Center For Church Music, Songs & Hymns

Music & Worship

Worship: A New Beginning

2011 is a new year...but we pray that it will be more than just another "new year," a year that is identical to the previous one.

As a group of singers that leads in the music of worship, our goal is to participate in worship that is focused on the Triune God, a God who because of His perfect holiness, demands that His worshipers be holy as well.

Hence, our quest for this year is to pattern our lives after the teachings of God's Word. Psalm 51:10 (a verse we know well) states: Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me."

And this is where worship begins. Someone has said that worship is "the surrender of self to the love and leading of our great God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

Obviously, this is not a passive activity: for surrender is never easy. We have established patterns of thought and action that are very difficult to change. While we all want to live a more Godly life, we often fail in our attempt.

Thankfully, Psalm 51:10 is a model prayer that can help us live a radically different live in 2011. But to make this verse a reality, we must have a reverence and respect for God that makes us do the very hard things involved in surrender.

In His Word, the Lord has given us a pattern for living that can make a huge difference; it can smooth the way for life of true change.

The writer of Proverbs states: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

Hence to fear or reverence God is the best place to start the process of change and surrender. Fearing God entails the following: "The fear of the Lord is a state of mind in which one's own attitudes, will, actions and goals are exchanged for God's."

Perhaps as we understand what it means to truly have a reverential awe for God, we will allow Him to help us make 2011 a very different year.

The life of a Christian is a series of new beginnings. And it can be for the choir as well. It won't be easy -- cliches and hype will never succeed. But, the skill of living a life surrendered to God is possible. May this be our prayer today: Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me."