Two things stuck out to me as I read Traditional Hymn-Based Worship. First was the treatment of authentic worship(pg. 61). Best states that we were not created to worship but were created worshiping. I had a hard time accepting this statement as I was always taught that we were created to worship. I still am not sure I completely agree with this. It seems to me that we can not worship God until we accept him as our savior. We cannot be born worshiping because we are born in sin and must receive salvation. Do I have a wrong understanding of theology or worship?
The second thing that struck me in this section was Best's explanation for why the hymnbook suffers neglect(pg. 70). It is because it is "sequestered away in sanctuaries and used only on Sundays." This makes a lot of sense to me. If the hymnbook is not valued and the people of the congregation are not taught how to use it outside of opening it up to sing on Sunday, then of course it is going to be neglected. Hymn-based worship must include attention to the hymnbook in everyday devotional aspects as well as to its use in church on Sunday. Only then will the church really learn to value instead of neglect the hymnbook.
I believe that what he is trying to demonstrate in his whole "created worshiping vs. created to worship" is based on whether or not we choose to worship God we will worship something. A verse that comes to mind, although I'm sure there are others, is Luke 12.34 Where your treasure is there your heart is also. From what I understand Best to be saying is that we are created worshiping, but through the fall the receiver of our worship changed and that is where the atonement of Christ comes in allowing us to worship who we were never meant to stop worshiping.
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