Inside Out Worship

The following is from a book that I have in my library that I can honestly say that I have never read all the way through, but I should; it has wonderful insights into the way we worship and the way that we lead worship. Enjoy. 

"Remembering the Story" by J.D. Walt

We need more songs that narrate the story of God--songs that cause us to remember the great saving acts of God in history. If you look through the Psalms, they are continually lifting up the imagery of Passover and Red Sea, of Sinai adn Promised Land, of Exile and Return. The story of God is itself embedded in their worship. 

We need to find better ways of doing this in our time-- ways of explicitly embedding the story of God in our singing, which serves to make it more alive in our communal memory. Doing this will give rise to Kingdom imagination. For it is only in remembering the mysterious, unconventional and unpredictable ways of God that we imagine them in our time. 

But first and foremost we remember the story not for how it benefits us-- though it does greatly enlarge our souls--but because it glorifies God.