The First Swing At An Iceberg

Wow, it’s my first post to a brand new blog site. I have to admit that trying to figure out where to start is like finding a place to swing your pick at an iceberg. Speaking of which, an iceberg really is a good analogy. It’s similar to worship because most of it is below the surface.

Unfortunately, most of the time an ice pick is all we think to bring with us. And between you, me and this iceberg, that might be all we can carry with our own strength anyway. To get deeper we need some real excavating power (and maybe some scuba gear). When I’m thinking about the unfathomable I often remember what Paul said to the worshipers in Ephesus.

“…And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”

Ephesians 3:17-18

How could Paul believe that it was possible for people to even begin to understand the vast depth of God’s love? Because he believed that his friends in Ephesus were some of God’s holy people. They were supposed to be rooted in God himself and His Spirit. Grace is a power unlike any other. Sadly it is all too often a forgotten one. But rooted to God’s Spirit, I think that we can begin to mine those depths.

Now think about the tools we usually bring to planning worship. Sure, there are practical concerns about seating, lighting, sound and the other basic elements of worship designing and they have their place. For the writers of the New Testament, like Paul, I would say that there is a dependence and a “rooted-ness” to a God of love which is the only way we can reach certain depths in worship. This is also why, when worship seems to “go right” we almost never feel like it was because we did a good job planning.

With this blog I’m going to be paying more attention to that mode of the heart, that mode of discovery and rediscovery of the depths of the love and holiness of God. Shall we take a swing at it?