are going to intentionally practice scattered worship, the worship that happens outside of our weekly gatherings as we encounter God in our daily lives through music. Each week this month we will set aside 30 minutes to be still, dwell in God’s presence, and worship him through listening to music. We are going to listen to Jess Ray’s four MATIN albums-Rest, Love, Turn, and Home- for this practice. Each album is “an uninterrupted, thirty-minute set of quiet songs and hymns, performed from first light until sunrise” and has an accompanying music video of the whole set.2 A mixture of familiar hymns and original songs, these albums are a particularly peaceful, restful, and worshipful way to begin your day (though they are lovely anytime of the day). As you listen, breathe deeply, be still, and let the music wash over you drawing you into communion with God, your heart bowed in worship. You can find these albums wherever you listen to music, and the videos are available on YouTube: @jessraymusic or see the links below.
May our hearts be bowed in worship of our Creator God as we encounter him this month.
Week 1: September 1-6 MATIN: Rest
Week 2: September 7-13 MATIN: Love
Week 3: September 14-20 MATIN: Turn
Week 4: September 21-27 MATIN: Home
- Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998, 158. ↩︎
- As described by Jess Ray on each album’s YouTube page- https://youtu.be/cbBw4sIsUBI?si=PYBVl8gSarMXVi-F ↩︎
