Willard

How Imagination and Artistic Expression Relate to Worship

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Evangelical author and philosophy professor Dallas Willard writes, “Sometimes important things can be presented in literature and art that cannot be effectively presented in any other way.”[1] Given the way God has designed the human being and human community, people need all the capacities He created—reason, emotion, imagination, memory and language, all working together. As mysterious that transaction is, they need all these capacities so that they may “know” God and not simply know about Him.

In fact, the Bible reveals that people are to know Him so intimately that they ultimately live every minute of each day in a companioning-worship-walk with Him. Jesus pressed this very issue when explaining to the woman at Jacob’s well that, “. . . God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24, NIV). The Apostle Paul presses the same mandate when he urges Christians to, “. . . present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your logical, reasonable worship-way-of-living (latreian)” (Rm12:1, author’s rendering).

The Bible reveals that the essence of worship is to find one’s satisfaction in God above all and everyone else. The Apostle Paul boldly declares, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21, NIV).

But based on these submissions, there exists one important question: If humans and human community are to engage in an intimate and interactive involvement with God, how does this interactive transaction actually happen?

Most would say that the goal and essence of worship are both wrapped up in a relationship with God. But still, how do finite people have relational interaction with a Divine God? Is not God unique from humans? Of course. He alone is Divine, Holy, Supreme. But how; or in what way, or in what realm, has God created humans to ‘experience’ in transactional reality, relations with Himself?

At this point it is important to note Bible Role for Imaginative Expression. God designed finite humans in such a way . . . that the mystery of transactional engagement with God happens through environments of imaginative human expressions.

When people go to worship, whether in groups or alone, God designed them to need to exercise their imaginal intellect as much as any other dynamic of their being—including their rational intellect. When people worship God alone, they “practice” focusing their faith toward God through the gate of their imagination. As they couple their imagination with their intellect, they will imagine the unseen realities they “know” are true in Scripture.

Scripture assures the believer that one approaches God through the work of Jesus. So, when one prays, there is help by imagining Jesus on the Cross; picturing Him on the Cross; picturing their self bowing before the Cross; seeing with the eyes of their imagination His blood running down the beam, flowing right around their knees. This kind of ‘mental’ exercise—combining the objective historical truth of the Crucifixion with the eyes of the imagination—helps one draw near to God. Bowing the head, kneeling down, closing the eyes, holding a Bible, lifting an arm, looking up to the sky, or any number of other inward/outward practices helps look through the eyes of their imagination into the unseen realities of God. The mystery is that none of these practices provide in themselves any spiritual merit. But, when worshipers allow their imagination to join their intellect when they worship, they may indeed engage more fully with God.

When people worship in public, their worship is more fully facilitated by their environment, the influences of worship leadership, their understanding of theology, and the cultural contexts surrounding them. People come together, . . . in some sort of “environment,” . . . to participate in human activities, . . . that involve metaphors and symbols. When the experience is genuine, fused with reverence and focused faith on God, the worshiper often comes to a point where the “whole” of the experience is greater than the sum of its parts. When genuine worship is experienced, something goes on larger than all the parts of that gathering. It is at this point that Imaginative human expression takes place. And imaginative human expression is always present in any public worship context.

Additionally, public gatherings will often be more successful if . . . someone endowed and skilled with more-than-average abilities in artistic human expression . . . are released to plan and help implement the gathering’s process. Whether in private or public worship settings, 1) imaginative expressions help the worship experience; and 2) human expression specialists are strategic in facilitating worship. Therefore, we can be sure that God designed artistic expression to be a central part of the fabric of human life and community.

Along with being spiritual, cognitive, and moral, humans are also imaginative. Animals have instincts, but people have imagination in a highly developed way. And that imagination reflects, in a small way, our Creator. It’s no wonder that Paul reaches the limitations of language in describing the vastness of Christ’s love for us—its width and length and height and depth. He leans into the poetic to more fully express to us that this love “surpasses knowledge,” and Paul struggles to articulate his prayer for us to “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18–19 NIV).

So, when it comes to the activity of worship—worship that must make sense to us in the context of our culture if it is to have meaning at all—that sort of worship demands more than just propositions of fact. It requires symbols and metaphors and rituals that help people connect with the invisible realities of God Himself; the sort of worship that moves people to press toward the edges of one’s human capacity to express themselves. Those kinds of worship activities—private or public—demand that one takes the realities of God and His truths beyond the languages of the head into the languages of the heart. And that realm is the realm of artistic expression.

[1] Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998., p. 78.

The Biblical Definition of Art and Artistic Expression

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Artistic expression, as observed in the biblical record, is essential to life and Christian ministry—especially the worship ministries of the Church.  This is because Artistic expression is the essential context wherein humans touch the transcendent realities of life in general, and most importantly, with God.  Artistic and “imaginative” expressions—the metaphors, symbols, expressions, rituals, memorials, ceremonies, liturgies—form the amniotic fluid in which life and community grow and mature.

Art is a part of life. It is not something people can choose to omit from their lives.  Artistic expressions—imaginative human expressions—are more than a form of human communication.  They are the substance, the amniotic fluid, in which human relationships live and grow—human-to-human, and humans-with-God.  Therefore, in order to see the importance that ‘amniotic fluid’ of God-designed-human-expressions is to the flourishing of human relationships with each other and in worship of God,  Church leaders and worship practitioners should maintain a biblical view of ‘imaginative human expression’.

How Imagination And Artistic Expression Relate To Worship
Evangelical author and philosophy professor Dallas Willard writes, “Sometimes important things can be presented in literature and art that cannot be effectively presented in any other way.”[1]  Given the way God has designed the human being and human community, people need all the capacities He created—reason, emotion, imagination, memory, and language, all working together.  As mysterious as that transaction is, they need all these capacities so that they may “know” God and not simply know about Him.  

In fact, the Bible reveals that people are to know Him so intimately that they ultimately live every minute of each day in a companioning-worship-walk with Him.  Jesus pressed this very issue when explaining to the woman at Jacob’s well that, “. . . God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).  The Apostle Paul presses the same mandate when he urges Christians to, “. . . present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your logical, reasonable worship-way-of-living (latreian)” (Rm12:1, author’s rendering).

The Bible reveals that the essence of worship is to find one’s satisfaction in God above all and everyone else.  The Apostle Paul boldly declares, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).

But based on these submissions, there exists one important question:  If humans and human community are to engage in an intimate and interactive involvement with God,  how does this interactive transaction actually happen? 

Most would say that the goal and essence of worship are both wrapped up in a relationship with God.  But still, how do finite people have relational interaction with a Divine God?  Is not God unique from humans?  Of course.  He alone is Divine, Holy, Supreme.  But how; or in what way, or in what realm, has God created humans to ‘experience’ in transactional reality, relations with Himself?

At this point it is important to note Bible Role for Imaginative Expression. God designed finite humans in such a way . . . that the mystery of transactional engagement with God happens through environments of imaginative human expressions.

When people go to worship, whether in groups or alone, God designed them to need to exercise their imaginal intellect as much as any other dynamic of their being—including their rational intellect.

When people worship God alone, they “practice” focusing their faith toward God through the gate of their imagination.  As they couple their imagination with their intellect, they will imagine the unseen realities they ‘know’ are true in Scripture. 

Scripture assures the believer that one approaches God through the work of Jesus.  So when one prays, there is help by imagining Jesus on the Cross; picturing Him on the Cross; picturing their self bowing before the Cross; seeing with the eyes of their imagination His blood running down the beam, flowing right around their knees.  This kind of ‘mental’ exercise—combining the objective historical truth of the Crucifixion with the eyes of the imagination—helps one draw near to God.  Bowing the head, kneeling down, closing the eyes, holding a Bible, lifting an arm, looking up to the sky, or any number of other inward/outward practices helps look through the eyes of their imagination into the unseen realities of God.  The mystery is that none of these practices provide in themselves any spiritual merit.  But, when worshipers allow their imagination to join their intellect when they worship, they may indeed engage more fully with God. 

When people worship in public, their worship is more fully facilitated by their environment, the influences of worship leadership, their understanding of theology, and the cultural  contexts surrounding them. People come together, . . . in some sort of “environment,” . . . to participate in human activities, . . . that involve metaphors and symbols.  When the experience is genuine, fused with reverence and faith focused on God, the worshiper often comes to a point where the “whole” of the experience is greater than the sum of its parts.  When genuine worship is experienced, something goes on larger than all the parts of that gathering. It is at this point that Imaginative human expression takes place.  And, imaginative human expression is always present in any public worship context.

Additionally, public gatherings will often be more successful if . . . someone endowed and skilled with more-than-average abilities in artistic human expression . . . are released to plan and help implement the gathering’s process.

Whether in private or public worship settings, 1) imaginative expressions help the worship experience; and 2) human expression specialists are strategic in facilitating worship.

Therefore we can be sure that God designed artistic expression to be a central part of the fabric of human life and community.

Along with being spiritual, cognitive, and moral, humans are also imaginative. Animals have instinct, but people have imagination in a highly developed way. And that imagination reflects, in a small way, our Creator.  It is no wonder that Paul reaches the limitations of language in describing the vastness of Christ’s love for us—its width and length and height and depth. He leans into the poetic to more fully express to us that this love “surpasses knowledge,” and Paul struggles to articulate his prayer for us to “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”  (Ephesians 3:18–19).

So when it comes to the activity of worship—worship that must make sense to us in the context of our culture if it is to have meaning at all—that sort of worship demands more than just propositions of fact. It requires symbols and metaphors and rituals that help people connect with the invisible realities of God Himself; the sort of worship that moves people to press toward the edges of one’s human capacity to express.  Those kinds of worship activities—private or public—demand that one take the realities of God and His truths beyond the languages of the head into the languages of the heart.  And that realm is the realm of artistic expression.

[1]   Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998, 78.

Biblical Worship Defined

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There are at least four major theological issues worship leadership must know in order to lead congregations toward a biblical practice of worship.  These issues comprise four core assumptions and motivations that will help a working definition for practicing worship:

Worship is Trinitarian.  Biblical worship is Trinitarian.  Scripture throughout confirms that the believer is to worship all three Persons of the Holy Trinity as God. 

Believers are to worship God the Father.

John 4:19-25 points out that God the Father is looking for worshipers who “. . . worship (Him) in spirit in truth.”

“In love he (God, the Father) predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, . . .” (Ephesians 1:4-6).

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

Believers are to worship God The Son, Jesus. “When they saw him (Jesus), they worshiped him . . .” (Matthew 28:17).

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.  (Matt 28:8-9).

Jesus heard that they had thrown him (a man formerly blind whom Jesus healed), and when he found him, he (Jesus) said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.  (John 9:35-38).

Believers are to worship God, the Holy Spirit, and through His Agency. In Ephesians 1:13-14, the Apostle Paul emphasizes that believers praise the glory of the Holy Spirit—which is to say, worship Him:  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his (God the Spirit’s) glory.

Worship leaders should clearly note that New Testament Worship is initiated through the will of the Father, the work of the Son, and the agency of the Spirit.  It is the Triune God who energizes the human (and human community of worshipers) to worship.  He enables worship through the power His Spirit, through the work of Christ.  He receives that worship.  He is glorified by that worship.  He is the beginning, the means, the object, and the end of all true worship.   As Paul writes, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever! Let it be!”  (Romans 11:36-12:1).  True worship is sourced, energized and culminated in the Triune-God revealed through Jesus Christ and the Holy Christian Scriptures.

Biblical worship is Christ-Focused.  God is accessed through the work of Jesus Christ: When he (Jesus) had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him . . .  (Luke 24:50-51)

In him (Christ) we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:11-12).

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Worship is Spirit-Empowered.  True worship, is always and only ‘energized’ by, through and in the power of God’s Spirit.  It is “. . . the Spirit (Who) motivates and equips believers for ministry to one another in the congregation and for service in the world,”  writes theologian David Peterson.[1]  The Apostle Paul points believers in this same direction: For it is we who are the (true) circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh . . .  (Philippians 3:2-4).

It is wondrous to recognize the marvelous mingling of Christ’s work and the Spirit’s work in the mystery of God giving people access to His worship: How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve (latreúein) the living God! (Hebrews 9:14)

Note the term here translated “serve.”  Another rendering of this term would be service-based-worship or service-filled-worship.[2]

Worship is God’s-Word-Centered. All practices, experiences or fruit of one’s worship must find their foundations and affirmation within the perimeters of the Word of God, the historic Christian Scriptures.  Whether personal worship or public worship, if those worship endeavors are not founded on, and referenced to the Cannon of Scripture of the historic Christian Church, then those worship endeavors, no matter how sincere, are not in fact true worship.

Romans 10:3, and 2 Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:6-9 clearly affirms this contention as a “different gospel” and as such is not acceptable. Quoting Galatians 1:6-9: 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Proper worship emerges from a growing knowledge of God. God’s-Word-Centered worship sets the stage for one to place worship into two general categories: 1) Generic Worship. This is the reality that all humans in general worship something or someone; and, 2) Scripture based worship. This is worship that is founded on the teachings of and realities revealed through God’s Word.

In general, worship at its root—in human experience—has to do directly and specifically with the heart of a person: the core of a person’s being. For it is at this human “core”—the heart—that connection is made between the human and whatever it is that human worships. The heart of a person is also referred to as the spirit or will of a person. It is the person’s center of being. It is the place from where all worship comes. 

Dr. Dallas Willard writes: Human beings have only some small element of spirit—unbodily, personal power—right at the center of who they are and who they become.”  And then, with reference to worship, points out, “It is . . . this spirit (or will), that must be reached , cared for, and transformed in spiritual formation.   The human will is primarily what must be given a godly nature and must then proceed to expand its godly governance over the entire personality.  Thus will or spirit is also . . . the heart in the human system:  the core of its being.[3]

Two principles about generic worship should be considered: First, one can define generic worship as a core heart conviction that expresses great value for someone or something.

Second, real worship—an inward-heart-expression—always translates outwardly as deep admiration and deep desire.  These twin forces of admiration and desire then naturally flow into actions of pursuit and service of the “one” or “thing” worshiped.  So in broadest terms, “worship” is anything or anyone a person admires, desires, pursues and serves.

It is important to understand that worship of any kind actually occurs at the core heart of a person.  It is this kind of love and worship that God is looking to receive from those he created.  This is because worship is at the center of everything—living, loving, serving, and especially one’s daily heart -focus.

Four scriptures support the notion that God is interested in the heart-focus of people:[4] 7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean'” (Mark 7:21-23).

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (John 4:23) Scripture repeatedly declares the fact that God’s concern focuses primarily on the heart of a person or a community.

[1]  Engaging God: A Biblical Theology of Worship by David Peterson.  (Grand Rapids, MI:  Eerdmans.  1992), 188.

[2]   The Greek phrase is “eis tó latreúein Theoó zoónti” translated literally “unto the ‘serving-worship’ of God, the Living (One).”  The word-family from which latreúein comes is the same word used by Jesus in Matthew 4:10, where He told Satan, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”  Note the Greek rendering:  “Kúrion tón Theón sou proskuneéseis kaí autoó mónoo latreúseis”(see Peterson, Ibid. p. 188).  The word-family LATREUO is the second of the two major words used in the New Testament for Worship.  (The same concept is found as well in the Old Testament.)

[3]  Dallas Willard. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs, Colo: NavPress, 2002, 34.  Willard continues in this same passage that “this is why we have the biblical teaching that human good and evil are matters of the heart.  It is the heart, (Mark 7:21) and spirit (John 4:23) that God looks at (1 Samuel 16:7; Isaiah 66:2) in relating to human kind, and in allowing us to relate to him (2 Chronicles 15:4,15; Jeremiah 29:13; Hebrews 11:6).”  This issue of the heart is central to every worship leaders ability to effectively design worship environments where God my come and encounter, heart-to-heart, the worshiper.

[4]  Other Scriptures pressing this same point are: e.g. 2 Chron 15:4, 15; Isa 66:2; Heb 10:38.