Worship in the New Heavens and Earth

As I was walking the dog one particularly beautiful afternoon some weeks ago, the sun and breeze startled me from my screen-induced stupor and called my attention upward. A band of cirrus clouds slowly passed overhead as if to shout, “Hey! Look up here! What have you been so busy with indoors?” The nearby Ficus branches roared in the wind and reminded me of Isaiah’s words: “the trees of the field will clap their hands [in praise].” Foraging birds and squirrels froze at first sight of my four-legged best friend and then, all at once, scattered for shelter.  The wonder […]

-Read More


Multisensory Worship

Psalm 121 A Song of Ascents I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.   This psalm has been the source […]

-Read More


Sing to God… to One Another

I had hardly finished speaking the words of benediction one Sunday morning before a man from the congregation appeared on stage to ask me why so many of the songs we sing in church use plural pronouns like “we” and “our.” Referencing a chorus we sing often, “It’s your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise,” he said that the words “we” and “our” felt cold and impersonal, disconnected from “my” relationship with God as an individual. “Why not change the words to ‘my lungs’ and ‘my praise?’” he suggested. “The worship,” by which he meant the […]

-Read More