• Learn to offer a sacrifice of worship. Many times we don't "feel" like worshiping. Maybe we have had so many disappointing experiences in the past where the sense of God's power is so low that we think it is hardly worth the time. People are not adequately prepared, and it is very, very discouraging. But we need to go anyway. We need to offer a sacrifice of worship. We need to be with the people of God and say, "These are my people. As stiffnecked and hardhearted and sinful as they may be, I stand with them and together we come to God." The Bible tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and it does that because we are the Body of Christ together.
—Richard J. Foster

GROWING TOGETHER

With a theme like Renewal Through Worship, there are books galore. But I want to narrow the field down for you and at the same time give you a solid foundation upon which to think about worship, and to enter into a deeper, richer, fuller worship experience. Here are six resources:

• A Brief History of Christian Worship by James F. White. White is the undisputed authority in Christian liturgical history with fifteen books in the field. This book is a jewel in its brevity and sweep of history from the early Christian centuries through the Middle Ages and the Reformation up to the present. It even has a brief statement on "Worship in the Churches of the Future."

• Prayer and Worship by Douglas V. Steere. This tender little book is a wonderful antidote for what Steere calls "the pressure and temporarily satisfying narcotic of intense

busyness." Indeed, the book is worth those startling sentences that seem to jump out of the text, e.g. "In the school of adoration the soul learns why the approach to every other goal had left it restless."

• Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down by Marva J. Dawn.This is the most substantive of the new books which is trying to guide us through our "worship war" over "traditional" versus "contemporary" expressions of worship. Dawn takes both theology and culture seriously which is what makes this book so helpful. I especially like her stress on the role of worship in character formation—e.g. consider her chapter title on preaching, "Worship Ought to Kill Us: The Word."

• Songs for Renewal by Janet Lindeblad Janzen. This is our own RENOVARÉ contribution to the worship renewal movement. In the Christian life devotion and music—praying and singing—are inseparable twins, for both center on the heart. Prayer is the language of the heart, and music is the medium of the heart. The special contribution of this book is the unique way it holds these two together.

• The New Worship by Barry Liesch. Liesch is a professor of music and this is reflected in the music emphasis of his book. It is exceedingly practical and will give you many solid handles for framing your practice of worship. The book has a supplemental computer disk dealing with keyboard modulation and improvisation. Worship by Evelyn Underhill. For a theology of worship this book really sets the standard among Protestants, and everyone measures their understanding of worship off of it. Her discussion of "ritual and symbol, sacrament and sacrifice" is worth the price of the book.
— Richard J. Foster