Jeremy writes in with today's question, Dear Pastor John, I've served for the past seven

years as a worship leader, but something I've had trouble reconciling is how worshiping

God has been turned into singing trendy pray songs in a community setting.

Does this derive from the Levites and appointed leaders in the Old Testament?

I have a hard time finding something relatable in the New Testament.

In fact, one of the scriptures I find most denotes what worship is comes from Romans 12,

where Paul tells the church in Rome that worship is giving oneself completely to God.

Long question short, what brings us corporate music worship that inhabits almost every church

today?

Well, let's just overlook the use of the word trendy because I doubt that's really what

he's asking.

I mean, I don't think he expects to find in the Bible a justification for trendy.

Right.

I think his question really is, why do we sing for half an hour in worship services all

over the world?

Why do we do it that way?

So let me try to go at that and see what I can do.

I would define worship as anything we do, which gives expression to the supreme, all satisfying

worth of God.

That's worship, which would include both offering my body to be burned in martyrdom because

I'm showing how precious Christ is to me that I'm willing to give up my life for him.

And it would include my singing, my heartly offering up my voice and my heart in church

...